Alex Carey
January 12, 2015
MGMT 300: Short Paper 1
The Uses and Effects of 360 Degree Performance Appraisals An age old question in the minds of every manager, “How do I improve my employee’s performance?” For some, the answer to this question lies in a managerial tool known as 360 degree performance appraisals. Before going into some of the pros and cons of this tool, it must first be defined. The goal of the 360 degree performance appraisal is to identify an employee’s strengths and weaknesses through a series of questions that are posed to the employee themselves, as well as the employee’s supervisor, subordinates, peers, and customers (Colquitt et al., 2015, p.50). The employee then is given the responses and compares them with their own, seeing where the discrepancies lie between their self-evaluations and those of their peers. The primary goal of the 360 degree performance appraisal is to improve employee’s skills and performance, but there are also other uses for it. The primary advantage of the 360 degree performance appraisal is to inform employees and administrators of their weaknesses and provide the necessary coaching and tools to help them improve (Colquitt et al., 2015, p.50). Alternatively, it provides a better representation of the employee then one person can determine. A boss who does not know or observe closely a particular employee is able to have additional input and information when making administrative decisions such as a promotion (Taylor, 2011). Not only does this tool allow for employees to improve themselves in the workplace, but it also ensures that a person’s positive or negative performance does not go unseen. This tool is not perfect, and there are several disadvantages to it as well. Polling several different people will never yield the same exact answers. The inconsistency in the responses poses the questions “which is more correct?” and leads to an imperfect system of weighing the answers (Colquitt et al., 2015, p.50). There is also a difficulty in overcoming the politics that may impact the responses of certain people who are polled, especially when it comes to their peers. A person competing for the same position might show a more negative score, while an employee who sees the subject as a