Summer Assignment

Types & Usefulness of Feedback

Technique in Corporate
Workplace

Prepared By: Aishwarya Malhotra

BBA SEM III
A30206415067
Submitted To: Subhendu Bhattacharya
Table of Contents Report Title 2
Introduction............03
Concept of Feedback
Main topic.............04
Types & Usefulness of Feedback Technique in Corporate Workplace
Types of feedback...04

Sources of feedback...07

Types of Feedback Technique in Corporate Workplace.......08

Usefulness of Feedback Technique in Corporate Workplace...10

Importance of feedback..13

How it affect the workplace14

Conclusion..............15
Biblography..............................16

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1. Introduction Report Title 3

1.1. Concept of feedback

Process in which the effect or output of an action is 'returned' (fed-
back) to modify the next action is called feedback. Feedback is
essential to the working and survival of all regulatory mechanisms
found throughout living and non-living nature, and in man-made
systems such as education system and economy. As a two-way flow,
feedback is inherent to all interactions, whether human-to-human,
human-to-machine, or machine-to-machine. In an organizational
context, feedback is the information sent to an entity (individual or
a group) about its prior behaviour so that the entity may adjust its
current and future behaviour to achieve the desired result.

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2. Types of feedback techniques in Report Title 4

corporate workplace
2.1. Types of feedback in corporate
workplace
The type of feedback given to employees has a major impact on
their subsequent performance. In order for managers to be most
effective at providing feedback, they must understand the
differences between the three main types of feedback:

Constructive feedback information specific, issue-focused and

based on observations. There are four types of constructive
feedback:

Negative feedback corrective comments about past

behaviour. Focuses on behaviour that wasnt successful and
shouldnt be repeated.
Positive feedback affirming comments about past behaviour.
Focuses on behaviour that was successful and should be
continued.
Negative feed forward corrective comments about future
performance. Focuses on behaviour that should be avoided in
the future.
Positive feed forward affirming comments about future
behaviour. Focused on behaviour that will improve performance
in the future.
Praise positive statements about a person. Most employees will
respond to praise with an increase in self-esteem, self-efficacy
and/or confidence.

Criticism an opinion, judgment or negative statement about the

person or their behavior. Criticism is destructive feedback and is
generally not effective at increasing performance in the workplace.
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The three types of feedback can have varying effects on the
employee. In order for feedback to have the greatest impactReport
on Title 5
performance, managers should increase the amount of constructive
feedback they give while decreasing the amount of criticism. Praise
should also be given to employees, but should not be an essential
component of the feedback process.

Some other types of feedback

1. Motivational Feedback: Motivational feedback is, in effect,

recognition. It fulfils our very human need to be valued by both
ourselves and others. Motivational feedback is where you give
someone approval for what they are doing as a way of reinforcing
that behaviour.

2. Developmental Feedback: Effective developmental feedback

points out strengths and weaknesses when addressing major issues
of logic, organization, development or correctness. When providing
developmental feedback, an instructor often acts as coach,
commentator, or even devils advocate, pointing out ways the paper
can be improved, asking questions, and/or challenging the authors
ideas. In other words, comments intended to improve writing are
pretty much the same as those that lead to improved thinking in any
forum.
3. Intrinsic Feedback: Comes from within; proprioceptors and
kinaesthesis, concerning the feel of the movement, for example the
feeling of the balance during a handstand. This type of feedback is
important for autonomous learners who are at a level where they
know themselves what needs to be corrected purely by the feeling of
the skill.
4. Extrinsic Feedback: Comes from an external source, for
example a teacher or coach. This type of feedback is received by
seeing and hearing and is used to support intrinsic feedback.
Extrinsic feedback is important for beginners/ cognitive learners
who have yet to develop the feel of the movement. The feedback can
be positive or negative.

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2.2. Sources of Feedback in the Workplace Report Title 6
There are 5 main sources of feedback in businesses. Each source of
feedback can provide a different perspective on performance and
can be a valuable component of the feedback process.

Customers: Customers can be the most important source of

feedback. Companies should solicit feedback from customers
about individual, team, group and management performance.
They should do so using surveys, customer visits, a complaint
system and customer focus groups.
Objective data: Statistical measures, KPIs and real-time data
should all be used to provide objective feedback to an
employee. These can be the most objective source of
feedback, but can also be misleading. For instance, service
level may not be the best measurement of performance for
customer service representatives whose goal is to increase
customer satisfaction.
Supervisors, managers and team leaders: Leaders typically
are a rich source of feedback. They are experienced and have
specialized knowledge of the tasks their subordinates are
performing. They also have insight into company procedures,
policy and trajectory. Thus, they likely have a comprehensive
understanding of the employees performance. Leaders are
an integral part of the feedback process and should receive
adequate training to acquire relevant information for the
feedback process.
Peers: Co-workers performing similar jobs can have a better
understanding of their peers performance than supervisors
and upper management. They can also provide a different
perspective for the feedback process.
Subordinates: Upward feedback is the method of allowing
subordinates to provide feedback about managers style and
performance.

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2.3. Types of feedback techniques in corporate
Report Title 7

workplace
Ask-Tell-Ask
Ask employee for self assessment
Tell them the behavior/performance you observe and how it
differs to what you expect.
Ask employee how they think they could improve and what action
they can take.
The Compliment Sandwich Feedback Technique

Managers Often Resent Giving Corrective Feedback

Feedback is a central component of the manager-employee

relationship. Often, managers are reluctant resent giving corrective
(or negative) feedback. They assume employee defensiveness and
fear that negative feedback will offend the employee and thus affect
their rapport with the employee. Such managers are likely to
withhold criticism. They fail to provide timely, relevant feedback in
various circumstances, from employee tardiness to inappropriate
attire (especially if the employee is of the opposite gender.)

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Sandwich Feedback & Purported Benefits
Report Title 8
The sandwich feedback technique is a popular three-step procedure
to help managers who are ill at ease with providing corrective
feedback. The sandwich feedback method consists of praise
followed by corrective feedback followed by more praise. In other
words, the sandwich feedback method involves discussing corrective
feedback that is sandwiched between two layers of praise.

The purported benefits of this technique are twofold:

(1) it softens the impact of the criticism or corrective feedback,

(2) given that a manager is probably more comfortable with

praising the employee, the manager finds it easier to discuss
problems with the employees behavior if this discussion begins and
ends with praising the employee.

Demerits of this technique:- Once a popular technique to cushion

the blow of delivering negative feedback, the sandwich approach
has now fallen out of favor. This technique slipping a criticism
in between two compliments has been recognized for its faults.
For starters, employees see right through it. When served as a way
to make it easier to digest negative feedback, praise is diluted.
Second, delaying the inevitable invokes anxiety.

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2.2. Usefulness of feedback techniques in Report Title 9

corporate workplace

Generally people in the workplace undergo

difficulties from deficient performance
feedback in almost all organizations. The
employee review feedback and its influence is
present at every level of an organization.

Feedback or criticism is not only inexpensive, influential and

authoritative but also the widely used management device that
professionals have at disposal. Feedback is influential since it
shows the pathway for betterment. Workplace feedback provides
guidance to people and also shows how their colleagues perceive
their performance. Feedback is always immensely fascinating and
revitalizing. It fosters resilient connections with employee fulfilment
and thereby directly proportional to productivity.

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Usefulness of feedback Report Title 10

Effective feedback helps individuals to understand what they did

well and what they could do better. Once they know what is good
and what isnt, they are able to adapt their behaviour and work to
improve it. Thus, feedback is a key tool for improving both
individual and team performance.

Effective feedback in the form of praise lets staff know that they
have achieved something. It recognises their efforts and gives rise to
the satisfaction of a job well done. Feedback plays an extremely
large part in the Motivation of employees.

Feedback can be used for a variety of management purposes,

including to

Influence someone to do something differently or to change

their approach

Show people that you appreciate what they did and give them
recognition, which helps to motivate them

Get information from your manager, team or others regarding

your own performance and behaviour

Improve the quality of an individuals work or the work of

teams

Show people that you value them and their input

Help people back onto the right target when they have
misunderstood a goal or task

Build and maintain relationships with an open and honest

dialogue, fostering trust and support

Set and explain expectations regarding behaviour and

performance, enabling people to meet and exceed their
objectives.
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Importance of feedback Report Title 11

The first thing to realise is that feedback in its broader sense is vital
to life. Without feedback there could be no natural selection, no
evolution.
Feedback is an essential component of effective change.
Within the workplace, there is always change. Paradoxically,
change is perhaps the one constant. Feedback seeking it, giving it
and receiving it is one of the most effective tools we have for
harnessing and promoting change, so that it is to our benefit.
That is the more global view, but how is feedback important to me,
right here, right now, in my situation as a manager in an
organisation?
Just as on the global level, feedback is an essential component of
effective change, and therefore improvement, and one of the roles
of any manager is to seek to improve things. Feedback helps us
understand things like

What we can change to get better results

The rate of progress towards a goal

What needs to happen to improve relationships

Whether something is worth doing

How well we are doing

What others think of us or how they value us

Our level of performance against a target

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 Report Title 12
How negative Feedback Affects the Worker and
the Workplace:
Negative feedback is something that most employees hope to avoid
from their employer. Negative feedback generally signals that the
employee has not completed all aspects of her job satisfactorily and
that there is need for improvement. However, not all negative
feedback necessarily needs to be detrimental to employee morale. In
reality, each worker is different and the negative feedback provided
by employers will affect employees in various ways.

Behaviour:-

One of the positive effects of negative feedback is the impact it

has on employee behavior. Randy Slechta of Leadership
Management International Inc., asserts that negative feedback
can be used to stop unwanted behavior in the workplace.
Negative feedback is the same type of corrective feedback that
a parent often provides to a child who behaving badly or in a
way that lead to the child getting hurt. The parent's insistence
that the child stop such behavior elicits new and acceptable
behavior. Employers too can use the same type of corrective
measures to get employees to engage in a desired behavioral
pattern.

Reception:-

Negative feedback can be received differently by employees

and can have an effect on the employee in a negative manner.
Employees who do not receive negative feedback as being
constructive may have their morale weakened and this could
spill over into employee performance. Those who feed off of
the negative side of the feedback may not perform as well on
the job if they sulk or dwell on the negative aspects of the
feedback.

Motivation:-

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 Other employees not only change their behavior in response to
negative feedback, but also feed off the feedback as aReport
sourceTitle
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motivation. Those who are either angered or at least driven to
do a better job can use the negative feedback as a means of
improvement in terms of performance. Some people approach
negative feedback with the attitude that they will show the
employer that the feedback he provided was wrong. With these
employees, the "I'll show you" attitude usually prevails.

Self-Reflection:-

Some employees respond to negative feedback in a less

emotional and more cerebral manner. These employees assess
the feedback as an opportunity for self-reflection and a
learning opportunity. These eternal optimists see the feedback
as an indication that they need to pay closer attention to their
own performance and behavior so that they can do a better job
in the future. In this sense, negative feedback inspires change.

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 Report Title 14
How Positive Feedback Affects the Worker and
the Workplace:
Small business owners and managers are often pressed for time as
they try to manage tasks for which entire departments exist in larger
organizations, such as accounting and human resources. Operating
under a constant time crunch leads some owners and managers to
provide employees only with negative feedback after a problem or
error. Providing only negative, critical feedback can lower
workplace morale and productivity, since it leaves employees feeling
under-appreciated. Positive feedback, an approach that emphasizes
singling out positive behavior, provides key advantages to business
owners and managers in addressing employee performance.
Promotes Engagement:-
The most carefully phrased criticisms still cause the recipient
pain. In psychological terms, people avoid things that pain
them and embrace things that give pleasure. A boss that
singles out only failures creates a constant stream of pain
associations that will drive employees to distance themselves
from management. Praise, on the other hand, gives people
pleasure and encourages them to engage with management,
which increases the chances that employees will share new
ideas and point out problem areas in the business.

Boosts Performance:-
The exact parameters of human performance in a given work
situation remain murky. Most workplaces employ a few,
extremely high-performing individuals, but such individuals
may possess unusual talent. In general, though, positive
reinforcement boosts the performance of the majority of
employees, including the highest performing employees. The
small employee roster of small businesses makes this outcome
particularly relevant, as a boost in overall productivity can
translate into a comparatively huge financial gain relative to a
large organization.

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 Cost-Effective
Employee turnover costs money. The AARP reports that the 15
Report Title

cost for replacing an employee ranges from 50 percent to 150

percent of the employee's annual salary, depending on their
skill set. By promoting workplace morale through positive
feedback, small business owners can reduce turnover and save
on those costs. Most forms of positive feedback require no
direct capital investment, simply a few moments of a
manager's or owner's time. The capital investment of the
positive feedback approaches that incur direct costs, such as
raises, typically pale in comparison to replacement costs.

Encourages Wanted Behaviors

Perhaps the simplest advantage of positive reinforcement is
that it directly encourages behaviors that a manager or
business owner wants employees to repeat. Employees often
suffer under a haze of uncertainty about the exact
expectations of a given position. Negative feedback only
clarifies what behaviors do not go with a job. By singling out
the good behaviors, it sends a direct message to an employee
that a given behavior falls exactly within the parameters of
that employee's job, which informs future decisions the
employee will make regarding behavior.

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3. Conclusion Report Title 16

Providing positive and constructive workplace

feedback is a vital component of the
management skill set and the professional world.
Importance of feedback has an authoritative
control and effect on the accomplishments and
welfare of the organisation and the individual
workers. Constructive workplace feedback
enhances associations between the leader and
the workers; it fosters fidelity, produce fervour
and dedication amongst the employees for their
employer but is also influential in the welfare of
the employees through fulfilling the fundamental
wants of identification, encouragement and
faith. Workplace feedback has given birth to a
few popular workplace ethics; as none wishes to
work with a bully or stupid person, and all
professionals have the fundamental right to
anticipate that they will be regarded with esteem
and encouragement to achieve success.

In summary, regular, good quality feedback is one of the most

important ingredients in building effective working relationships
and in getting things done.

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4. Bibliography Report Title 17

1. 360 Feedback by Alwa R Ainsworth.

2. Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen

3. The Mirror Method by Marli Rusen

4. Giving Effective Feedback from Harward Business Review

Press

5. The Art & Science of Communication by P.S. Perkins.

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