What is an Assessment Center?
The Assessment Center Method, Applications, and Technologies
SECTION 3: Adoption of the Assessment Center Method Outside the United States
- Section 1: How an Assessment Center Works
- Section 2: Validity and Fairness
- Section 3: Adoption of the Assessment Center Method Outside the United States
- Section 4: Selection and Placement of Empowered Personnel
- Section 5: New Simulations, Tests, and Methods
The chief reason the assessment center method is valid in so many different countries is that it is an easily adaptable evaluation system, not an evaluation instrument. Users need not adopt dimensions or standards of performance that are important in the U.S. but perhaps unimportant in their country; they merely adopt a systematic procedure for evaluating candidates against job-related dimensions that are specific to their particular organization and environment. For example, the dimension Interpersonal Sensitivity is shown in vastly different ways in Japan than in the United States, but the method by which the dimension is assessed works just the same (and as well).
Selection and Placement of Candidates for Higher Levels of Management
In the early 1970s organizations began using the assessment center method to help select and place individuals in higher levels of management. Assessment centers have been used to help evaluate candidates for presidencies of organizations, plant managers, general managers, and many senior government positions. Most of these assessments were made by a team of outside "professional" assessors (consultants). It is difficult to find qualified high-level, in-house people who can take the time to assess and evaluate candidates objectively.