2. 2
AN OVERVIEW OF ASSESSMENT
CENTERS
Assessment centers assess small groups of people at more or less
the same time.
A group of observers may work together to form a consensus
about assessment.
Assessment centers are not places but processes.
Like individual assessments, assessment center programs use
multiple methods of assessment to make multiple assessment.
The methods may not include literal work samples or
simulations, but they include exercises chosen to reflect a major
aspect of job performance.
Assessment center history.
3. 3
Assessment Center Purposes
Most assessment centers are organization-specific.
Consulting firms provide generic assessment center
services. They are more likely to assist organizations in
developing their own programs.
Assessment centers are designed for managers, sales
people or public safety jobs.
Purposes of assessment center differ within occupation
categories.
4. 4
Thornton and Byham (1982) divided managerial
assessments into those for early identification of
potential managers, for promotions or for management
development.
The different purposes call for differences in program
design.
Different purposes may call for assessments of
different constructs.
Some diagnostic purposes may require psychologists or
educators as assessors, other developmental purposes
may require managers as assessors.
5. 5
Assessment Center Components
An organizing principle of assessment center development is the
program should be a multi attribute assessment – assessment on
several dimensions relevant to the decision to be made.
A further principle is the assessments should not depend on
specific methods of assessment – they should be multi method
assessment.
The reason is that the process of seeking confirmation from
several exercises leads to more validity of measurement of
complex dimension.
Assessment centers have many components – tests and
inventories, exercises and interview.
6. 6
Tests and Inventories
Traditional tests and inventories are included in most
assessment centers.
Their role in an OAR (overall assessment ratings)
raises some questions:
How should they be combined with various ratings?
Statistically?
If given to the assessors as information to consider with
exercise ratings in arriving at the OAR, should they be
given as raw scores, z-scores, percentiles or other
interpretive scores?
7. 7
Exercises
Most assessment center exercises are performance
tests.
They are samples or abstractions of aspects of the
jobs for which people are assessed.
The most frequently used assessment center
simulation is an In-Basket exercise and Leaderless
Group Discussion.
8. 8
1. In-Basket Exercise
In-Basket tests simulated administrative work, usually with a set
of reasonably typical memos, clippings, letters, reports, messages,
and even junk mail that can accumulate on a person's desk.
Instructions generally tell the assessee to play the role of a person
new to the job, working when no one else is around, trying to
clear the desk.
In-Baskets are not group exercise. Material range from simple to
complex, from trivial to urgent and are often interrelated.
The assessee may be interviewed after the exercise to explain
reasons for actions taken, with ratings based on the interview.
Some In-Basket tests, have scoring protocols and require no
further information from the assessee.
9. 9
2. Leaderless Group Discussion.
The group is given a problem to solve, a time limit
in which to do so and perhaps a requirement for a
written solution.
No one is assigned the role of chair; leadership
functions must emerge during the discussion.
Specific roles might be assigned to the various
group members, often with the competitive
requirement of trying to convince others to adopts
a particular position.
10. 10
3. Interview
Assessment center usually use interview, but they
are not like employment interviews.
Various examples include stress interviews,
interview as role-playing simulation, and panel
interview.
11. 11
Assessors
Functions of Assessors
Zedeck (1986) identified three assessor functions:
1. To observe and record behavior in the exercises.
2. Assessor as a role player, an active participant in an
assessment exercise.
In many exercises, assessors are interviewers, usually with
another assessor in purely observer role.
3. Assessor as a predictor.
Assessors may make explicit predictions or prediction may be
based on ratings.
12. 12
Assessor Qualifications
Assessor may be psychologists, HR staff or job experts (e.g.,
manager in managerial assessment centers).
Staff psychologists may be assessors with managers, they
might chair assessor panel discussions or they might be
resource person.
Assessor should receive intensive training with frequent
refreshers; they should be fully familiar with the exercises and
the kinds of behavior they might observe, and they should
fully understand the language and concepts related to the
ratings they are asked to make.
Managers are organizationally well-informed assessors – their
practical knowledge of the organization and its policies and
climate make them useful decision makers.
Assessors should be good observers, objective in
temperament, intelligent and articulate in conference.
13. 13
Numbers of Assessor Needed
Typically, the ratio of assessees to assessors is 2:1.
It may depend on the design of the program – what
ratings are made and when, or other assignments to
observers.
When cognitive demands on observers are heavy, it
can be reduced by adding more assessors, but that
can be daunting for the assessees.
It may be better to use fewer assessors over a longer
time period viewing videotapes.
14. 14
Dimensions to be Assessed
The dimension (constructs) might be personal traits,
job-defined competencies, or performance levels on
aspects of jobs reflected in simulations.
Assessors might be asked to rate only overall
performance in an exercise, or perhaps component
aspects of exercise performance.
Traits rated might be generalized, habitual behaviors.
Task performance may be rated in terms of outcomes
or processes.
A dimension can be defined by behavior exhibited only
in particular kinds of situations (refer Table 1).
15. 15
Early Identification Promotion Development Planning
Communication skills Oral communication Oral communication
Written communication Oral presentation
Written communication
Energy Energy
Job motivation Job motivation
Career ambition Career ambition
Initiative Initiative Initiative
Creative
Sensitivity Sensitivity Sensitivity
Leadership Leadership Individual Leadership
Group leadership
Behavioral flexibility
Table 1. Illustrative Assessment Center Dimension for Different
Purposes
16. 16
Early Identification Promotion Development Planning
Negotiation
Tolerance for stress
Planning and organizing Planning and organizing Planning and organizing
Delegation Delegation
Management control Management control
Decision making Decision making Analysis
Judgment
Decisiveness
Table 1. Illustrative Assessment Center Dimension for Different
Purposes
….. Cont.
17. 17
Dimension Definition
Thornton and Byham (1982) - dimension to be rated differ
for different purpose.
If the purpose is early identification of those with strong
management potential – the dimension can be broad, few in
number and independent of particular backgrounds.
For promotion purposes – more detailed and more complete
descriptions may be needed.
For diagnostic or developmental purposes, personal
characteristic (which are harder to develop) may be omitted,
and some characteristics important for promotional
assessments may be further refined into finer, trainable
categories.
18. 18
Refer to Table 1:
The early identification dimensions (dimension for
initial selection) are traits, relatively permanent by
adulthood, hard to develop if not developed by
adulthood, and likely to generalize across a variety
of situation.
The list for promotional purposes is similar but
more detailed. The dimension in these lists can be
defined as traits, effectiveness or quality of
outcomes or behavioral categories.
