When designing a 360° feedback process, HR managers often face a practical question: Should we rely more on open-ended questions or rating scales? The answer isn’t about which is “better” in general, it’s about which works better for your organization’s context, culture, and goals.
Where Rating Scales Add Real Value
Rating scales (for example, 1–5 or 25–100) are often favored by HR teams because they:
- Provide benchmarkable data that can be compared across different teams or even over time.
- Help identify patterns quickly (for example, managers consistently rating lower than peers).
- Allow for clean, standardized reporting that leadership can digest at a glance.
Where they fall short: In smaller organizations (under 100 employees), numbers can get skewed. With fewer raters, even one extreme score can distort the averages. This makes interpretation tricky unless paired with context.
The Niche Strength of Open-Ended Feedback
Open-ended questions are less about numbers and more about culture and nuance. They work especially well when:
- You want to capture specific examples of behavior (critical for coaching or leadership development).
- The organization is in an early stage of adopting structured feedback and numbers may feel too impersonal.
- You need insight into interpersonal dynamics-for example, why a team member may be perceived differently by peers vs. their manager.
The challenge: They take longer to analyze, and HR often struggles to turn qualitative feedback into structured action items. Without a system to categorize themes, the insights remain underutilized.
What Works in Practice
From our experience working with mid-sized companies, the most effective 360° feedback design is a hybrid approach:
- Use rating scales for competencies that matter most to organizational performance. For example, decision-making, accountability, or collaboration. These scales provide a measurable pulse of how consistently those behaviors are displayed.
- Use targeted open-ended questions to uncover “why” the ratings look the way they do. Instead of vague questions like “Any additional comments?”, ask pointed ones such as “What is one behavior this person should continue doing to remain effective as a leader?”
This balance allows HR teams to create reports that not only show scores but also provide the narrative behind the numbers– making it easier for both employees and managers to take action.
Final Thoughts
Neither open-ended feedback nor rating scales alone can deliver the full picture. For organizations with lean HR teams and limited budgets, the key is not choosing one over the other, but designing a lean framework where both types of data complement each other.
At GroSum, we’ve seen that organizations using this hybrid model achieve better adoption, deeper insights, and more effective development conversations.