Employee Development Study - Introduction

The survey was undertaken in the UK arm of a new media agency, as partial fulfilment of an MSc in Occupational Psychology. The aim was to evaluate existing review and development processes in the light of psychological theory and feed any 'blind spots' back to the company.

In particular, recent pilot initiatives such as the instigation of personal development plans and personal development coaches and the introduction of 360 degree feedback were compared against more traditional top down appraisal. If successful, such initiatives should have a measurable impact on attitudinal measures such as organisational commitment and job satisfaction.

An organisational justice perspective was used as a theoretical angle also drawing on more general theories about the effects of feedback. Most studies to date have been concerned with the 'feedback sign', in other words whether feedback has a positive or negative content. However, it has consistently been shown that it is not always so that positive feedback results in positive feelings and behaviour and negative feedback in negative consequences. One theory that can be applied in this context is the organisational justice perspective. According to this, individuals are much more likely to accept feedback and be much more likely to change future behaviour, if they think the feedback given has been fair, regardless of the content of the feedback message. In short, fair procedures are accepted by those involved and ultimately lead to positive outcomes. Good (fair) practices entail such markers as room for participation, two-way communication, timely instigation and repeated follow up.

For instance, it was expected that 360 degree feedback which uses feedback from multiple sources would be seen as fairer than one-to-one meetings. It also has often been said that any development initiatives will 'fall flat' if they are not bound into an overall supportive organisational climate. Hence, it was also evaluated whether the company's employees felt sufficiently supported outside formal review and development processes. Only an edited summary of findings is given in the following, as several data points and recommendations made are confidential.

How many took part?

In all, 133 individuals submitted their responses, equalling a response rate of nearly 45%. This is reasonable for a non-mandatory survey and ensures adequate representation of all involved.

The advantages of a web based survey

The present survey was delivered via the company's intranet and all results were collected via an external database. Although thorough research findings comparing paper and pen surveys with data collected online are still reasonably sparse, web-based surveys are possibly more accurate as people might be more likely to be honest. This has to do with on-line data creating a feeling of more distance, and also making people choose their responses more spontaneously. Moreover, externally held data can also ameliorate fears about confidentiality.

Quantitative and qualitative data

A survey is a good instrument to reach out to a large number of people simultaneously thus enabling a comparison between groups, or in other words inferences about the 'big picture'. But as well as collecting 'hard numbers', extensive qualitative data was also collected (via people's comments on the survey and via personal interviews), which gave a much richer picture about what individual participants really think.

| Next |