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Focuses on competence assessment, and its development in the context of self‐management. Detailed case histories are included. Concludes that competence assessment will be an approach adopted by an increasing number of companies.

I begin by examining some ways in which organisations have attempted to improve their recruitment and selection procedures to minimise bias and unfair discrimination, and focus on the assessment centre as a potentially useful technique in this respect, especially for managerial selection. I go on to examine the assessment centre in more detail, including its origins, construction and uses, before discussing the strong evidence for its validity as a selection and assessment procedure. I then describe some recent British innovations in assessment centre design and practice, especially in its use for management and organisation development purposes, before discussing some of my own recent research, in collaboration with Ivan Robertson and Usha Rout, on participants' attitudes towards the use of assessment centres for selection and development purposes, including gender differences in attitudes.

Assessment centres as a total system, involving theoretical, practical and technical aspects, are focused on. Recent research findings on assessment centres, their processes and practices, are discussed and the implications for practice are examined.

Contrasts development centres and assessment centres. Suggests five formats as typical for development centres and reviews their applications. Lists variables in development centre design and highlights trends that are emerging to deal with contemporary organization requirements. Discusses the issues of what capabilities development centres should develop. Suggests transferable but unique capabilities are a paradox that must be resolved. Identifies a shift away from competences as necessary to sustain the commercial credibility of development centres ‐ and the personnel function. Highlights cognitive psychology as the basis for the new design focus. Concludes that development centres can remain the most effective way to create agreed futures for both staff and their organizations only if major changes take place.

Argues that for competence management to be a valuable tool in leveraging individual competencies to dynamic organisational core competencies, more stress should be laid on competence development. More specifically, focuses on the effectiveness of development centres (DC), in terms of personal development and pursuit of the development plan. In this way, attempts to meet the need for more studies on the whole DC process and, more specifically, on its effectiveness. Furthermore, looks to take a first step in integrating fields of coaching, self‐development and line management human resources involvement in DC studies.

Aims to explore factors which are thought to relate to the effectiveness of development centre processes. Studies a variety of attitudinal and motivational aspects concerned with attendance at, and benefit from, a development centre. The research was carried out using an instrument which was completed by 60 managers who had attended a development centre organized by a major British company. Hypothesizes a model which links development centre benefits to process validity, pre‐centre factors, and biographical factors. Results show partial support for the model, confirming the strong link between benefits and process validity, but fail to demonstrate the importance of support from a participant’s manager. Factor analysis demonstrates three distinct sets of benefits which have been labelled: personal development; career development; and organizational commitment.

Predicting leadership demonstrates how assessment centers can be designed to meet the extended goals of assessing three broad‐based and particularly critical indicators of hospitality leadership effectiveness: the ability to respond to change, the ability to foster trust, and the ability to create inclusive work environments.

A literature review reveals the most critical hospitality leadership needs in times of rapid and continuous change, and supports the assessment center approach as a means of judging key leadership competencies. The steps involved in developing a center to assess three particularly critical leadership competencies are outlined and challenges noted.

The assessment center is shown to be a valuable means of both assessing and predicting leadership talent beyond the scope normally associated with this method.

Assessment center methods can be extended to accomplish the organization's most important goal – preparing for, and responding to, future leadership requirements.

The paper is of value to both academic and practitioner readers interested in leadership development. It provides a rationale and practical guide for assessment center design and implementation.

Human resource management (HRM), in contrast to “personnel management” and “personnel administration”, is often held to be proactive rather than reactive, strategic rather than tactical, and integrated with corporate strategy rather than marginal or peripheral. Argues that it is important to distinguish several dimensions of “integration” ‐internal, external and institutional – and that the strategic integration of human resource development (HRD) is achievable through the adoption of career‐focused, competence‐based models. However, existing competence frameworks are criticized for their generic character, their retrospective orientation, their abstract nature and their focus on the individual job rather than the career stream or wider organizational role. Prospective, organization‐specific, anchored, collaborative and career‐focused models seem more promising vehicles for achieving not only “internal integration” – the consistent, coherent application of a range of HR policy levers – but also “external integration”, the integration of HR strategies with corporate strategies. Explores such a framework in relation to two empirical studies of competence‐based approaches to managerial assessment and development, one a management development programme in the National & Provincial Building Society, the other a senior management development workshop in Oxford Regional Health Authority.

Fundamental to disaster readiness planning is developing training strategies to compensate for the limited opportunities available for acquiring actual disaster response experience. With regard to communication, decision making and integrated emergency management response, the need to develop mental models capable of reconciling knowledge of multiple goals with the collective expertise of those responding represents a significant challenge for training. This paper explores the utility of the assessment centre as a developmental resource capable of achieving this goal. In addition to providing multiple, expertly evaluated simulations to facilitate the development and practice of specific skills, the ability of assessment centre methodology to promote tacit knowledge and self‐efficacy renders it an appropriate vehicle for developing the mental models that underpin the core disaster management competencies of situational awareness and naturalistic and team decision making.

Formal assessment and development of executives have become standard practices in organizations. There is a need, however, to determine what levers are available to maximize the impact and return on investment of initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to present outcomes and learnings from a multi-method approach to evaluating behavior change following the implementation of PepsiCo’s Senior Leader Development Center, a comprehensive process designed to accelerate capability at the executive level.

Learnings are presented based on analyses from three independent data sources collected throughout the 18-month program: behavioral change ratings from managers, direct reports, and peers via a 360 survey; attitudinal measures from participants’ post-program completion; and third-party observations by an internal facilitator.

Overall, findings indicate that while program rigor and content do matter as baseline components, principles of participant engagement and commitment emerged as most essential to delivering programs with sustained impact.

This case is based on leaders in a high-touch multi-trait multi-method assessment and development program in one organization. Additional research is needed to explore in other settings.

Results and implications are organized by each of the four key stages of the assessment and development process: conduct data-based assessments, deliver feedback and insights, build the development plan, and take action to implement the plan. Findings and recommendations for practice regarding each stage are discussed.

Few case studies or applied research exist that focus on the execution and outcomes associated with senior executive assessment and development programs in major corporations. This paper offers findings regarding the overall impact of such a program and key learnings from its sustained effort in a complex multi-national organization. The discussion and implications in this paper may directly influence how other organizations design and manage future talent management interventions with similar types of senior-level populations.