And thank you for that—I think that’s a great point. I was probably a bit too harsh in dismissing 360 degree reviews: at least in some circumstances, I agree with you—it seems like they’d be hard to game.
Having said that, I think it would mostly depend on the level of power held by the person being subjected to a 360 review. The more power the person had, the more I’d be concerned about the process failing to detect malevolent traits. If respondents thought the person of interest was capable of (1) inferring who negative feedback came from and (2) exacting retribution (for example), then I imagine that this perception could have a chilling effect on the completeness and frankness of feedback.
For people who aren’t already in a position of power, I agree that 360 degree reviews would probably be less gameable. But in those cases, I’d still be somewhat concerned if they had high levels of narcissistic charm (since I’d expect those people to have especially positive feedback from their “fervent followers,” such that—even in the presence of negative feedback from some people—their high levels of malevolent traits may be more likely to be missed, especially if the people reviewing the feedback were not educated about the potential polarizing effects of people with high levels of narcissism).
If 360 reviews were done in ways that guaranteed (to the fullest extent possible) that the person of interest could not pinpoint who negative feedback came from, and if the results were evaluated by people who had been educated about the different ways in which malevolent traits can present, I would be more optimistic about their utility. And I could imagine that information from such carefully conducted and interpreted reviews could be usefully combined with other (ideally more objective) sources of information. In hindsight, my comment didn’t really address these ways in which 360 reviews might be useful in conjunction with other assessments, so thank you so much for catching this oversight!
I’d always be interested in discussing any of these points further.
Thank you, Tao—I’m glad you found it informative!
And thank you for that—I think that’s a great point. I was probably a bit too harsh in dismissing 360 degree reviews: at least in some circumstances, I agree with you—it seems like they’d be hard to game.
Having said that, I think it would mostly depend on the level of power held by the person being subjected to a 360 review. The more power the person had, the more I’d be concerned about the process failing to detect malevolent traits. If respondents thought the person of interest was capable of (1) inferring who negative feedback came from and (2) exacting retribution (for example), then I imagine that this perception could have a chilling effect on the completeness and frankness of feedback.
For people who aren’t already in a position of power, I agree that 360 degree reviews would probably be less gameable. But in those cases, I’d still be somewhat concerned if they had high levels of narcissistic charm (since I’d expect those people to have especially positive feedback from their “fervent followers,” such that—even in the presence of negative feedback from some people—their high levels of malevolent traits may be more likely to be missed, especially if the people reviewing the feedback were not educated about the potential polarizing effects of people with high levels of narcissism).
If 360 reviews were done in ways that guaranteed (to the fullest extent possible) that the person of interest could not pinpoint who negative feedback came from, and if the results were evaluated by people who had been educated about the different ways in which malevolent traits can present, I would be more optimistic about their utility. And I could imagine that information from such carefully conducted and interpreted reviews could be usefully combined with other (ideally more objective) sources of information. In hindsight, my comment didn’t really address these ways in which 360 reviews might be useful in conjunction with other assessments, so thank you so much for catching this oversight!
I’d always be interested in discussing any of these points further.
Thank you again for your feedback and thoughts!