You asked, Ken answers ...

This item is filed under these categories:
Feedback Surveys

	My husband's company surveyed the employees to see how they feel about their supervisors. He made a few comments, such as, "Uses coarse language," regarding his immediate supervisor. There are only 4 people in his department, and the human resources manager printed out the verbatim comments and handed them to the supervisor. The supervisor figured out who had written it and came to my husband and asked, "Did you write this?" My husband was extremely embarrassed. Care to comment?
	There could actually be some "coarse language" used to describe the way this survey was carried out. In conducting this type of survey, the supervisors need to be advised at the outset that they are going to be receiving feedback, some of which will be raw data. This feedback should be accompanied by discussion and follow-up developmental sessions. One ground rule is that there are to be no reprisals or trying to figure out who said what. In your husband's company, where were the meetings and ground rules? Prior to printing and distributing verbatim comments, it is essential to determine if doing so will compromise employee anonymity. With this in mind, some surveys eliminate the verbatim comments altogether, while others present them in a one-on-one discussion with the supervisor, and still others present them under company-wide headings, such as "supervisory communications," "supervisory accessibility," and the like. In many cases, the best approach is to provide this type of feedback in a private session with the individual supervisor, and your husband's supervisor sounds like an individual who could use a good deal of feedback.

Comment on this item Your name (optional) If you leave this blank, we'll list you as "Website visitor" Your comments Please keep your comments focused on the topic. Thanks!