Accountability: The Achilles' Heel of Multisource Feedback

The authors argue that multisource feedback will have little impact when (a) ratees are not accountable for using the feedback, (b) raters are not accountable for the accuracy or usefulness of the feedback they provide, and (c) management does not accept accountability for providing resources to support behavior change. They review the literature on accountability in performance appraisal and decision making and outline an accountability model applied to raters and ratees. Components of the model include sources of accountability (e.g., the boss and organizational policies), the objective (i.e., the behavior or outcomes for which the actor is accountable), forces used by the sources to affect the actor's feelings of accountability (such as reinforcement for performance improvement), and mechanisms for activating these forces and holding someone accountable. Interventions are described to increase the effectiveness of the accountability mechanisms.

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