Assessment and Development Centres

Assessment Centres

An assessment centre is an evaluation process which can be used to identify the future potential of employees and job candidates.  It consists of the observation of candidates carrying out a variety of assignments, individually or in a group, over a period of time.  The method is systematic, effective and reliable.  It is designed to enable human resources, career advisors and line managers, to determine which qualities are essential for successful job performance, to evaluate people and identify future potential.

Essential elements of the assessment centre are:

• Present behaviours can be used to predict future behaviour
• For the assessment of job suitability, reference is made to a set of carefully formulated criteria which are based on the results of a precise job analysis
• The various assignments are geared towards the demands of a future job and often include reconstructions of situations that the job would entail known as "simulations"
• Group assignments can be used to observe how candidates deal with one another
• More than one assessor is employed in the assessment process.  Assessors are preferably managers who have more authority than those under assessment
• The final result is based on the outcome of various assessments

Development Centres

A development centre is the use of assessment centre technology for the identification of individual strengths and weaknesses, in order to diagnose needs which will facilitate more effective job performance and / or career advancement, which in turn contributes to the attainment of greater organisational success.

Some of the main features of the development centre are:

• It is not a pass or fail event - its main purpose is to facilitate the development process
• It is usually longer and more costly than an assessment centre, due to a longer data gathering process and the feedback and development process occurs in the event
• With the development centre the individual is seen as the principal owner of the data not the organisation as in the assessment centre
• Feedback can occur during the event to enable the ongoing learning process, the individual can experiment with new behaviours
• Development therefore also occurs during the event
• Time needs to be factored in for development - a balance of 40% Experience, 20% reflection, 20% theorising and 20% application is ideal
• There is a greater need for coaching and facilitation skills of the administrators and assessors
• Attention needs to be placed on the criteria that can be developed e.g. focussing on numerical reasoning is not developmental and could be demotivating
• There is more openness about the process, with pre-centre activities including 360˚ questionnaires to provide other perspectives
• As a development centre is often the start of a process it is important that learning / development plans are put in place and resource is made available to support the process.