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Roundtable Discussion—Sustainability Of Assessment Centers

George Thornton and Bill Byham will moderate small group discussions on the sustainability of assessment centers. Participants will discuss how their assessment centers are working, or not; and generate questions and ideas to report back to the entire group.

Dr. Thornton is Professor of Psychology, Colorado State University. Dr. Thornton earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1966. He is a Diplomate in Industrial/ Organization Psychology awarded by the American Board of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational.

Dr. Thornton specializes in assessment centers, selection practices, test development and validation, and implications of employment discrimination law for personnel psychology. He has developed, validated, and implemented assessment centers and other situational exercises for selection and development for numerous jobs.

Dr. Thornton is the author of over 55 publications in refereed journals, 6 book chapters, and 3 books, namely Assessment Centers and Managerial Performance (with William Byham) and Assessment Centers in Human Resource Management, Developing Organizational Simulations: A Guide for Practitioners and Students (with Rose Mueller-Hanson). Dr. Thornton has made presentations on the assessment center method to professional conferences such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Congress on Assessment Center Methods, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and to professional audiences throughout the United States, and in Germany, Switzerland, England, Israel, South Africa, Indonesia, and China.

Bill co-founded Development Dimensions International with Dr. Douglas Bray in 1970. Bill works with DDI's executive Operating Committee to establish the vision, values, and strategic direction of the company, and supervises major DDI product development and consulting projects.

Bill’s major accomplishments include:

• Championing the application of the assessment center method worldwide. He wrote the first popular article on the assessment center, which appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 1970, and has been the thought leader of the methodology ever since. He published the first catalog of assessment center exercises in 1970, developed numerous categories of assessment exercises, founded the International Congress on Assessment Center Methods, and has spoken about assessment centers throughout the world. His two books on the assessment center method and more than 50 articles and papers have aided both organizations and professionals.
• Developing the first behavior-based selection system, Targeted Selection®, in 1970. To communicate the basis of his system, Bill co-authored The Selection Solution: Solving the Mystery of Matching People to Jobs, which solves one of the most vital mysteries facing any organization—identifying and matching the right person to the right job. He also authored Landing the Job You Want, which teaches effective ways to communicate information about yourself to an interviewer and how to deal with challenging interviewing situations.
• Writing the first book about the implications of Equal Employment Opportunity law and other legal constraints on personnel testing and selection, The Law and Personnel Testing. Bill has served as an expert witness in several federal court cases involving EEO issues.
• Co-developing the first commercially available behavior-modeling program, Interaction Management®, in 1975. More than 10 million people have been trained in Interaction Management.
• Developing the first assessment system based on observations of videotapes and written materials, also known as AccuRATE™, in 1982.
• Co-authoring Zapp!™The Lightning of Empowerment, a seminal book about empowerment. A business best seller since its publication in 1988, it has sold more than 4.5 million copies. Bill also has adapted the book for educators, health care professionals, and service providers. He continuously encourages employee empowerment through his writings, speeches, and programs. His best-selling business book, HeroZ™—Empower Yourself, Your Co-Workers, and Your Company, offers step-by-step techniques to show people how to make meaningful decisions, measure progress, and work effectively in teams.
• Helping to make teams and teamwork successful in organizations throughout the world, including co-authoring three books on teams (Empowered Teams, Leadership Trapeze, and Inside Teams) and helping to develop numerous DDI programs to provide skills to organizations, employees, and leaders as they move toward teams.

Before co-founding DDI, Bill was the manager of selection, appraisal, and general management development for J.C. Penney Company, Inc. He received his Doctorate in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Purdue University and his Masters and Bachelor of Science degrees from Ohio University.