ABSTRACT
The assessment center method is a procedure used by human resource management (HRM) to evaluate and develop personnel in terms of attributes or abilities relevant to organizational effectiveness. Even though all assessment centers share common features, the process can be adapted in many ways to achieve different objectives. The theme of this book is that each assessment center must be tailor-made to fit particular HRM purposes. The use of assessment centers for three human resource purposes will be analyzed in detail: (a) deciding who to select or promote, (b) diagnosing strengths and weaknesses in work-related skills as a prelude to development, and (c) developing job-relevant skills. The human resource manager must design the assessment center with a specific purpose in mind and then make choices to build an assessment center that adequately serves that purpose. Throughout this book, alternative ways of setting up each element of the assessment center are discussed, and a rationale for deciding what procedures to follow is provided. Recommendations for assessment center practice are based on theory and research relevant to each element of an assessment center, as well as the experience of many assessment center practitioners.
