{
  "title": "Feedback: what research promises, and what it refuses to promise",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-ce-que-la-recherche-ne-promet-pas-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-09-14",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Roughly a third of feedback interventions reduce performance. A critical reading of a finding management training rarely quotes.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "The Art of Feedback",
  "place": {
    "name": "Geneva",
    "region": "Genève",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "The finding rarely quoted",
      "point": "The meta-analysis by Kluger and DeNisi (1996, Psychological Bulletin) remains the reference: across several hundred experimental effects, feedback interventions improve performance on average, yet in a substantial share of cases — the authors report roughly one third — they degrade it."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The proposed explanation: where attention lands",
      "point": "On the theory advanced by the same authors, the effect depends on the level toward which the response directs attention."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What this invalidates in common practice",
      "point": "The so-called sandwich method, wrapping criticism between two compliments, blurs exactly that level of attention: the recipient retains the overall verdict, not the requested adjustment."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the literature on reception adds",
      "point": "Yip and Fisher (2022, Academy of Management Annals) move attention from the giver to the receiver: the value of a response depends on readiness to receive it, which depends on the relationship, perceived intent and timing."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Three defensible conditions, and their limits",
      "point": "What current knowledge cautiously supports: a response carries further when it targets an observable behaviour rather than a trait; when it is close to the event rather than deferred; when it opens onto a specific action rather than an evaluation."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Implication for Swiss executive teams",
      "point": "Before investing in new appraisal tooling, it is cheaper to check one thing: do the responses given inside the organisation bear on identifiable behaviours, or on people? The answer comes from reading a sample of review write-ups, with no instrumentation required."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Kluger and DeNisi",
      "year": "1996",
      "source": "Psychological Bulletin"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Yip and Fisher",
      "year": "2022",
      "source": "Academy of Management Annals"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 495,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-09-14-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-ce-que-la-recherche-ne-promet-pas",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-ce-que-la-recherche-ne-promet-pas-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-ce-que-la-recherche-ne-promet-pas-de"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/art-du-feedback/geneve",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/geneve",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}