Paradoxically, as an effective tool for increasing organizational performance, feedback is a challenging and scarce commodity. Contemporary organizations have diverse workforces in which differences in personal traits and characteristics such as age, gender, race, religion, or ethnic origin influence how employees accept feedback and incorporate it in their daily work activities.
Societal movements emphasizing diversity issues such as the #MeToo, #EqualPay, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, #IStandWithAhmed, #TakeAKnee and #OscarsSoWhite have made diversity a sensitive topic in organizations making it even more complicated for managers to give constructive feedback. Therefore, not surprisingly, often feedback given by managers falls short of expectations. To address these issues, a new feedback approach is called for. Organizations should be now more concerned with cultivating a strong feedback culture, in which shared norms and values guide how individuals accept and incorporate feedback in their daily work activities. Ultimately, a strong feedback culture improves the performance of individuals, teams and organizations.
The VU Knowledge Hub for Feedback Culture is a center of expertise that aims to be a platform for research to examine how feedback culture can be cultivated in organizations in different fields and across different countries. As a research platform, the Knowledge Hub offers opportunities for research and executive education collaborations between scholars and practitioners who are interested in the topic. Specifically, the Hub aims to bring researchers and practitioners together by organizing sessions where practices and insights can be shared to further enhance our understanding of this topic. The VU Knowledge Hub for Feedback is led by experienced researchers and practitioners in the field.
