Category Archives: Feedback

Practical advice for designing a 360-degree feedback process

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Topic: Feedback, Change Management
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology (MAY 2011)
Article: When does 360-degree feedback create behavior change? And how would we know it when it does?
Authors: Bracken, D. W., Rose, D. S.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

Have you ever participated in a 360-degree feedback process that seemed pointless and didn’t appear to change anything at all? If so, you’re not alone. However, a 360-degree feedback process, when well designed, has the potential for lasting behavioral change. This article discusses critical design factors of a 360-degree feedback process used to create sustainable behavioral and organizational change. The authors also provide questions for future research and practical advice for making the process successful. Four critical design factors are discussed: relevant content, credible data, accountability, and census (organizationwide) participation.

Relevant content: The authors recommend using custom surveys rather than standardized tools, but they acknowledge that there’s quite a bit of debate about this. They argue that custom surveys can increase motivation and engagement due to their meaning and relevance.

Credible data: You need to have reliable data, but your stakeholders also need to perceive your data as being reliable.

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When Performance Goals are a Must

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Topic: Feedback, Goals, Performance
Publication: Human Performance
Article: Achievement goals, feedback, and task performance
Authors: A.M. Cianci, J.M. Schaubroeck, and G.A. McGill
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

 

Although performance feedback is vital to effective job performance, employees can react
differently to the same feedback. For example, while some employees give up in the face of negative feedback about their performance, others persevere and actually improve their performance over time. Alternatively, when presented with positive feedback, some employees coast while others maintain their high levels of performance.  Cianci et al. recently showed that the type of goals that are set for employees help explain how they react to positive and negative performance feedback.

In general, Cianci et al. found that those who were assigned a learning goal for a complex computerized task (“your goal…is to learn how to approach this kind of task as well as possible”) outperformed both those who were assigned a performance goal (“your goal…is to perform as well as possible, achieving the highest score possible”) and those assigned no goal at all.  What’s interesting is that following positive performance feedback, those assigned performance goals boosted their performance while negative feedback was detrimental to future performance on the task. The opposite trend was apparent for those assigned learning goals (i.e., negative feedback was beneficial and positive feedback was detrimental to performance).

Cianci and colleagues also investigated how peoples’ beliefs about their ability impact how they respond to performance and learning goals.  More specifically, the authors discussed two overarching beliefs about one’s ability: (1) ability is fixed and CANNOT be improved over time and (2) ability is incremental and CAN increase over time.  They found that the latter view was generally beneficial to performance, especially for those assigned performance goals.

In general, Cianci et al.’s findings suggest that assigning learning goals to employees leads to superior performance. However, there are times in which it is beneficial or necessary to set performance goals.  In these cases, managers should ensure that they include positive performance feedback (particularly if it must sandwich constructive feedback) throughout the project/assignment and encourage employees to view their abilities as improvable over time.

Cianci, A.M., Schaubroeck, J.M., & McGill. G.A. (2010). Achievement goals,
feedback, and task performance. Human Performance, 23(2), 131-154.

How Positive Feedback Helps Prevent Negative Outcomes

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Topic: Feedback
Publication: Applied Psychology: An International Review (APR09)
Article: Consequences of positive and negative feedback: The impact on emotions and extra-role behaviors
Authors: F. D. Belschak, D. N. Den Hartog
Reviewed By: Sarah Teague

Two recent studies conducted by Belschak and Den Hartog (2009) investigated the impact of positive and negative feedback on emotions and several important work outcomes. Not surprisingly, results suggest that positive feedback leads to more positive emotions, while negative feedback leads to more negative emotions. More importantly, they found that these negative emotions led to a decrease in both organizational commitment (feelings of attachment to one’s organization) and intent to perform organizational citizenship behaviors (voluntary actions that help the organization).  They also led to an an increase in counterproductive work behaviors (behaviors that hurt the organization) and turnover
intentions.

Taken together, people who receive positive feedback are happier and consequently more committed and productive to their organizations. In cases when negative feedback must be given, the authors suggest framing the feedback in a positive way (e.g. think learning experiences instead of mistakes) and generally being supportive.

Belschak, F. D., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2009). Consequences of positive and negative feedback: The impact on emotions and extra-role behaviors. Applied Psychology:
An International Review, 58(2), 274-303.

Faded Feedback – Just a Fad?

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Topic: Feedback, Training
Publication: Human Performance

Article: Faded versus increasing feedback, task variability trajectories, and transfer of training.
Author: J.S. Goodman, R.E. Wood
Featured by: Benjamin Granger

Feedback In training situations,
immediate, specific, and frequent feedback to the learner is often prescribed
by the experts.  However, there is
evidence that this “high guidance” feedback may ultimately impair long-term
transfer (the ability to transfer knowledge gained in training to the
workplace) and individual performance on the job.  One solution that has been presented in the literature to
address this issue is known as faded
feedback.  Faded feedback involves high-level guidance at first, with a
gradual reduction in feedback and guidance as trainees move through the
training course.

However, as pointed out by
Goodman and Wood (2009), there is very little empirical support for faded
feedback (though it seems intuitively appealing).  To test the effectiveness of fading feedback over the course
of a training program, as well as a variant of faded feedback (e.g., gradually increasing
feedback and guidance over time – opposite of faded feedback), Goodman and Wood
had 125 undergraduate students complete an 18 trial training course.

Interestingly, despite the
intuitive appeal of faded feedback, Goodman and Wood’s findings suggest that
this feedback method did not lead to better learning or improved transfer of
training relative to the reverse (gradually increasing feedback over the course
of training). 

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If I’m Bad, Then So Are You!

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Topic: Feedback, Job Performance, Performance Appraisal
Publication: International Journal of Selection and Assessment
Article: The influence of a manager's own performance appraisal on the evaluation of others.
Blogger: Benjamin Granger

Appraisal Have you ever received a
poor performance appraisal from a supervisor?  (Let’s hope not too many!)  If you have, were you surprised?  (Hey, I’m a pretty good employee! What gives!?).  Researchers and managers alike have been
interested in uncovering the factors that influence performance appraisals
(besides actual performance).

Latham and colleagues were
interested in how a supervisor’s own performance appraisal affects the feedback
that he or she subsequently gives to his/her employees (Yep, your supervisors
get appraised too. There is justice in the world!).

The authors wanted to know:
If supervisors get poor performance appraisals, will they be more likely to
give poor performance appraisals to their subordinates?  And alternatively, if supervisors
receive positive performance appraisals, will they then rate their employees
higher? 

To find out if this does in
fact occur (seems reasonable, right?), Latham et al. conducted four independent
studies utilizing different methodologies (e.g., case study, laboratory
simulation study, and two field studies). The results of all four studies
confirmed that supervisors tend to rate
their subordinates lower when they previously received negative performance
appraisals.

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Anything you can do, I can do better

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Topic: Feedback, Decision Making
Publication:  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Article: 
Use of
absolute and comparative performance feedback in absolute and comparative
judgments and decisions. 


Blogger:  James Grand

Thinking Few people missed Michael Phelps’
performance during this past Summer Olympics—8 gold medals in 8 races, setting
7 world records in the process (the one race he didn’t get the world record? He
only set the new Olympic record…slacker). 

But when Phelps went into these
competitions, his self-proclaimed goal was to win gold medals, not set new
records.  Examining these standards
of performance more closely, we see a great example of what psychologists refer
to as comparative versus absolute performance.  Winning a gold medal (or being told where your performance
ranks among your co-workers) is comparative in nature, as the outcome is
measured relative to how one ranks among the field of others regardless of
“actual” performance.  Setting a
record (or obtaining a specific score on a performance evaluation), on the
other hand, places the outcome on an absolute scale; as it provides feedback in
relation to how one performs relative to an objective standard regardless of
how one ranks among others. 

However, an important question arises
from the example above: which accomplishments do individuals see as the better
indicator of performance? 

These are all questions answered by
renowned psychologist Leon Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory and
empirically tested in a recent article published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (Moore &
Klein, 2008, Vol. 107).  In short,
Festinger stated that although individuals compare themselves to others to make
sense of their abilities and performance, if
given information about both they prefer and will most readily use absolute
standards.  The experimental study
by Moore and Klein largely supported this claim, finding that the effect of
feedback in relation to absolute performance had greater influence on people’s
future performance-related behaviors, confidence in future performance, and the
positive experience of their performance outcomes than comparative feedback.

For businesses, this suggests that
although workers may be interested in knowing their standing among their peers,
providing them with information regarding their performance compared to
objective metrics may be more beneficial from an individual and organizational
perspective.

For Phelps, he should be thinking 2012
will be a breeze.

Moore,
D. A., & Klein, W. M. P. (2008). Use of absolute and comparative
performance feedback in absolute and comparative judgments and decisions.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 107, 60-74.

Festinger,
L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7,
117-140.