360 Degree Appraisal is one of the modern methods of performance appraisal and is known to be the biggest support system to business organizations for determining how an employee performs. It is also known as Multi-rater Feedback System or 360 Degree Feedback System. Initially, a lot of MNCs adopted a 360 Degree feedback mechanism where it turned out to be very successful and since then a lot of other organizations have started implementing it. It operates in the form of a questionnaire that presents utterly lucid information relating to an employee’s performance, skills, and organizational behavior in accordance to the changing environment.
Importance and Purpose of 360 Degree Feedback
The fundamental aim of creating a 360 Degree Feedback System was beyond performance appraisal. This was so because the owners of the product did not want to create bias in the minds of employers right before making any decisions related to appraisals.
However, business organizations mainly use it for performance appraisal. The importance of 360 Degree Performance Appraisal is for keeping up with the constantly evolving skill-building culture. Installing this system is like the first step towards creating a better work environment. Every employee wishes for personal growth along with their professional growth to become more efficient and skilled, which ultimately results in the favor of the organization by increasing the overall organization’s productivity.
Hence it becomes quite necessary and crucial to successfully adopt and implement a 360-degree feedback System for a better workplace.
Why Does an Organization Conduct 360 Degree Performance Appraisal?
This modern method of performance appraisal makes an organization adaptive and flexible according to the new needs of the changing business world. With the installation of the 360-degree performance appraisal system, it gets easy for employees to achieve their personal development goals.
In addition to it, the report compiled by this system promotes self-awareness in the organization by suggesting different development programs customized as per individual needs. It can even be kept anonymous from the staff to refrain from any sort of bias or personal differences between feedback providers and feedback seekers except for the concerned manager’s feedback in most cases. Because of the numerous benefits and amazing features of 360 Degree appraisal, a lot of employers are heading towards it and the demand for adopting it is on the surge.
So look let’s have a look at those features and benefits along with understanding what is 360 Degree feedback system.
Features of 360 Degree Appraisal
- This method of conducting a survey is very affordable & quite easy to sign up.
- It provides real-time E-mail validation with an automated notification feature.
- It supports the employees 24×7 with its email feature and toll-free calling service.
- It tailors the Personal Development Plan of employees.
- It auto-saves the responses received through the survey.
- It is always available online.
- It comprises of a comprehensive question bank.
- It is very User-Friendly.
Advantages of using 360 Degree Appraisal
- It enhances self-awareness in employees by giving them a clear reflection of their strong and weak areas.
- It improves work relationships as it maintains the total anonymity of feedbacks by combining individual responses with other responses avoiding any personal conflicts within employees.
- It improves organizational productivity by boosting the morale of employees.
- It increases communication in the organization which makes it more likely for employees to achieve mutual goals
- It acts as an anchor for hardworking employees that reduces the attrition rate.
- It identifies skill gaps and determines whether there is any need for training and assessments.
Conclusion
Reviews given by 360 Degree Performance Appraisal System are beneficial to employees as they provide a circumscribed and balanced view of an employee’s skills and behavior. Implementing this method of performance appraisal in an organization is a very smart investment that will benefit an organization in a lot of ways. It increases transparency within the internal team by establishing trust, loyalty, sharing, and a clear picture of expected behavior and organizational goals. It will add life to your performance appraisal process.
