Land of Houyhnhnms as a Utopia
... Introduction Feedback matters. ... But despite the different problems with performance reviews, it is still important for an organization to devise a program for such feedback. The different feedback system such as the 360 degree and upward feedback have its advantages and disadvantages. But if we will go be research and current trends especially in multinational companies, the 360 degree feedback is the way to go. Feedback works hand-in-hand with management control. After gathering feedback the management has to identify whether there are deviations from company standard. This is where management control will come in. ... Control ensures planned activities are accomplished and significant deviations are corrected. ... Effective control systems are accurate, timely, economical, flexible, understandable, emphasize the exception, use multiple criteria and suggest corrective action. ... , expectancy theory, reinforcement theory) argue that employee behavior is, in part, a function of the feedback employees receive about their performance and behavior. ... Task Feedback- is feedback about ones performance that is received directly from observation of results (Often called Knowledge of Results-KOR). Seeing a completed construction project, hearing your time in a race, your score on an exam are examples of Task Feedback. ... Social Feedback- is feedback you receive about tasks, projects, and performance in general from other people. ... Social Feedback can come in two forms: A. Direct Social Feedback involves statements by others about your performance, competencies, traits or values. "You did an excellent job on this project," "You are an excellent writer," or "Youre really dedicated to this project" are examples of Direct Social Feedback. ... Indirect Social Feedback is derived from observation or the behavior, actions and decisions of others. ... "They dont like me because they never ask me to lunch," "He respects my expertise on computers because he always comes to me when he has a computer problem," or "She doesnt trust me because she is always checking up on me" are examples of Indirect Social Feedback. Performance Feedback: A Communication Challenge Once clearly defined and accurate performance measures are developed, there is still a challenge of performance feedback. Feedback sessions are among the more stressful events for supervisors and employees. Early research at General Electric found employees responded constructively to positive feedback and were defensive over half the time in response to critical or negative feedback. Typical responses to negative feedback included shifting responsibility for the shortcoming or behavior, denying it outright, or providing a wide range of excuses for it. Both parties to a performance feedback session should try to make it a constructive learning experience, since positive and negative performance feedback has long-term implications for the employee’s performance and for the working relationship. American airlines follows three guidelines in providing evaluative feedback so the experience is constructive for supervisor and employee alike. First, refer to specific, verbatim statements and specific, observable behaviors displayed by the person receiving the feedback. This enhances the acceptance of the feedback while reducing the chances of denial. ... Be sure to notify the person who will receive the feedback. ... Because people are not perfect, there is always an opportunity for them to learn and to grow through performance feedback sessions. Critical feedback is the basis for improvement and is essential to a performance feedback session. Self-evaluations are increasingly used for performance feedback, and there is evidence they lead to more satisfying, constructive evaluation interviews and less defensiveness concerning the evaluation process. ... Functions of Feedback There are basically two functions of feedback: 1. ... A feedback instructs when it clarifies roles or teaches new behavior. ... On the other hand, feedback motivates when it serves as a reward or promises a reward. Pairing specific challenging goals with specific feedback about results can significantly enhance the motivational function of feedback. To motivate also means that feedback will energize, direct and sustain the individual’s behavior. Giving Good Feedback 1. Feedback is not about Forms Mention the term "performance review," and the first image that comes to mind is paper: checklists, ratings, all-too-familiar reports that invite all-too-predictable answers. ... Anyone who equates delivering feedback with filling out forms has lost the battle for smart appraisal before its begun. ... But most of them involve administrative neatness or legal nervousness, not sound thinking about feedback. ... The most valuable kinds of feedback, they concluded, are the daily interactions between leaders and their people - interactions that cant be captured on paper. ... Feedback Delayed is Feedback Denied You know the old joke about airline food. ... Bruce Tulgan interviewed hundreds of managers and employees for his book, FAST Feedback ( the acronym stands for "frequent, accurate, specific, timely" ). ... Thats where "FAST feedback" comes in. Tulgan offers lots of techniques for accelerating how people deliver and process feedback. Managers, he says, can build feedback into routine meetings and memos. They can learn to deliver feedback through email and voice mail. ... Ideally, they should set aside a designated chunk of time each day, just for giving their people feedback. "If we really want a just-in-time workforce," he argues, "we have to create just-in-time feedback." One caution: Theres a difference between timely feedback and rushed feedback. Rick Maurer, author of Feedback Toolkit ( Productivity Press, 1994 ), argues that a few old-fashioned principles of human behavior still apply, even in fast-paced work environments. If youre providing feedback around an emotionally charged event, wait a day or two ( but never more than a week ). ... " And if your feedback involves a big issue, something the person youre working with really needs to take seriously, then find an appropriate time and place - even if it delays the session. ... "Dont give important feedback in the hallway. ... Feedback is Where You Find It Its a mistake to blame all the problems with performance reviews on the people who deliver them. Feedback is no different from any other business process - you get out of it only what you put into it. If youre not getting enough useful feedback, dont look at your boss; start by looking at yourself. ... Theres feedback all around you - if you pay attention. If youre not getting enough feedback, ask for it. ... She heard from a unit coach that a new employee, whod been on the job three months and had been working with Saunier on a project, complained that he wasnt receiving enough feedback. ... Just because I didnt sit him down in my office doesnt mean I wasnt providing feedback. The next time we walked back from the clients, I began our discussion by saying, Now, heres some feedback." LeRoy Pingho, a vice president at Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant, never complains that hes not getting enough feedback. ... He wrote an assessment based on the feedback he received, and then distributed copies to 50 people: bosses, peers, direct reports, his wife. ... " At GM Powertrain Group, a new approach to feedback is helping salaried employees gain more self-confidence. ... The new system, called Individual Growth Strategy, revolves around a few simple principles: People want to do their best. The people who improve are those who have the most control over their development. So its up to employees - not managers - to decide what kind of feedback is most useful and from whom it should come. GM offers training in ideas, techniques, and tools for soliciting feedback. But its up to the people who want feedback to seek it out. ... "The same goes for feedback. If I solicit feedback, Im more inclined to use it. ... Giving People a Raise isn’t the Same as Giving them Feedback Its hard to argue with the principle that the better you do, the more money you should get. ... "Feedback is a conversation about how much meaning you and I can create. Feedback is about success for your people and your customers. ... Pay and feedback are not related. ... Always Get Feedback on Your Feedback One reason candid feedback is so important is that most people are great at self-delusion. ... That same talent for self-delusion applies to the art of giving feedback. Bruce Tulgan puts it this way: "Theres such a disconnect between managers impressions of the feedback they give and their employees impressions of the feedback they get. ... He suggests that managers think about the three most recent times they offered feedback to one of their employees. Then, they should write down brief answers to questions about those sessions: What prompted you to give feedback on that matter at that time? ... What was the substance of the feedback? ... "Think of the people who work for you as customers for your feedback," he argues. "Find out whether the feedback youre providing is working for them. ... " Research Insights about Feedback: 1. Computer-based performance feedback leads to greater improvements in performance when it is received directly from the computer system rather than via and immediate supervisor. ... Recipients of feedback perceive it to be more accurate when they actively participate in the feedback session versus passively receiving feedback. ... “The higher one rises in organization the less likely one is to receive quality feedback about job performance.” Survey Feedback Survey feedback is a process of collecting and feeding back data from organization or department through the use of a questionnaire or survey. ... Because questionnaires often are used in organization diagnosis, particularly in OD efforts involving large numbers of participants, and because it is a powerful intervention in its own right, survey feedback is discussed here as a special case of data feedback. Survey feedback is major technique in the history and development of OD. ... Another trend has been to combine survey feedback with other OD interventions, including work design, structural change, large-group interventions, and inter-group relations. These change methods are the outcome of planning and implementation phase following from survey feedback. Survey feedback generally involves five steps: 1. ... The OD consultant usually analyzes the survey data, tabulates the results, suggests approaches to diagnosis, and trains client members to lead the feedback process. ... Data feedback usually begins at the top of the organization and cascade downward to group reporting to managers at successively lower levels. ... Feedback meetings provide an opportunity to work with the data. Survey and Organizational Dependencies Traditionally, the steps of survey feedback have been applied to work groups and organizational units with little attention to dependencies among them. Research suggests, however, that the design of survey feedback should vary depending on how closely the participating units are linked with one another.