To what extent the Sri Lankan culture intervene in multidimensional performance evaluations?

What is multidimensional performance appraisal? The specialty of multi-dimensional performance evaluation or 360 appraisal is that it obtains feed backs from around the circle, i.e., form superiors, peers, subordinates and customers as well. In the challenging business environments which continuously demand for more effective and efficient operations many organizations in Sri Lanka are increasingly using this approach for their performance appraisals. If put in to practice wisely it would encourage employees to grow and develop by providing mutual feed back, where as if put in to practice without caution it can be counterproductive. Expected behaviour of subordinates and superiors under the influence of culture If we consider the Sri Lankan business context, it is highly influenced by the culture of the country. In most cases Sri Lankan culture dominates the organizational culture. Under such circumstances it is necessary to analyze the employees behaviors through the cultural microscope. The way of upbringing of children here has an immense influence on their behaviour when they become employees. The practice of obeying the adults and habit of respecting their wishes is carved into the people here. Therefore they are reluctant to pass judgment on their superiors or give a negative feed back even if they want to do so, hence making the upward feedback process ineffective. And even when they are willing to provide feedback they are less adept in giving balanced and objective feed back. The mindset is created here in Sri Lanka in such a way that the superiors most of the time are not ready to accept a genuine feed back from subordinates. They might look at this process as inappropriate and get offended by the feedback. This might create personal differences and biases towards subordinates and as a result employees might feel like they are taking a risk if they raise problems or concerns directly with the superiors. The habit of looking at things subjectively is another major problem, this occurs not only in upward feedback but in lateral or Peer evaluation process as well. Without giving a performance based evaluation people may tend to asses others behaviors using their own set of values and beliefs, likes and dislikes. As a result trust and honesty within the organization might breakdown and accusations, denial, defensiveness may occur. Another tendency within Sri Lankan organizations is some employees ability to manipulate the processes. It may create possibility of manipulating the appraisal process to get a good rating for each other to ensure the expected benefits to them instead of actually performing well, and will result in reduction of productivity. How to avoid implications? Under the above circumstances if the 360 appraisal method is applied the organization should not treat the scale as absolute , but should look for the patterns and trends the results are suggesting because it reflects the underline attitudes and thinking patterns of employees which determine their behaviors.