Clark L. Wilson
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Clark L. Wilson (August 31, 1913 – August 12, 2006 in
Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
, Virginia) was an American industrial psychologist who introduced the concept of 360 feedback surveys for management training and development applications. From 1970-1973 he developed his first
360-degree feedback 360-degree feedback (also known as multi-rater feedback, multi source feedback, or multi source assessment) is a process through which feedback from an employee's subordinates, peers, colleagues, and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation by t ...
survey, the "Survey of Management Practices". It was based on a learning sequence he called the Task-Cycle-Theory. Today, 360 feedback surveys of many types are standard tools for management training and development worldwide.


Background

Wilson studied under psychologist J.P. Guilford as a University of Southern California graduate student after World War II. Guilford had expanded on the work by Louis Leon Thurstone, pioneer in the field of psychometrics, by using factor analysis to assess management skills. Guilford’s work led Wilson to experiment with identifying important management and leadership skills through psychometrics. He eventually developed his Task Cycle assessment tools as an application of Guilford’s statistical approach. Wilson borrowed the concept of multi-rater feedback from the field of psychological assessment, particularly as it was being applied by the US Army during World War II. Managers and leaders, he believed, could learn and improve if they knew how others perceived their skills and behaviors. He also believed that management skills can be learned, like any other skill, through a learning sequence. While Wilson started out calling this system multi-level feedback, others eventually dubbed it 360-degree feedback—the name by which it is now best known. It is also sometimes called multi-rater feedback.


Early Developments

He developed the Survey of Management Practices as a teaching tool for his management classes at the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut) Graduate School of Business, where he was the Warner G. Bradford Professor of Management. He had students use the survey in their workplaces. The feedback consisted of survey statements which were rated on a seven-point agree/disagree scale. The statements were strictly limited to observations about behaviors such as planning or communications, avoiding aspects of personality such as sociability or excitability. Each individual would rate him or herself on the same survey as the supervisor, direct reports, and peers who were also providing ratings. By the mid-1970s more companies, including
Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...
, Pitney Bowes and several utilities were using the instrument and contributing data to the norm database. With wider use and accumulated data, Wilson was able to study the reliability and validity of the instrument. He also studied performance data on feedback recipients and was able to verify a mathematical basis for the Task Cycle learning sequence. He found that when a manager or executive practiced the Task Cycle skills with balance and in sequence, a measurable increase in effectiveness could be documented.Performance Programs


Business

The Clark Wilson Group, formed in 1973, merged wit
TruScore (formerly The Booth Company)
in 2017. The Task Cycle® line of assessments now consists of ten off-the-shelf offerings, with dozens of customized versions in circulation.


Research Conclusions

Up to the time of his death, Wilson continued to develop and publish a full range of assessment tools. He published his last book in 2003 at the age of 89. ''How and Why Effective Managers Balance Their Skills'' offers conclusions based on 30 years of research. Wilson summarizes: "After over 30 years of analysis, the problem of most managers is very clear. Too many managers try to exercise control without providing the technical and teambuilding skills needed to achieve their goals". This imbalance derails individuals and undermines organizational performance, he asserted, while the presence of these skills—which can be learned—measurably improves business outcomes.


Academic and Professional

Clark Wilson received his A.B. from
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in 1935. He joined the U.S. Navy in World War II and served in the submarine force in the Pacific theater and was awarded the
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
and Gold Star. He earned a Ph.D. in applied psychology from the University of Southern California in 1948. He was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists. Dr. Wilson died in August, 2006.


References

*Clark Kenneth E. and Clark, Miriam B.; ''Choosing to Lead'' *Clark Kenneth E. and Clark, Miriam B.; ''Measures of Leadership'' *Leslie, Jean Brittain and Fleenor, John W.; ''Feedback to Managers'' *Maddox, Taddy (ed.); ''Tests: A Comprehensive Reference for Assessments in Psychology, Education, and Business'', *''Organizational Behavior'', Kreitner and Kinicki, 7th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin


Research Articles Based on Task Cycle Surveys

*Rosti, Jr., R. T., & Shipper, F. ; "A Study of the Impact of Training in a Management Development Program Based on 360 Feedback"; (1998). ''Journal of Managerial Psychology'', 1998, Volume 13, Number 1, pp. 77–89. *Shipper, F. & Davy, J.; ''Probing Qualitative 360 Feedback for Insights on Leadership Skills and Performance''; (2006, August 11–16). Published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Management, Atlanta, Georgia. *Shipper, F., Davy, J., Hoffman IV, R. C., & Rotondo, D. M.; ''A Cross-Culture Study of Managerial Skills, Employees’ Attitudes and Managerial Performance: New Insights or Back to Basics?'' (2005, August 5–10). Published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, Hawaii. *Shipper, F., Hoffman IV, R. C., & Rotondo, D. M. ''Does the 360 Feedback Process Create Actionable Knowledge Equally Across Cultures?'' (2004, August 6–11). Published in the Best Papers Proceedings of the Academy of Management, New Orleans, LA. *Shipper, F., Kincaid, J., Rotondo, D. M., & Hoffman IV, R. C.; "A Cross-Cultural Exploratory Study of the Link between Emotional Intelligence and Managerial Effectiveness"; (2003). ''The International Journal of Organizational Analysis'', Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 171–191.


External links


TruScore (formerly The Booth Company)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Clark 1913 births 2006 deaths Human resource management people University of Southern California alumni University of Bridgeport faculty Recipients of the Silver Star