James W. Smither

Feedback orientation, feedback culture, and the longitudinal performance management process

Abstract This paper conceptualizes feedback as part of a longitudinal performance management process influenced by, and contributing to, the individuals feedback orientation and the organizations feedback culture. Feedback orientation refers to an individuals overall receptivity to feedback, including comfort with feedback, tendency to seek feedback and process it mindfully, and the likelihood of acting on the feedback to guide behavior change and performance improvement. Feedback culture refers to the organizations support for feedback, including nonthreatening, behaviorally focused feedback, coaching to help interpret and use feedback, and a strong link between performance improvement and valued outcomes. Critical events direct attention to the value of feedback and thereby start a performance management cycle of receiving, absorbing, and applying feedback in the following days, weeks, and months. Human resource research and practice need to measure feedback orientation and culture and capture longitudinal feedback processes to better understand and influence the effects of feedback on self-awareness, self-confidence, and job performance.

Accountability The Achilles' Heel of Multisource Feedback

The authors argue that multisource feedback will have little impact when (a) ratees are not accountable for using the feedback, (b) raters are not accountable for the accuracy or usefulness of the feedback they provide, and (c) management does not accept accountability for providing resources to support behavior change. They review the literature on accountability in performance appraisal and decision making and outline an accountability model applied to raters and ratees. Components of the model include sources of accountability (e.g., the boss and organizational policies), the objective (i.e., the behavior or outcomes for which the actor is accountable), forces used by the sources to affect the actors feelings of accountability (such as reinforcement for performance improvement), and mechanisms for activating these forces and holding someone accountable. Interventions are described to increase the effectiveness of the accountability mechanisms.The authors argue that multisource feedback will have little impact when (a) ratees are not accountable for using the feedback, (b) raters are not accountable for the accuracy or usefulness of the feedback they provide, and (c) management does not accept accountability for providing resources to support behavior change. They review the literature on accountability in performance appraisal and decision making and outline an accountability model applied to raters and ratees. Components of the model include sources of accountability (e.g., the boss and organizational policies), the objective (i.e., the behavior or outcomes for which the actor is accountable), forces used by the sources to affect the actors feelings of accountability (such as reinforcement for performance improvement), and mechanisms for activating these forces and holding someone accountable. Interventions are described to increase the effectiveness of the accountability mechanisms.

Are the Characteristics of Narrative Comments Related to Improvement in Multirater Feedback Ratings Over Time

Researchers have paid almost no attention to the narrative comments that typically accompany multirater feedback reports despite the fact that both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that feedback recipients devote considerable attention to such comments. The authors examined improvement in upward feedback ratings over a 1-year period for 176 managers as a function of (a) the number of narrative comments each manager received, (b) whether those comments were favorable (vs. unfavorable), and (c) whether the comments were behavior/task focused (vs. trait focused). The authors found that managers who received a small number of unfavorable, behavior/task-focused comments improved more than did other managers, whereas managers who received a large number of unfavorable, behavior/task-focused comments declined more than did other managers.

The Relationship Between Leaders’ Personality and Their Reactions to and Use of Multisource Feedback: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined the extent to which personality predicts leaders’ reactions to multisource feedback and use of the feedback for development. Leaders (N = 116) in an elite unit of the U.S. military completed the Jackson Personality Inventory 6 months prior to multisource performance measurement. Self-report and psychologists’ ratings of reactions to feedback were collected immediately after feedback was provided (n = 95). Self-report ratings (n = 49) of development were collected 6 months later. Breadth of interest was positively related to viewing the feedback as valuable. Leaders high in emotional stability were more likely to be rated by a psychologist as motivated to use the feedback. Leaders high in responsibility felt obligated to use the feedback results. Six months later, leaders high in sociability were more likely to have sought additional feedback, and leaders high in responsibility were more likely to have engaged in developmental behaviors.

Self-monitoring and 360-degree ratings

Abstract We examined the relationship between self-monitoring (SM) and supervisor, assessor, peer, and subordinate ratings for 191 managers who participated in a developmental assessment center. We collected self-ratings from the managers concerning their ability and motivation to engage in self-monitoring. SM ability was positively related to supervisor and assessor ratings of interpersonal effectiveness (e.g., empowerment, managing teams, influencing others) but was unrelated to supervisor and assessor ratings of business competence (e.g., planning, decision making, strategic thinking, business knowledge). In contrast, SM motivation was negatively related to peer ratings of business competence. Still, SM explained relatively little variance in 360-degree ratings. 360-degree ratings do not appear to be contaminated by the target managers SM; the small but significant relationship between SM ability and ratings appears to be job-related (and therefore desirable).

An Examination of the Equivalence of Web-Based Versus Paper-and-Pencil Upward Feedback Ratings: Rater- and Ratee-Level Analyses

In this study, 5,257employees provided upward feedback ratings for 759 target managers who had the option of having their subordinates rate them using a traditional paper-and-pencil (opscan) response mode or using the company’s intranet. Preliminary analyses showed mean online ratings were more favorable than were mean paper-and-pencil ratings (d = .38). The authors then conducted rater- and ratee-level hierarchical regression analyses in which they controlled for rater and ratee characteristics. Results showed that (a) the association between response mode and upward feedback ratings was largely artifactual, with response mode accounting for 1% or less of the variance in upward feedback ratings after controlling for rater and ratee characteristics; (b) ratee characteristics accounted for much more of the variance in upward feedback ratings than did rater characteristics; and (c) response mode was unrelated to the number of missing responses.

Discussing multisource feedback with raters and performance improvement

This paper hypothesized that ratees who share their multisource feedback with raters and ask for suggestions would improve more than other ratees. The participants were 5,335 ratees in a large, global corporation who received multisource feedback. Nine months after the initial survey, there was a follow‐up survey in which raters indicated whether the feedback recipient had shared the feedback and asked for suggestions. One year after the initial survey, there was a second multisource feedback survey. It was found that sharing feedback and asking for suggestions accounted for only a very small (albeit statistically significant) proportion of variance in improvement over time. This paper discusses factors that may affect the impact of sharing feedback and asking for suggestions following multisource feedback.

The relationship between core self-evaluations, views of god, and intrinsic/extrinsic religious motivation.

Core self-evaluations refer to a higher-order construct that subsumes four well-established traits in the personality literature: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, (low) neuroticism, and (internal) locus of control. Studies that have examined the relationship between various measures of religiosity and individual components of core self-evaluations show no clear pattern of relationships. The absence of a clear pattern may be due to the failure of most previous studies in this area to use theory to guide research. Therefore, theories related to core self-evaluations, religious motivation, and views of God were used to develop and test four hypotheses. 220 adults completed measures of four religious attitudes (intrinsic religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation, viewing God as loving, and viewing God as punitive), general religiosity, and core self-evaluations, separated by 6 weeks (with the order of measures counterbalanced). Multivariate multiple regression, controlling for general religiosity, showed that core self-evaluations were positively related to viewing God as loving, negatively related to viewing God as punitive, and negatively related to extrinsic religious motivation. The hypothesis that core self-evaluations would be positively related to intrinsic religious motivation was not supported.

A Hybrid Distance-Based Ideal-Seeking Consensus Ranking Model

Ordinal consensus ranking problems have received much attention in the management science literature. A problem arises in situations where a group of k decision makers (DMs) is asked to rank order n alternatives. The question is how to combine the DM rankings into one consensus ranking. Several different approaches have been suggested to aggregate DM responses into a compromise or consensus ranking; however, the similarity of consensus rankings generated by the different algorithms is largely unknown. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid distance-based ideal-seeking consensus ranking model (DCM). The proposed hybrid model combines parts of the two commonly used consensus ranking techniques of Beck and Lin (1983) and Cook and Kress (1985) into an intuitive and computationally simple model. We illustrate our method and then run a Monte Carlo simulation across a range of k and n to compare the similarity of the consensus rankings generated by our method with the best-known method of Borda and Kendall (Kendall 1962) and the two methods proposed by Beck and Lin (1983) and Cook and Kress (1985). DCM and Beck and Lins method yielded the most similar consensus rankings, whereas the Cook-Kress method and the Borda-Kendall method yielded the least similar consensus rankings.

Validating the Feedback Orientation Scale in a Leadership Development Context

Feedback orientation is an individual difference variable that represents individuals’ receptivity to feedback. In 2010, Linderbaum and Levy developed and validated a measure of feedback orientation called the Feedback Orientation Scale (FOS). We investigated the validity of the FOS using 172 participants in a leadership development program designed for middle- to senior-level leaders. Our results support the FOS’s convergent validity, as it was correlated with implicit person theory (assumptions regarding the malleability of personal attributes) and achievement motivation. We also found support for the FOS’s criterion-related validity, as it was correlated with participants’ reactions to their 360-degree feedback. Participants’ feedback orientation, however, was unrelated to coach ratings of their openness, likelihood to change, and defensiveness during their feedback sessions.