ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the 55-year history of reciprocal influences of science and practice on the design and implementation of the assessment centres (AC) method. Science contributed to the advancement and sustainability of AC practice with theories and research related to validity, adverse impact, social cognition and judgment, and learning principles. The trend toward analyzing "organizational competency models" has spurred both changes in practice and research in ACs. A completely different approach to the design and implementation of ACs has been the proposal for task based or exercise-based ACs. In this method, assessors observe behavior and rate performance on tasks or exercises but not dimensions of performance. "Dis-assembled" ACs are being run with candidates completing exercises online in disperse locations, specialists scoring in-baskets and video-recorded interview simulations in different locations, and assessors integrating inputs in even different locations. Different dimensions, simulation exercises, types of assessors, methods of recording and sharing observations, and methods of aggregating the data have been used.
