Is 360 Degree Feedback Appraisal an Effective Way of Performance Evaluation?

Abstract

The 360 degree feedback approach has been implemented by many organisations for development or performance evaluation objectives. This paper questions the effectiveness of 360 degree feedback implementations in rating employee performance. This literature review was conducted on 360 degree feedback practice with performance evaluation purposes. The aim of this review was to define and discuss the 360 degree feedback; contrasting the process with the other methods and identifying whether this is a good way of performing appraising or not. The superiority of multi-rater feedback to the traditional methods and the dominance of advantages over disadvantages lead us to conclude that the 360 degree feedback is effective in rating performance. Introduction The tough business environment creates the necessity to rate employee performance in order to measure the returns an organisation gets in exchange of the salary it pays. Evaluation is one of the most required and useful practices in order to determine how an organisation or an employee performing. Without rating its productivity, companies or managers cannot be aware of how well they are doing. Feedback may be seen as a mirror which reflects employees' level of productivity. It provides an opportunity to see you from other people's perspectives. Mandal proposes that 'Feedback of any nature is important for initiating improvements' (Mandal, 2002, pp. 36). 360 degree feedback combines the advantages of giving feedback and evaluating performance in its unique character. Since the last decade, 360 degree feedback has attracted attention as a Human Resources method (CIPD, 2003; Ward, 2004). The process has been widely used by many organisations and popularity of the approach has been increasing (Waldman and Atwater, 1998). Effectiveness of 360 degree feedback procedure as a