Assessment Centers: What's New?

Abstract

Introduction: What are Assessment Centers While assessment centers may include a variety of testing techniques, all assessment centers include job simulation exercises. In fact, the core concept in assessment centers is simulation. Assessment centers allow candidates to demonstrate job-related dimensions of performance (worker characteristics) in job simulation exercises that replicate the important situations that occur on the job. It is extremely important that the exercises simulate the important conditions and contexts that occur on the target job(s). The reason job-related simulations are so important is that the contexts within which the performance dimensions are measured have a strong effect on the achieved by candidates. For example, candidate will vary on a performance dimension such as problem depending on the types of exercises used to measure the dimension. This occurs because the exercise, in effect, further defines the dimension or what aspects of the dimension are being evaluated. For example, the behaviors associated with problem solving are different in a group discussion exercise dealing with current organizational issues from the behaviors demonstrated in a written exercise dealing specifically with budget issues. These two exercises measure different kinds of problem solving. Since competence is at least partially situation specific, it is of little value to learn that candidates are highly effective in situations or contexts that rarely, if ever, occur on the job. So, the goal of assessment center exercise selection and development is to simulate the most important tasks of the target job(s) in order to provide the candidates with the opportunity not only to demonstrate the important skills/dimensions, but also the opportunity to demonstrate the extent to which those worker characteristics can be applied effectively in the most important situations and settings on the job. The best definition and explanation of what assessment centers are (and are not) is provided by the Guidelines and Ethical Considerations for Assessment Center Operations (Guidelines). The fourth and most recent edition of these guidelines was endorsed by the 28th International Congress on Assessment Center Methods and published in IPMA's Public Personnel Management, Volume 29, No. 3, Fall 2000. As explained in the Guidelines, a procedure should not be represented as an assessment center unless it includes at least one, and usually several, job-related simulations that require the assessee to demonstrate a constructed response. These guidelines also provide recommendations on all of the major components of the assessment center method, including job analysis, assessor training, candidate orientation and rights of participants. How are assessment center results being used? While the majority of assessment centers (ACs) in the public sector are being used to assist in making selection and promotion decisions (and the majority of these for law enforcement and fire service promotions), ACs can also be valuable as career development, organizational development and succession planning tools. A major difference when using assessment centers for these purposes (in addition to how the information is used) is that the exercises are much less job specific. Rather than using dimensions and exercises related to a specific target job or job level, the focus becomes broader. The target for dimension selection and exercise development becomes several levels of management and the skills and situations common to all or most of those higher management levels. When used primarily for career development, the focus shifts from the accuracy of the scores to the quality of the assessor comments. Rather than the primary goal being an accurate rank-ordered list of candidates, the goal becomes quality performance feedback and developmental suggestions for every participant. …