The 360-degree feedback mechanism, a well known management tool widely used by international organisations and some foreign governments to fill top slots, will now be used by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for empanelment of secretaries from the 1983 batch.
According to an Indian Express report, the commonly used management tool will see officers rated on all-round aptitude, attitude, etc., based on feedback from peers, and those they worked with, inside and outside the government.
The 360-degree feedback mechanism involves an assessment of work experience, management style and interest areas beyond what is obvious in the annual confidential reports (ACRs), which have so far been the cornerstone of the empanelment process in India.
Sources told the Indian Express that following the 360-degree assessment and subsequent vetting by the empowered group of secretaries, around 25-30 of the 1983 batch of 70-odd officers were set to make the cut for empanelment as secretaries. Last year, 35 people had made the cut.
Sources said the multi-layered empanelment mechanism has led to a severely curtailed shortlist while the Prime Minister is in favour of a longer “shortlist” to choose officers from. The list is now set for a relook, making the current process one of the longest in recent years. Empanelment is usually completed within June — it was done on June 23 last year.