Paper Assesment Center

Paper Assesment Center

1. The "Assessmente Center Method' is the name given to the formal assessment approach pioneered by AT&T in the U.S and now by thousands of organizations worldwide.

   • The original AT&T research assessment centers used psycological inventories and projective tests to supplement observations of assesees behaviours as they progressed through assessment center simulations.
   • In a typical assessment center, a manager leaves his/her job fro two or three days to observe participants performance in simulations, and then spends and additional day or two meetin with other observers to make final evaluations.

2. The assessment center method involves multiple evaluation tchniques, including various tipes of job-related simulations, and sometimes interviews and psycological tests.

   • Simulations are designed to bring out behaviours relevant to the most important aspects of the position or level for which the assesses are being considered.
   • A typical assessment center involves six particpants and lasts from one to three days.
   • The most importante feature of the assesment center method is that it relates not to current job performance but to future performance.

3. Stated 21 years ago: the asssessment center method is not a perfect predictor of success, but its the single best aid for making promotion decisions.

4. There is a consistent research showing that assessment centers are unbiased in their predictions of future performance.

5. Federal Courts have viewd assessment centers as valid and fair.

6. 1971 American assessment center methodology was introduced in Japan; now at least 150 organization in the country are involved.

7. U.S Assessment methodolgy has become predominant in australia and south Africa and accounts for more than 50% of the methods applications in the United Kingdom.

8. The chief reason of the assessment center method is valid in so many different countries is that it is an easily adaptable evaluation system, not an evaluation instrument.

9. In the early 1970's organizations began using the assessment center method to help select and place individuals in higher levels of management.

10. The greatest growth of assessment centers from 1985 to 1991 has taken place in conncetion with organizations moving to an empowered workforce.

    • Most also are organizing employers into self-directed work teams.
    • At the employee level, exercises involve applicants in problem-solving group exercises, simulations of the manufacturing process, and one-to-one interactive exercises.

11. Candidates for vocational counseling positions sessions as part of their selections procedure.

12. The use of assessment center methodology for entry-level selections or placement has fostered the developement of some unique exercises.

13. Most diagnostic assessment is done within an organization using in-house assessors or consultants.

    • The center uses professional psycologists to analyze information from assessment center exercises and extensive paper-and-pencil tests.
    • Another way of obtaining developemental insights is through peer and self -assessment.

14. The American Society for training and Developement (ASTD) estimates that U.S companies spend $212 billion each year on training.

    • Assessment center Methodology is an excellent method for establishing the validity and effectiveness of training programs.
    • Just as the assessment center method can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs, it also can be used to evaluate how well undergraduate schools impart specific skills to their students.

15. Simulations such as In-Basket exercises, group discussions, management games and analysis exercises described in Byham's 1970 Harvard Business Review article are still the bedrock of assessment center methodology.

    • Although leaderless group exercises still are used commonly to asses leadership, one-to-one
    • Simulations now are shorter and more often targeted to a few dimensions.