Niit Experience with 360 Degree Feedback

 

360-degree feedback is viewed in NIIT as a cultural tool - a tool to build, sustain and nurture a particular kind of culture in the organization. They have learnt it primarily from other organizations like GE and then adapted it to their requirements.

About NIIT

NIIT is a Rs. 850 crores Global IT solutions Corporation operating in 30 countries. It has over 3800 employees in several worldwide locations. NIIT has been growing in the range of 30-50% every year and represents essentially the innovative face of Indian Corporates. It stands no 1 in the Indian market of IT education and Training.

 

360-degree tool in NIIT

IEF (Individual Effectiveness Feedback) story in NIIT: Evolution:

 

v      In 1996 this process was started with a bang and right in the first year linked a part of it with the reward system.

v      There is normal distribution and the people are put in a particular category of compensation.

v      In 1997, it was observed that everybody got high ratings because obviously people didn't want anybody's compensation to be affected due to IEF.

v      In 1998 there was a very big company specific problem. There were more than 1200 transfers in a year.

v      All such issues were refined in 1998 and put on the web for prompt dissemination.

Instrument design:

At NIIT, the 360-degree feedback tool is referred to as the IEF (Individual Effectiveness Feedback). It seeks to measure an individual's effectiveness on the five most desirable attributes in NIITians, viz.:

v      Contribution to creating high performance teams

v      Communication

v      Values

v      Encouraging Personal Responsibility and ownership

v      Ability to build shared purpose       

v      The rating is done on a scale of 4 ranging from Does it rarely to Does it always.

People involved: People participating in the process are:

v      Self

v      Peers

v      Team Members (subordinates)

v      Supervisors

Web enabled system:

Another distinguishing feature of NIIT's IEF is that it is web enabled.

IEF screen has links to:

v      Details of IEF in NIIT

v      Frequently asked questions in IEF

v      The IEF Form

Output - 360-degree feedback report:

v      Once people have filled in the forms, there is software with a built in logic and the system itself generates a report for the individual.

v      All information keyed in gets generated as a scorecard.

v      Another interesting aspect is that it gives a graphical bar chart based output of feedback over the years.