What Is The Difference Between Top-down Feedback and 360 Degree Feedback

The feedback mechanism is inevitable to increase the performance of employees qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Organizations that envision a future full of opportunities and growth should realize that the employees are their frontline soldiers and should take an interest in their individual development too. The companies cannot retain the high performers if the employees see no career opportunities. Therefore, organizations should perfect their feedback techniques so that they can help the workforce to improve their skills.   

Top-Down Feedback – Why is it Unsuitable for the New World of Work?  

In the top-down feedback process, managers evaluate the performance of the employees on a yearly basis and provide them with feedback. This feedback technique is, by and large, subjective, and it is not constructive. This top-down approach does not help the employees to improve their performance and skills. The millennials, who will be forming 75% of the global workforce by 2025, will not be attracted by a work culture that provides little to no growth opportunity.   

The factors that affect the top-down feedback process are as follows.  

Primacy Effect  

Have you watched the film ‘Zootopia,’ in which Judy, a police officer and also a rabbit, was underestimated by her chief and assigned the parking duty? Her true potential was revealed when she found the truth behind the cause of the savage behavior of mammals. This film depicts the primacy effect (first impressions) on the superiors. In reality, this primacy effect plays a notorious role and affects the employees during the appraisal process as the top-down feedback process will not be taking place in an objective manner.  

Halo Effect  

Managers, when they have an overly positive or negative impression of an employee, do not give an objective review. Instead, they give a higher rating or lower rating. Imagine a situation where an employee is a high performer but an introvert and is not good at collaborating with people. Of course, employees should collaborate well for successful teamwork, but this cannot be a reason for the manager to give the employee a lower rating in all the performance criteria. 

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Recency and Spillover Effects:   

This is a major problem in the top-down feedback method. Managers evaluate the employees based on recent performances because it is the human tendency. Humans cannot remember all the actions that happened in the past year. The spillover effect is about evaluating past performance without taking recent achievements or improvements into account. Both effects disengage the employees and increase their chances of failure.   

Central Tendency Bias:  

Not only employees, but even managers and employers also hate the performance evaluation process as they do not want to be seen in a bad light by the employees. Therefore, the managers give a neutral rating that is neither low nor high to the employees. But this is a practice that can even destroy an employee’s future as they will be clueless about their strengths and weaknesses. Managers should be properly trained to deliver constructive feedback.  

Hence, top-down feedback is being disowned by companies as they do not want to lose the war for talents.  

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Why 360 Degree Feedback is Being Adopted by Many Organizations?  

360 degree feedback or multi-rater feedback mechanism provides the complete picture of an employee’s performance and behavior. The employee who is not aware of their blind spots will be able to identify their areas for growth through 360 degree feedback technique. In this method, the feedback is provided by all external and internal stakeholders like managers, peers, cross-functional managers, subordinates, etc. This approach embraces matrix hierarchy and so the evaluation will not be based on entirely primary manager’s feedback.    

360 degree feedback also engages employees and solves various problems such as employee disengagement and lower productivity. The employees will also focus their efforts on the areas that are needed to be improved and chose the development plans wisely. Besides, this technique allows the managers to improve their leadership skills depending upon the anonymous feedback that they get from their team members. 360 degree feedback mechanism forms an objective review of an employee’s performance based on the subjective responses from the stakeholders.  

Advantages of 360 degree feedback (in a nutshell):  

  • Self-awareness  
  • Strengthen the strengths  
  • Work on the areas for growth  
  • Identify the blind spots in the behavior  
  • Identify future leaders to ensure business continuity 

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