ACME Realty wants to provide employees with feedback, but have found that the traditional approach of having the boss tell employees how they are doing has become time consuming and difficult as the number of employees continues to increase.The company is considering using 360-feedback, but management does not know very much about it.They have hired you to explain to them what it is and what it can be used for.What will you tell them?

You should tell them that 360-degree feedback uses input from supervisors, employees, peers, and clients or customers of the appraised individual.They also need to know that the focus of the feedback is behavioural competencies rather than bottom-line performance, and it is usually used for employee development rather than salary determination.Furthermore, because it is possible that the various sources of feedback might contradict each other, ratees may need some assistance in putting all of the feedback together.They should also know that in a well-designed 360-degree system, the various information sources provide unique data about a person's performance.