Assessment and Development Centres

Citation

Ashman, I. (2009), "Assessment and Development Centres", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 183-185. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730910935774

Assessment and development centres (ADCs) represent the sophisticated end of employee selection and training technique and so generally they are the preserve of large organisations that have considerable resources at their disposal. Nonetheless, the persuasive logic of ADC design and the potential of new technology to reduce costs mean that many HR professionals and organisational executives from all sectors of the economy are tempted to employ them in the hope of selecting and developing better quality employees. Assessment and Development Centres by Iain Ballantyne and Nigel Povah sets out to provide these decision makers and other interested readers with everything they need to know in order to establish, run and evaluate their own ADC.

The authors are consultants with considerable experience of delivering ADCs and although they do their best to maintain a sense of balanced argument it is not surprising that they believe in the value of the product they prescribe and undoubtedly their partiality is evident in their discussions. Despite the publisher's promise that the book will examine the theoretical and political aspects of ADCs the focus is predominantly on practical issues, but then that is probably what most purchasers of this book would want. The second edition accounts for three issues over and above those covered in the first edition – computer technology; research into the validity of ADCs; and the increasing use of assessment centres for development purposes.

The authors are very thorough in almost every issue they choose to address (the exceptions will be mentioned later on). They take the fundamental components of the conventional ADC (essentially role‐playing and in‐tray exercises) and lead the reader through every aspect of their development, delivery and evaluation. Thus, the process begins by defining job needs; considers the design of the assessment centre content; spells out the planning process; advises on assessor selection and training; and then illustrates the day‐to‐day running of the centre. The authors acknowledge that interviews and psychometric tests are also a staple of many ADCs, but choose not to go into detail on these techniques – presumably because their book would end up three times its current size and there is plenty of coverage available elsewhere. It is surprising, however, that no mention is made of some of the less orthodox methods that are known to be used in ADCs, such as outward bound activities or the type of tasks that might seem better suited to TV talent shows. Another omission is any reference to the “social” side of the ADC – what Mark Cook has referred to as “trial by sherry”. Many ADCs are delivered across a number of days and the participants stay “on site” throughout – to what extent might their behaviour be judged during meals or other social events that, officially at least, are not part of the process. As professional consultants, perhaps Ballantyne and Povah are above such things, but many organisations that use ADCs are not and it would have been interesting to know the authors' thoughts on such issues.

One of the strengths of the book is the chapter that recognises that there is “life after the assessment centre”. The authors are astute in acknowledging that:

An assessment centre is such an all‐embracing event for everyone involved that it is often easy to forget, during the planning stages and particularly during the centre itself, that there is life afterwards! (p. 121).

Personal experience (albeit some years ago) of assessment centres for selection and development reinforces this observation – after being on the receiving end of two or three days of frenzied activities the resulting feeling is often – “how much did that cost and what was it all for!?” Ballantyne and Povah identify and explain the need for effective reporting following an ADC and also, most importantly, the value of providing meaningful feedback to participants. This good advice could apply to all manner of activities that HR practitioners undertake and it is worth pointing out that much of the material in the book is applicable beyond the confines of an assessment centre. The chapters on job analysis and assessor training, for instance, have relevance to other HR activities such as performance management and conventional training exercises.

The new chapter (since the first edition) covering the use of assessment centres for development purposes is certainly useful. The content (in terms of procedures and exercises) of an assessment centre for selection might be very similar to the content of an assessment centre for development, but the purpose of each is quite different and the authors provide a very clear explanation of the dangers of treating the two types in the same way.

Unfortunately the coverage of the other issues that are new to the second edition is a little disappointing. The treatment of new technology, under the heading “future trends”, appears as something of an afterthought rather than the central issue that it should be, and the matter of ADC validity is not done proper justice either. Any manager charged with deciding whether to invest the effort and considerable sums of money involved in setting up and running an ADC should demand incontrovertible evidence that they will be getting better value than the systems they have already in place, and yet Ballantyne and Povah provide somewhat unconvincing justification for their use. To prove the value of ADCs they present a utility analysis that rests on the unjustifiable assumptions that there is a substantial spread of abilities between candidates attending an ADC and that the best candidates will always be identified. They go on to apply a set of (apparently) arbitrary figures and extrapolate considerable financial benefit even when taking into account the large cost of ADCs. Only two “real life” cases are presented as evidence to support the argument – the Royal Navy and the National Police College – both of which date back to the 1980s.

Ultimately, if the reader approaches Assessment and Development Centres in the knowledge that it is written from a position of vested interest, and is prepared to explore further for themselves the cost/benefit issues, it will prove to be a valuable resource for those involved in the planning or running of these complex events.