Top-Down Vs. Bottom-Up Leadership Assessment. Practical Implications for Content, Construct and Criterion Validity in Assessment Centres
Do generic assessment tasks and criteria used in assessment centres do adequate justice in meeting leadership assessment standards and client needs in today’s environment? The assumption is made that a “generic” approach to assessment implies that there are certain global aspects to leadership that transcend organizational/cultural boundaries. Thus, these aspects can be assessed “generically.” Drawing on a review of theory and research on the global vs. contingent aspects of leadership and, based on experience in the formal evaluation of current assessment center practices, we discuss (a) how current leadership models support/fail the practice of developing assessment centres and, (b) whether and how the construct, content and criterion validation of assessment centers is affected with the use of leadership criteria that are considered to be global.
The construct and criterion-related validation of generic assessment tasks and criteria have particularly serious implications for ensuring culture- and gender-sensitivity (issues of salience for international human resource management (IHRM) and employment equity legislation). Strategic and cultural differences between organizations are also likely to impact the content and criterion validation of generic assessment centers. As such, measurement issues and practical implications for IHRM and employment equity will be discussed
Speaker
Anuradha Chawla
Doctoral Candidate & Consultant
University of Guelph
Anuradha Chawla is a doctoral candidate in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology Program at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Her two research areas pertain to leadership assessment and to organizational retention of high performers. Concurrently, she consults on projects pertaining to personnel selection systems, job analysis, training and organizational development. She operates both, as an independent contractor and under the aegis of Guelph Centre for Occupational Research Inc., consulting with private and public sector organizations in Canada and the USA.
