AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF AN UPWARD FEEDBACK PROGRAM OVER TIME

Despite the growing popularity of upward feedback programs, there has been very little research on the effects of upward feedback on changes in managerial performance over time. We examined the effects of imple menting an upward feedback program in which subordinates' ratings were collected for 238 first- through fifth-level managers in a large corp oration at two points in time about 6 months apart. Research questions drawn from goal-setting, control, and social cognition theories guide d our investigation of the effects of (a) receiving feedback, (b) comp leting self-ratings, (c) managers' initial level of performance, and ( d) subordinate's familiarity with the manager on changes over time in the level of ratings and reported opportunity to observe managerial be haviors. Ratings were provided on a 33-item behavioral observation sca le that focused on areas such as the manager's commitment to quality, communications, support of subordinates (encouraging participation, co aching), and fairness. Based on subordinates' ratings, managers whose initial level of performance was moderate or low improved over the 6-m onth period, and this improvement could not be attributed solely to re gression to the mean. Also, both managers and their subordinates becam e more likely over time to indicate that the managers had an opportuni ty to demonstrate behaviors measured by the upward feedback instrument .