360 Degree Appraisal System

360 Degree Appraisal was first developed by General Electric(GE). Today it is used in all major organisations . In India , it is being used by Crompton Greaves, wipro , infosys ,reliance industries etc.

An appraisal made by the top management , immediate superior , peers , subordinates , self and customers is called 360 degree appraisal . here, the performance of the employee or manager is evaluated by six parties , including himself . So he gets a feedback of his performance from everyone around him. This method is very reliable because evaluation is done by many different parties. these parties are in the best position to evaluate the employee or manager because they continuously interacting and working with him . this method is mostly used to evaluate the performance of the employees . However , it is also used to evaluate other qualities such as talent , behavior , values , ethical standards , temper , loyalty etc.

The six parties involved in 360 Degree Appraisal are :

1. Top Management : the top management generally  assess the performance of  the middle level employees. however , in small organisation , they also assess  the performance of the lower level subordinates and senior employees .
2. Immediate Superior : The immediate superior is in a very good position to evaluate performance of his subordinates . This is because they have direct and accurate information about the work performance of their subordinates .
3. Peers or Co-workers: Peers or colleagues also evaluate each other`s performance . They work together so they have better about one`s performance  , this method is commonly where team work is important ,peer evaluation used as effective tool to measure the performance . but the workers should be honest while giving evaluation about any ones` performance .
4. Subordinates : The subordinates also evaluates the performance of their superiors . now a days students are being asked to evaluate the performance of their teachers .
5. Self Appraisal : Self appraisal means appraising their own performance . for this workers need to be honest and able to give fair results . This leads in self development .
6. Customers: Customer`s feedback or their evaluation is important for organisation to  keep its  high standards of customer service. organisation asked customers to give proper evaluation about the employee who dealt with them . or they use to call them for their feedback.

In addition to these six parties , appraisal can also be done by an Appraisal Panel. This panel consist 5-6 different types of members . outside consultants are also used for  conducting appraisal . In some cases , personnel department also conducts an appraisal of employees and managers .

Click here for government certification in Human Resources