HR MANAGEMENT - How Negative Feedback Affects Employees

How Negative Feedback Affects Employees

by Jared Lewis, Demand Media

Supervisors who handle negative feedback constructively can motivate employees.

Negative feedback is something that most employees hope to avoid from their employer. Negative feedback generally signals that the employee has not completed all aspects of her job satisfactorily and that there is need for improvement. However, not all negative feedback necessarily needs to be detrimental to employee morale. In reality, each worker is different and the negative feedback provided by employers will affect employees in various ways.

Behavior

One of the positive effects of negative feedback is the impact it has on employee behavior. Randy Slechta of Leadership Management International Inc., asserts that negative feedback can be used to stop unwanted behavior in the workplace. Negative feedback is the same type of corrective feedback that a parent often provides to a child who behaving badly or in a way that lead to the child getting hurt. The parent's insistence that the child stop such behavior elicits new and acceptable behavior. Employers too can use the same type of corrective measures to get employees to engage in a desired behavioral pattern.

Reception

Negative feedback can be received differently by employees and can have an effect on the employee in a negative manner. Employees who do not receive negative feedback as being constructive may have their morale weakened and this could spill over into employee performance. Those who feed off of the negative side of the feedback may not perform as well on the job if they sulk or dwell on the negative aspects of the feedback.

Motivation

Other employees not only change their behavior in response to negative feedback, but also feed off the feedback as a source of motivation. Those who are either angered or at least driven to do a better job can use the negative feedback as a means of improvement in terms of performance. Some people approach negative feedback with the attitude that they will show the employer that the feedback he provided was wrong. With these employees, the "I'll show you" attitude usually prevails.

Self-Reflection

Some employees respond to negative feedback in a less emotional and more cerebral manner. These employees assess the feedback as an opportunity for self-reflection and a learning opportunity. These eternal optimists see the feedback as an indication that they need to pay closer attention to their own performance and behavior so that they can do a better job in the future. In this sense, negative feedback inspires change.