26/02/2017
What is an Assessment Center?
An Assessment center is a method of evaluating candidates using standardized techniques under controlled conditions. It is a comprehensive evaluation approach that allows candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a number of different situations.
Why are assessment centers used?
Assessment centers are generally used for three major purposes: (1) to predict future behavior and job performance , (2) to identify development needs, and (3) to measure the development progress of participants, if it is used mainly for developing employees on specified competencies.
The most widespread use of an Assessment Center has been in the selection of managers and supervisors or promotions in general. It places the candidate in situations similar to those encountered on the job, yielding better measures of his/her managerial skills. It puts candidates through a series of group and individual exercises, interviews, and tests designed to simulate the conditions of a supervisory or managerial job and determines if they have the skills and abilities necessary to perform the job.
Other uses for assessment centers are:
• Early identification of potential
• Diagnosis of training and development needs
• Assessment for Development (Development Centers): Development Centres can be used as a tool for team-building and the development of skills that will be called on in the future. Coaching and counselling sessions can be integrated into the programme to develop people during the course of the Development Centre.
What are the requirements to conduct an assessment center?
The mere application of assessments to a group of participants does not qualify it to be considered an assessment center . Certain features must be met in an assessment center:
• Use of Multiple Competencies (Skills and Behaviors):
A job analysis of relevant behaviors must be conducted to determine the job competencies that are important to job success in order to identify what should be evaluated by the assessment center. From the job analysis a competency profile is developed that indicates what behaviors will be measured. Moreover, The competency profile guides the selection of the assessment tools that will be used to measure the specified competencies.
• Use of Multiple Assessors:
Behavioral observations by assessors must be classified into meaningful and relevant competency indicators. Multiple assessors must be used for each assessee. A participant’s supervisor should not assess his/her employee in an Assessment Center.
A participant’s supervisor should not assess his/her employee in an Assessment Center.
Systematic procedures must be used by the assessors to record accurately specific behavioral observations at the time of their occurrence. This might involve handwritten notes, behavioral observation scales, behavior checklist, etc. ...
• Use of Multiple Methods:
Multiple assessment instruments must be used. These can include tests, interviews, questionnaires, and simulations. Doing this will increase the validity and reliability of the assessment results, in addition it will provide a more holistic view of the participant in the different work setting ( Alone, in a group, one-to-one).
• Multiple participants:
Assessment centers aren’t used to assess only one candidate. It is designed to asses multiple participants, usually participants are evaluated against each other in a ranking format.
• Systematic Pooling of Data:
The integration of behaviors must be based on a pooling of information from assessors through a discussion held between the assessors who were involved in the assessment center – this is usually referred to as Wash up session. During the integration discussion of each dimension, assessors should report information derived from the assessment techniques but should not report information irrelevant to the purpose of the assessment process. The integration of information may be accomplished by consensus or by some other method of arriving at a joint decision.
How to select the assessment tools to be used?
There are numerous assessment tools offered that can be used in an assessment center. Ensuring that you get the results you seek from the assessment center is heavily dependent on your selection of the tools to be used. Wrong selection of tools will compromise the effectiveness of the assessments, and will most probably lead to making less than effective decisions . Here are some criteria you can observe while selecting the tools:
• The assessment instruments must include sufficient job-related simulations to allow multiple opportunities to observe the candidate’s behavior related to each competency being assessed. Always ensure that you have exercises designed to evaluate the candidate in different settings (Alone, Group, one-to-one).
• Select only the tools that have proven Reliability and Validity. Reliability refers to how consistently an assessment measures a characteristic, so that if a person took an assessment twice, it will yield very similar results. Reliable assessment tools produce dependable, repeatable, and consistent information about people. In order to meaningfully interpret test scores and make useful employment or career-related decisions, you need reliable tools. On the other hand, Validity refers to how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure. A personality assessment is said to be valid when it produces results that explain specific personality traits and not something else. Well known assessment publishers (i.e CPP) have a published reference indicating the level of validity and reliability of this tool, and usually on their website they include plenty of information about the description and purpose of the tool. It is advisable to read these information thoroughly before you make a decision on which tools to use.
• Each competency has tools that are best suited to measure. For example, the competency of Leadership is best suited to be measured in Group Exercises, while the competency of Persuasive Communication is best measured in One-to-one exercise. Always consider in what context will the competency be strongly demonstrated and choose the tool accordingly.
How to conduct an Assessment Center?
Remember, giving serious consideration and planning to the way in which you will conduct the assessment center will greatly increase the chances of you making the decision relating to people management. The below points indicate the best practice in designing and conducting an assessment center:
• Identify need: Establish an organizational (or departmental/functional) need for implementing the process. Establish clear objectives for the process – e.g. assessment, selection, promotion or development. Identifying the need will determine the structure and tools to be used in the assessment
center.
• Get Stakeholder buy-in: this is an often neglected phase; both managers and candidates should clearly understand the purpose from the assessment center and how the results will be used to make a decision. This will increase the candidate’s engagement in the assessment center, which will ensure they are behaving as they normally do . On the other hand , managers will be well aware of how to use the results afterwards to manage their teams.
• Conduct Job Analysis and Develop Competency Profile
• Design the process: based on the conducted job analysis and competency profile, you will select the number of tools that will measure the range of defined competencies. Ensure multiple assessors are involved in the process.
• Provide the needed training: Design and implement the training to be provided to assessors/ observers, facilitators, role players involved in the process.
• Design Format: Prepare the format, timetable and logistics for the center process.
• Communicate to the candidates: provide a clear explanation of the process, the types of exercises candidates will go through, and the purpose of the assessment center plus any other relevant instructions (i.e. dress code). This will ensure candidates are engaged and motivated to conduct the assessments and learn from it as well.
• Give Feedback: It is advisable to provide a briefing sessions to the candidates to explain the results to them. Doing this will increase the candidate’s commitment to develop themselves in the future, and will also limit the possibility of them experiencing any frustrations, after the assessment center, that will negatively affect their job performance.
