Topic 12 multiple_assessment_procedures
- 1. 1 ASSESSMENT CENTER PROGRAM Lecture 12 DR. CHUA BEE SEOK
- 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.
- 19. 19 Thank You