360-degree feedback is a feedback process where not just your superior but your peers and direct reports and sometimes even customers evaluate you.

Definition: 360-degree feedback is a feedback process where not just your superior but your peers and direct reports and sometimes even customers evaluate you. You receive an analysis of how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you.

Description: Benefits of 360-degree feedback:

To the individual:

> This helps the person understand his or her own personality from an outsider's perspective > Development needs are revealed

To the team:

> Increases communication between team members > Supports teamwork by involving team members in the development process

To the organization:

>Better career development for employees > Improves customer service by having customers contribute to evaluation > Drives training

However, should 360-degree feedback be linked to performance appraisals? Prevailing thought says that 360-degree feedback and performance appraisals should not be linked. If it is linked to compensation decisions, it may lose its power as a tool for development. The thinking is that when compensation is the outcome, individuals will quickly learn how to play the game of "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine."

Further, if people do not get satisfactory ratings, morale can decrease when 360 is linked to performance appraisal mode. But when 360 is used purely for development, low scores tend to be viewed as constructive feedback.

Also See: Competency Mapping, Conflict Management, Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP), Job Description, MBO, MBWA, Mentoring, Pink Slip, VRS