Leadership, managerial performance and 360-degree feedback

360-degree feedback, that is the practice of using multiple ratings in the assessment of individuals, has become a popular assessment tool for purposes of management development and performance appraisal. Our first aim was to examine the strength of agreement (correlations) between different raters of branch managers in a large Australian bank. The raters were: the managers' superior (n = 66), manager (self) (n = 249). and two subordinates (n = 498). Raters assessed the target managers on transformational leadership and work performance. Our second aim was to examine the influence of three variables on level of agreement between manager and subordinate ratings; these were age of the manager, level of performance of the manager, and extent of acquaintance between manager and subordinate. Consistent with previous research, the results showed a low agreement between the three sources on ratings of manager's leadership and work performance. However, there was moderate agreement between pairs of subordinates. Level of agreement was influenced by manager's performance, but not by extent of acquaintance, and inconclusively by age of the manager.