ABSTRACT
There are many sources of feedback. A source can be anything from an impersonal monthly sales report picked off an in-house computer system to a salary bonus. Here, I refer to interpersonal sources of feedback. These may include one's boss, subordinates, peers, other employees, customers, or suppliers. Some feedback comes without asking. It might come in the form of the annual performance appraisal review or a multisource feedback survey report. At other times, feedback must be sought. Yet people often may shy away from seeking feedback. When they do ask how they are doing, they may have an ulterior motive—for instance, to get someone to say something nice about them. They may wonder how asking for feedback will affect what the source will think and say. They may wonder whether their asking will highlight behaviors that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. They may ask in a way that they hope will make a favorable impression on the source. This chapter considers the nature of informal feedback, self-regulatory mechanisms that influence feedback reactions, the extent to which people seek feedback on their own, and how feedback seekers try to manage the impressions other people have of them.
