ASSESSMENT
CENTRES AND SELECTION TESTS AS A METHOD OF SELECTION
Assessment centres and tests are among the
three main Selection methods interview, assessment centres and tests according
to Armstrong, M. (2006) and in Armstrong (2010) it is explained assessment
centres and selection tests as methods of Selection.
Assessment Centres
Assessment Centres could be described as
an assembly of a group of candidates for the purpose of Selection and apply
various types of assessment techniques such as interviews, group exercises and
tests over a short period may be for one or two days (Armstrong, 2010). In
Armstrong (2010) it further explains that the purpose of having an Assessment
Centre is to find out comprehensive and balanced view and
suitability of individual members of the assembled group.
According to Armstrong & Taylor (2014)
main features of Assessment Centres are as follows:
- carrying out
exercises to capture
and simulate the scopes of the job
- one-to-one role-plays and group
exercises to perform simulations that predicts behaviour on the job
- interviewing
and testing
- performances
are measured by using dimensions that suits the job and the requirements of the
Organisation.
Selection tests
Selection Tests are used in addition to the
information gathered from interviews and from Selection Tests levels of
abilities, intelligence, personality characteristics, aptitudes and attainments
of candidates are tested (Armstrong, 2010).
For Example, in the leading Outsourcing
Company that I previously worked for when Selecting Quality Assurance
Associates shortlisted candidates are given selection tests.
Intelligence
tests
This type of test is carried out to measure a range
of mental abilities with regard to thinking and reasoning (Armstrong, 2010).
Ability
tests
Ability
tests are carried out to measure the capacity with regard to handling of the
job (Armstrong,
2010).
For Example, the Outsourcing Company that I
previously worked for, Ability tests are held when selecting candidates for
special projects.
Aptitude tests
According
to Armstrong (2010) Aptitude tests are specific to the job and designed to
predict whether a candidate has the potential to perform tasks of the job.
Personality tests
Personality tests are used to assess
traits relevant to job performance that will effectively predict of subsequent
job performance (Pulakos, E., 2005) and according to Armstrong (2010) it is an
attempt to assess the personality of candidates as to predict on their likely
behaviour in the job.
Figure 1: Items of a Sample Personality
Test
Source: Pulakos, E. (2005)
Pulakos, E. (2005)
says that the first step in developing or selecting an assessment method for a
given situation is to recognise what the job expects from the employees and for
that what kind of Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) the employee should
possess to do the job efficiently.
According
to Pulakos,
E. (2005) there are various type of tests as portrayed in the figure below.
Figure 2: types of
tests
Source: Assessment
Methods Pulakos, E. (2005)
Characteristics of a good test
According
to Armstrong (2010) a good test is a test that provides with valid information to
make valid decisions when selecting candidates for jobs.
References
- Armstrong, M (2006). A handbook of human resource management practice, 10th
edn, Kogan Page, Ltd. - Armstrong, M. (2010). Armstrong's essential human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page.
- Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S. 2014. Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Man-agement Practice. 13th ed. Ashford Colour press Ltd. London.
- Pulakos, E. (2005). Selection Assessment Methods. United States of America, SHRM Foundation (Online). Available at https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/documents/selection-assessment-methods.pdf.
In most businesses, the interview is the most prevalent method of selection. However, the majority of the time, selection interviews are unstructured. That is, the interviewer decides what questions to ask, and there are no agreed-upon criteria for assessing an applicant's performance during the interview. Unstructured interviews have been demonstrated to be ineffective in predicting job performance in studies ( Pulakos, 2005).
ReplyDeleteThank you Ashanthi for your comment which I agree. Interview being the most familiar method of selection, in unstructured interviews, it becomes a general discussion rather than getting an overall picture of the candidate. But, by conducting structured interviews higher levels of predicting validity could be achieved. (Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S., 2014).
ReplyDeleteAgreed with you Nilushi, Intelligence tests measure a range of mental abilities which enable a person to succeed at a variety of intellectual tasks using the faculties of abstract thinking and reasoning. They are concerned with general intelligence, and are sometimes called general mental ability (GMA) tests. (Armstrong, 2010).
ReplyDeleteThank you Chulanga. And agree with you. As the area of selection testing is technical and difficult to understand formal assessments are rarely done in organisations and decision makers and HR professionals of should introduce effective assessment methods (Pulakos, D. E., 2005)
DeleteHi Nilushi , Agreed with you , According to Armstrong (2010), the goal of selection is to determine a candidate's suitability by predicting their ability to perform a task successfully.
ReplyDeleteThank you Maheshini. Selection is a strenuous task to when picking the ideal candidates from and out of those who were considered as suitable contenders and according to István, J. (2010).
DeleteHi Nilushi, further more the two key characteristics of a good test are first that it is reliable in the sense that it always measures the same thing and a test should be valid in the sense that it measures the characteristic that the test is intended to measure (Amstrong and Taylor, 2014).
ReplyDelete