{
  "title": "Feedback: do managers overestimate the clarity of their message?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-le-manager-surestime-t-il-sa-clarte-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-02-15",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Feedback can seem explicit to the person giving it while remaining vague to the person receiving it. Classic research sheds light on this gap without directly measuring its extent in organisations.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "The Art of Feedback",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lugano",
    "region": "Tessin",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Thomas Gilovich, Kenneth Savitsky and Victoria Husted Medvec (1998, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) show that people overestimate others' ability to perceive their internal states."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The knowledge that makes a message seem obvious",
      "point": "Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein and Martin Weber (1989, Journal of Political Economy) examine another difficulty: people who possess information struggle to set it aside when anticipating the judgements of less-informed people."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that longer feedback must be clearer."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence does not allow us to conclude",
      "point": "Both articles rely on experimental situations that differ from everyday reporting relationships; they do not establish how frequently these gaps occur in Lugano businesses."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lugano",
      "point": "As part of SHR's “L'art du feedback” programme, managers in a bank, a fashion business, a trading company or an Italian-speaking family SME in Lugano could try an exercise: before each conversation selected for the trial, write down an expected behaviour and the criterion by which it can be recognised."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Medvec",
      "year": "1998",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Weber",
      "year": "1989",
      "source": "Journal of Political Economy"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 445,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-02-15-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-le-manager-surestime-t-il-sa-clarte",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-le-manager-surestime-t-il-sa-clarte-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-le-manager-surestime-t-il-sa-clarte-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/feedback-le-manager-surestime-t-il-sa-clarte-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/art-du-feedback/lugano",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lugano",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}