Improving Employee Performance: 360 Degree Feedback at Sahra LLC

This report examines the implementation and effectiveness of a 360-degree feedback system within Sahra LLC, a consumer goods company. It begins with an introduction to performance management and the 360-degree feedback approach, followed by a literature review of relevant research. The report then analyzes the company's current system, discussing its characteristics, and identifies key findings. It highlights the importance of clear objectives, anonymity, and actionable feedback. The report concludes with specific recommendations for improving the 360-degree feedback process, including considering team history, establishing clear purposes, ensuring rater anonymity, delivering and sharing feedback effectively, asking the right questions, and focusing on strengths. The overall aim is to enhance employee performance and engagement within the organization. The report also considers the resistance encountered during initial implementation and suggests ways to overcome it.

Running Head: Performance management system
Sahra LLC
Performance Management
360 Degree Feedback Approach

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Table of Content
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review................................................................................................................................3
Discussion of the case study.............................................................................................................5
Finding about the company...........................................................................................................5
Characteristic of effective 360 Degree feedback system..........................................................6
Recommendation................................................................................................................................6
Consider the background and history of the team......................................................................7
Establish the structure and purpose for 360 degree feedback.................................................7
Assure rater anonymity and feedback..........................................................................................7
Deliver and share feedback with the team..................................................................................7
Asking the right questions..............................................................................................................8
Searching for Strength rather than the weakness......................................................................8
Explain the intent behind the system...........................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Performance management can be understood as a continuous process in which
managers and the employees work together for the purpose of planning, monitoring
and reviewing the goals and objectives of the employee, and the contribution he has
been making to the organization (Rao, Wang & Huang, 2016). The fundamental use
of performance management is to promote and improve employee efficiency and
effectiveness. Performance planning, on-going performance communication, data
gathering, performance appraisal, performance diagnosis and coaching are the
important components of a performance management system (Mir & Pinnington,
2014). The importance of performance management lies in the fact that it helps to
assess and ensure that the employee is performing his duties in an effective and
satisfying manner, more so in alignment with the overall goals and objectives of the
organization. Organizations have been using performance management to ensure
that organization goals and objectives are in complete alignment with the skill set,
performance and competencies of the employees. It also helps to bring uniformity in
understanding for all the employees at an organizational level (Kearney, 2018)
The underlying purpose of the assignment here is to understand the utility of 360
degree feedback system at Sahra LLC and how the existing system can be improved
to increase the efficiency of its employees. The report will also put some light on the
general discussion of 360 degree feedback system, importance of the process for
the firm. Towards the end, recommendation pertaining to best practices of 360
degree feedback system will be suggest for Sahra LLC.

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Literature Review
Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance
management. Harvard Business Review, 93(4), pp.40-50.
The aim of the literature here is to assess how Deloitte brought radical changes in its
Performance management plan to drive results for the organization. Marcus
Buckingham and Ashley Goodall published an article in Harvard Business Review
named reinventing performance management, wherein they have discussed the big
idea of how one company is revaluating Peer feedback and trying hard to design a
system to fuel improvement in the organization. The goal which the authors set for
Deloitte was to design a system which would be able to recognize the varying
performance of the employees and provide a clear picture of their present
performance along with the roadmap to boast their future performance. The solution
which authors seemed perfect for Deloitte was to separate the compensation
decision from day to day and provide clear insight through quarterly or per project,
Performance snapshot, they wanted to rely on weekly check ins with managers to
keep the performance on track. Deloitte realized the need for change in the current
system when they tallied the number and found out that they have been spending 2
million hours a year to review all the documents and complete the performance
management process.
Deloitte realized three objectives which have to be focussed on to evoke a radical
redesign of the performance management system;
 Recognize performance through variable compensation
 See the clear performance of the employee
 Fuel the performance of the employees.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
In the year 2018, Cascio discussed the importance of 360 degree feedback system
for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees. In the Book
“Managing human resources” Cascio mentioned that a round the year assessment is
the true reflection of the employee performance. A process of continuous feedback
system helps him to learn from his mistake and an action plan helps him to focus on

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the future and let bygones be bygones. It was pointed that such a performance
management plan helps the employee to improve his professional relation with his
immediate manager and peers. The management plan was also helpful in motivating
them towards fulfilment of their business goals and objectives. Feedback was
collected from Plethora of employees, all of whom were in big support of the
performance management and resonated with the management by saying that the
plan was helpful in shaping their personality and increasing their productivity
exponentially.
Mone, E.M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective
performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.
Mone and London in the year 2018 published a book on employee engagement
through effective performance management plan; the book was extremely helpful for
organization in building engagement amongst its employees. Mone and London
mentioned that an engaged employee is someone who feels motivated, involved ,
committed, passionate and empowered and demonstrates the same feelings in the
workplace.360 degree feedback process addresses the issue and engages the
workforce in the process, which empowers them and pushes them to work hard
towards the attainment of their goals. 360 degree feedback system gives an insight
about the SWOT of the employees, developmental areas on the basis of other’s
feedback, based on all the information creates a competency development plan with
specific objectives. In return, this keeps the employee engaged with the entire
process and they are happy to take the steps to further enhance their working
capabilities in the organization.
Cardy, R. and Leonard, B., 2014. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills
and Exercises: Concepts, Skills and Exercises. Routledge.
Cardy and Leonard are the co-authors of multiple books on human resources, in his
particular book they went a step ahead and laid down guidelines for the organization
to write the process of 360 degree feedback process. The first step in creating a fool
proof management plan is to identify the core purpose of the feedback; this will help
in understanding if people have the capabilities to reach the performance expected.
The next step is to gain commitment from the management, and keep them on the
same page by reporting to them. Involving and engaging the employees throughout

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the process and make them understand the process. Understanding the
competencies and the values to be used in the process, the employees need to be
aware of the training and coaching to be provided to them. To ensure all the above
mentioned process, communicating with the people is extremely important, make
employees understand who will provide the feedback and asking people to be really
open in providing feedback of the employees. The last few steps in the process
include follow up and collecting the feedback, producing report, providing coaching
and at last post implementation review for better performance assessment.
Church, A.H. and Waclawski, J., 2017. Designing and using organizational
surveys. Routledge.
Church and Waclawski in their book “Designing and using organizational surveys”
discussed on the importance of the feedback system in the organization and on the
performance of the employees. They described the process as not just a
performance evaluation tool, but a consistent development project which allows the
employees to know about their strength and weaknesses. The feedback process
helps the employees to increase self-awareness and get a balanced view on their
performance. Another utility of the system lies in the fact that it encourages
employees to leverage on their strength, development of the required skills to be
competent for the job role and uncovering blindsports in their behaviour. Hence, it
can be said that the balanced feedback system holds great utility for the organization
and the employees especially, as it is a directly proportional to their productivity in
the organization.
Finding about the company
Sahara LLC is a Muscat based consumer goods Company which sells goods such
as paper product, cleaning supplies, and health and beauty products and is
operating under the leadership of its CEO Mr Junaid. Sahara LLC adopted the 360
degree feedback system 2 years ago and was met with a lot of resistance, the
employees were not totally convinced with the idea and had no clue as to how the
feedback system would help them in improving their performance. It was later
understood that the 360 degree feedback system has plethora of utility for the
employees, utilities such as skill development, leveraging the strength, increasing
their productivity and strengthening the relationship with the managers and peers are

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some positive elements of the balanced feedback process. The purpose of
implementing a new feedback system was not clarified to the employees and hence
was a major resistance when the feedback system was implemented
Characteristic of effective 360 Degree feedback system
It helps in giving much perspective about the performance of an employee. Peer,
team leads and managers give their own review about the performance of an
employee which helps the management to correctly assess employee
performance(Moynihan, 2008).The feedback given by the raters in not based on their
disguised perception, but it is based on the observation and the behaviour of the
employee at the workplace(Verbeeten,2008).There is no one source of feedback in a
360 degree feedback system, feedback is taken and acknowledged from the
subordinates, peers and the managers. The cumulative feedback helps in correct
assessment of the employee’s performance. Another characteristic of the feedback
system, which makes it highly relevant in the present context, is the motivation one
gets after knowing about his strength and weakness. The employee then gets
determined to leverage his strength and work on his weakness (Mitra & Dutta, 2014)
Recommendation
Organizations have been facing numerous internal and external challenges; the
effectiveness to deliver performance becomes a key source of differentiation
between organizations which are successful and the ones which are not. Based on
the same rationale, some recommendations are being provided to Sahara LLC to
enhance the effectiveness of 360 Degree feedback system:
Consider the background and history of the team
Before implementing a 360 degree feedback system, it is highly recommended that
the organization considers the background and history of the team. Some of the
management expert has said that a team has to be 1.7 years in system before
implementing the feedback system.

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Establish the structure and purpose for 360 degree feedback
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the employees, it is very essential to make
them understand the intent and purpose of implementing the feedback system. Once
the employees have clarity that the feedback system will help them in improving their
performance, resistance against the system will be quashed.
Assure rater anonymity and feedback
It is highly recommended that Sahra LLC should maintain anonymity over its raters.
Provided if the anonymity is not maintained the raters will not be able to provide a
comprehensive feedback which can be used to boast the performance of the
employees.
Deliver and share feedback with the team
It is important that to ensure the effectiveness of the program, feedback is shared
with the team. The feedback can be shared either by an internal leader or an
external consultant. The purpose of the feedback is to give a fair assessment to the
individual on his performance, his strength, weakness and areas for improvement, all
this information will help the employee to have a better picture of his performance
and he can review the feedback to work on improving his performance.
Asking the right questions
Question asked during the 360 degree feedback process serve as backbone of
assessing the performance of any individual. Thus it is highly recommended that the
questions are designed in alignment with the goals and objectives of the
organization. In the absence of such question, a clear assessment is hard to obtain
for the employee.
Searching for Strength rather than the weakness
Employees are wary about the outcome of the feedback process; they are in
constant fear that someone will bad mouth them, worsening their ratings. Hence, the
feedback has to showcase the positive aspects of the employee and not the
negative; it should lay emphasis on the strength rather than the weakness of the
employee.

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Explain the intent behind the system
Change management is one of the toughest things to implement in any organization.
People resist changing, because they are unsure about the benefits of the change,
the intent behind it and the rationale to adapt to the change in the organization.
Similar is the case with the feedback system, employees are comfortable with the
elementary feedback system and they see a new feedback system as a disruption to
the current practices. More so, if the objectives and the intent behind introducing the
feedback system are not made clear to them.
Conclusion
Performance management system is a comprehensive tool for assessing the
performance of the employees and helps them to identify the key areas for their
improvement at the workplace. Performance management system addresses the
year old mentality of individuals where they fear the fairness and transparency in the
system, performance management system removes such obstacles in their thinking.
Peer assessment is a great practice which makes the employee understands how
their peer assesses their performance, working on the performance review; they can
constructively work on improving their performance to match the standards of the
organization. Using 360 Degree feedback system can be really effective in a team
environment to promote self-awareness and create transparency in communication
through the pillars of trust, sharing and increased clarity on the goals and behaviour.
However, implementing 360 degree feedback in an organization is not an easy
process, it is clouded by number of challenges at the hands of management,
obstacle like; clarity of purpose, lack of transparency, lack of fairness,
miscommunication are always present. It is therefore recommended to the
management to take care of all the obstacles in the path of implementation of the
feedback system to ensure a smooth transition from an earlier process to a new
process. The report can be concluded by saying that a well drafted, designed and
created 360 degree feedback process can help the employees to excel in their
performance, which would help the team deliver an exceptional performance.

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References
Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance
management. Harvard Business Review, 93(4), pp.40-50.
Kearney, R., 2018. Public sector performance: management, motivation, and
measurement. Routledge.
Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management:
linking project management performance and project success. International journal
of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

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Mitra, S. and Datta, P.P., 2014. Adoption of green supply chain management
practices and their impact on performance: an exploratory study of Indian
manufacturing firms. International Journal of Production Research, 52(7), pp.2085-
2107.
Moynihan, D.P., 2008. The dynamics of performance management: Constructing
information and reform. Georgetown University Press.
Rao, Z., Wang, Q. and Huang, C., 2016. Investigation of the thermal performance of
phase change material/mini-channel coupled battery thermal management
system. Applied energy, 164, pp.659-669.
Shaout, A. and Yousif, M.K., 2014. Performance evaluation–Methods and
techniques survey. International Journal of Computer and Information
Technology, 3(05), pp.2279-0764.