Assesment centers :: essays research papers

Assessment Centers An Assessment Center can be defined as "a variety of testing techniques designed to allow candidates to demonstrate, under standardized conditions, the skills and abilities that are most essential for success in a given job" (Coleman, 1987), it consists of a standardized evaluation of behavior based on multiple evaluations including oral exercises, counseling simulations, problem analysis exercises, interview simulations, role play exercises, written report/analysis exercises, and leaderless group exercises. These centers allow the candidates to make proofs of their knowledge through a number of job and special situations (Joiner, 1984). Assessment centers are varying concerning the number and type of exercises which are included. The most common exercises are the in-basket and the oral exercise. In the in-basket exercise, the candidates are given time to review the material and initiate in writing whatever actions they believe to be most appropriate in relation to each in-basket item. When time is called for the exercise, the in-basket materials and any notes, letters, memos, or other correspondence written by the candidate are collected for review by one or more assessors. Often the candidates are then interviewed to ensure that the assessor(s) understand actions taken by the candidate. If an interview is not possible, it is also quite common to have the candidate complete a summary sheet. Recently, the in-basket has become a focus of interest because of it's usefulness in selection across a wide variety of jobs (Schippmann, Prien, & Katz, 1990). A variety of techniques have been used to develop in-baskets. Quite often information on an in-basket's development is not available for review because the reports do not contain the critical information. A recent review indicated that nearly 50% of the studies do not describe how the in-basket was constructed (Schippmann, et al., 1990). There is also a great deal of variation among the ways in which the in-basket is scored. There is a range of objectivity in scoring with some scoring systems utilize almost entirely human judgment, while others utilize a purely objective approach. The in-basket exercise may be thought of as an approach which assesses a candidate's "practical thinking" ability by having a candidate engage in implicit problem solving for a job-relevant task. It is now well recognized that a content valid approach to constructing an in-basket is one which is professionally accepted as a technique which has passed legal examination. However, despite the acceptance by the courts and practitioners, the reporting basis for content validity is often deficient.