HRM’s role in the performance management process

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Chapter 8: Performance Management: 8.2d Putting It All Together: 360-Degree Evaluations Book Title: Managing Human Resources Printed By: Carmen Banner (carmen.banner@snhu.edu) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

8.2d Putting It All Together: 360-Degree Evaluations

Companies such as Intel, Morgan Stanley, and Disney are among the many organizations that have used a multiple-rater approach—or 360-degree evaluation (A performance evaluation done by different people who interact with the employee, generally on forms compiled into a single profile for use in the evaluation meeting conducted by the employee’s manager) —that combines various sources of performance evaluation information. Jobs are multifaceted, and different people see different things. As the name implies, 360-degree feedback is intended to provide employees with as accurate a view of their performance as possible by getting input from all angles: supervisors, peers, subordinates, customers, and the like.

Figure 8.6 shows a list of pros and cons of 360-degree evaluation. When Intel established a 360-degree system, the company observed the following safeguards to ensure its maximum quality and acceptance:

Assure anonymity. Make certain that no employee ever knows how any evaluation team member responded. (The supervisor’s rating is an exception to this rule.)

Make respondents accountable. Supervisors should discuss each evaluation team member’s input, letting each member know whether he or she used the rating scales appropriately, whether his or her responses were reliable, and how other participants rated the employee.

Prevent “gaming” of the system. Some individuals may try to help or hurt an employee by giving either too high or too low an evaluation. Team members may try to collude with one another by agreeing to give each other uniformly high ratings. Supervisors should check for obviously invalid responses.

Use statistical procedures. Use weighted averages or other quantitative approaches to combine evaluations. Supervisors should be careful about using subjective combinations of data, which could undermine the system.

Identify and quantify biases. Check for prejudices or preferences related to age, gender, ethnicity, or other group factors.

Figure 8.6

Pros and Cons of 360-Degree Evaluation

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PROS

The system is more comprehensive because feedback is gathered from multiple perspectives.

It may lessen bias and prejudice since feedback comes from more people, not one individual.

The feedback from peers and others may improve an employees’ self- development.

CONS

The system is complex in combining all the responses.

The feedback can be intimidating and cause resentment if employees feel the respondents have “ganged up” on them.

There may be conflicting opinions, though they may all be accurate from the respective standpoints.

Raters must undergo some training.

Employees may collude or “game” the system by giving invalid evaluations to one another.

Raters may not feel accountable if their evaluations are anonymous.

Sources: Compiled from David A. Waldman, Leanne E. Atwater, and David Antonioni, “Has 360-Degree

Feedback Gone Amok?” Academy of Management Executive 12, no. 2 (May 1998): 86–94; Bruce Pfau,

Ira Kay, Kenneth Nowak, and Jai Ghorpade, “Does 360-Degree Feedback Negatively Affect Company

Performance?” HRMagazine 47, no. 6 (June 2002): 54–59; Maury Peiperl, “Getting 360-Degree

Feedback Right,” Harvard Business Review 79, no. 1 (January 2001): 142–147; Joyce E. Bono and Amy

E. Colbert, “Understanding Responses to Multi-Source Feedback: The Role of Core Self-Evaluations,”

Personnel Psychology 58, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 171–205.

Chapter 8: Performance Management: 8.2d Putting It All Together: 360-Degree Evaluations Book Title: Managing Human Resources Printed By: Carmen Banner (carmen.banner@snhu.edu) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

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