The Concept of 360° Feedback, Research Paper Example

The concept of 360° feedback is a technique employed within human resource management.  The idea is based on a database circle whereby feedback on the performance of an employee comes from all around him.  This might be your immediate supervisor, colleague working on the same line or peer, a member of your staff, a customer or client and an executive of the organization.  We were this is the type of array that is created by this model.  The type of feedback is extremely useful management in terms of succession planning and assisting with the development of individual training plans.

Alliance Unicom adopted this approach in order to provide management with important data.  The feedback provided valuable information in the areas of administration, underutilized they should employees, personnel strengths and weaknesses and.  Where they needed to increase productivity. (Nilson, 2009).

The concept of 360° feedback has to be carefully introduced to the organization.  Those HR departments that poor job of this can lead the organization to disastrous consequences.  This can be particularly bad when they are used in influencing compensation decisions.  The idea of 360° feedback is to help better customer relations and develop individual careers; this is the positive attributes.  The idea of introducing 360° feedback purely because it is flavour of the month is a bad idea.  The method requires a great deal of’ buy in by the organizational staff.  It must be remembered that the purpose of the method used to  “assist each individual to understand his or her or her personal strengths and weaknesses and contradicting insights into areas that require professional development” (Heathfield, 2010).

Alliance Unicom is a 30,000 employee company, serving 81,000 pharmacies worldwide.  Their adoption of 360° feedback,  amongst the top management team,  was aimed at controlling the cultural change, support, employee development and overall increase in performance in their international operation.

“There is no data to support it actually improves productivity, increases retention, decreases grievances or that it is superior to forced ranking and standard Performance Appraisal systems. It sounds good but there is no proof it works other than a lot of companies have tried it.” Dr John Sullivan, San Francisco State University.

One of the reasons why alliance Unicom had success with  the method is  because it was a well-planned structured organization; Most Companies in the Pharmaceutical Business.  This approach only seems to work well in the right organizational climate.  Until recently, IBM adopted this method is part of the annual performance appraisal.  The result here was that it became politically charged and unreliable source of information.  It was later replaced by an employee satisfaction survey. ” The popularity of 360-degree feedback is undeniable. Yet, the perceived benefits will help the personal development of workers only in the right organizational climate” (Linman, 2009).

The survey of 360° feedback has four main measurement criteria: 1. behaviour and competencies; 2.  how others perceive your performance; 3  skills such as listening, goal setting and planning;4 subjective areas such as teamwork, character and leadership. Good analytical representation is by that of a SWOT analysis ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).  Despite the usefulness of the 360° feedback method it  does not provide all of the information required in the people performance evaluation.  For example:  i) not a good way for measurement of employee performance objectives ii) does not determine whether the employee is  meeting the basic job requirements  iii) does not provide a focus on technical or job specific skill sets iv) .  It should not be used to measure non-job-related objectives.

360° feedback is used to develop a and prepare  competency models.  This can be split into two main components 1) .  Core competencies — with persons evaluated against the company values, mission and goals.  Most of the competencies will be that of behavioural characteristics. 2) non-core competencies focus more upon the middle managerial section of the organization will be focused on measuring such items as knowledge, character, interpersonal skills, innovation and change, talent management, leadership and motivation, execution decisions. There are a considerable amount of automated assists / software applications to assist with both 360 degree feedback and competency modelling.  These are really there to assist you with the manipulation of data and presentation of results.  The are not an integral part of conducting the survey itself which is much more a HR function.  ” The concept of 360 degree feedback makes a lot of sense and, if used well, should have a great deal to offer. It seems to suit the move towards the less hierarchical, more flexibly-structured and knowledge-based organisations of the future”  Professor Clive Fletcher, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Works Cited

Heathfield, S. M. (2010, 1 4). 360 Degree Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Retrieved 2 27, 2009, from About: http://humanresources.about.com/od/360feedback/a/360feedback.htm

Linman, T. (2009, 12 1). 360-degree Feedback:. Retrieved 2 27, 2010, from Edweb: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/ARossett/pie/Interventions/360_1.htm

Nilson, J. (2009, 4 9). 360 Degree Feedback. Retrieved 2 27, 2009, from Article Alley: http://www.articlealley.com/article_851590_64.html