Foreword

      At the end of 1991, CCL published the two-volume Feedback to Managers (Volume I: A Guide to Evaluating Multi-rater Feedback Instruments; Volume II: A Review and Comparison of Sixteen Multi-rater Feedback Instruments). Since that time, there has been a notable increase of interest in multi-rater, or 360-degree, instruments: More are available; they are being used for a wider range of purposes; and much has been learned about their use. A revision is thus in order. What you will find here is an updated edition of the first volume (with a new edition of the second currently in progress).

      The text has been thoroughly reviewed by the authors—Ellen Van Velsor and Jean Brittain Leslie, who wrote the original edition, and John Fleenor, who joined the team for this version—and changes have been made to reflect current understandings in the field—for instance, new information on the proper use of norms and on “item banks” (a collection of instrument items that have been tested for reliability and validity) has been added, and the section on validity has been redone.

      You will note that this work has been retitled and that it is no longer referred to as the first volume of a set. We wanted to make this guide, which can help practitioners begin to make sense of the complexity and proliferation of instruments, as visible as possible. The update of the second volume, also to be a stand-alone publication, will aid practitioners by providing in-depth descriptions of selected instruments, including some that were not included in the previous edition, and discussion of key issues in their use. The two can still, of course, be used together, and we invite people to do so.