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Feature
Assessment centres
Sudipta Dev analyses why assessment centres are considered
the best tools for identifying future corporate leaders.
A system that traces its origins to the selection process
of spies for the World War II by the Office of Strategic Services (the US wartime
agency that later became the CIA), assessment centres are today considered the
most effective tools for identifying future managers. They help a company to
promote (and also hire) the best people by evaluating their knowledge, behavioural
traits, skills and competencies. Selected candidates go through simulations
and situational exercises which are effective indicators of their abilities.
These exercises may range from leaderless group discussions (to judge a person’s
leadership and communication skills) to role-plays on dealing with difficult
subordinates. The aim is to highlight the competencies of an individual and
the areas that need improvement.
It was in 1956 that psychologist Douglas Bray implemented the first industrial
use of assessment centres as part of a research study involving AT&T. Since
then many psychologists have studied and analysed that these findings continue
to have a long-term impact for a professional even after 20 years. Assessment
centres enable not just the organisation to groom future leaders, but also make
an individual understand his own abilities. “The objective would be to
arrive at an informed decision on the strengths and weaknesses of individuals,
usually in relation to suitability for specific jobs—or as a development
assessment, against the needs of potential future jobs; so for training and
development planning,” says Stephen Martin, CEO of ITAP International.
ITAP operates in India through its partner, Pune-based TASMAC (Training and
Advanced Studies in Management & Communications).
All about competency
Competency is a popular terminology when we talk of D centres. But should assessment
centres get limited to competency assessment? Answers Dr Ros McCarthy, an expert
on assessment centre design and delivery with ITAP International, “Assessment
centres require stated criteria (competency attributes, values, behaviours)
in order to provide a focus for the observations. There are assessment processes
that do not use competencies—but in our experience, and supported by research,
competency-based assessment is much more likely to be effective and deliver
a good return on the investment.”
McCarthy points out that one key piece of research suggests
that assessment centres are by far the most effective in terms of their measurement
of the factors that predict success, with competency-based interviews the second.
So if a company uses competency-based methods in its assessment centres, it
is probably doing the best that can be done. The same research says that conventional
interviews are less useful than bio-data and references.
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If the ‘assessment’ process is delivered by
untrained, unskilled assessors it will tell the organisation nothing of
value and will be a waste of money
Stephen Martin
CEO
ITAP International
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A development centre is a technique of measuring key
competencies demonstrated by an individual in
a ‘simulated environment’
Varda Pendse
Director
Cerebrus Consultants
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Benefits to organisations
Assessment centres make it possible for organisations to
make use of the best methodolgy for assessing their employees. “And if
the assessment is competency-based—the information available on individuals
can be aggregated for the organisation to provide data on the overall levels
of capability in the business relative to the business needs in the future.
We call this ‘real-time succession planning’—where the organisation
can use the overview data to plan, acquire and develop the capabilities that
it will need for the future. This is potentially hugely beneficial and cost
effective for the organisation,” adds Martin.
The pertinent question is: Is it essential for all organisations (irrespective
of size) to set up an assessment centre? Martin believes that while it is necessary
for all organisations to have an objective process (like the assessment centre),
the fact remains that they can be quite ‘resource intensive’, so particularly
for smaller organisations the value-for-money issue is the key. “It is
vital to have the necessary expertise either in-house or available via appropriate
qualified external providers—to ensure appropriate design and effective
delivery. Just like anything else, the ‘rubbish in/rubbish out’ principle
applies. If the ‘assessment’ assesses wrong things, or the process
is delivered by untrained, unskilled assessors—it will tell the organisation
nothing of value and will be a waste of money,” asserts Martin.
Global work culture practices however make it necessary for assessment centres
to reflect the remote ways of working and behaviours assessed with different
cultures. Martin informs that this is currently the focus of some of the major
research on assessment centres—since many global companies will make the
classic and hugely significant error of designing assessment centres that only
recognise and value the behaviours that are recognised and valued in the home-culture.
Using ‘universal’ (usually ‘mono-cultural’) leadership competency
models is the first step in getting this wrong.
| The Cognizant story |
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Understanding the critical need to groom future
leaders, Cognizant introduced the concept of assessment centres in 1998,
and since then the competencies of approximately 400 senior management and
middle management professionals across the organisation have been assessed.
Future stars have been identified to take on greater roles and responsibilities.
The programme is conducted by Saville and Holdsworth, Britain (now known
as SHL). “Being a dynamic and fast growth industry, Cognizant decided
early on that it needed to identify future leaders for the organisation
and made the right investments. Today, Cognizant is reaping rich dividends
by enjoying high levels of customer and employee satisfaction, resulting
in revenue and profit growth. The professionals are identified and trained
to take up leadership positions significantly contributing to the growth
story,” says Bhaskar Das, Vice-president, Human Resources, Cognizant.
The assessment centre programme
includes written as well as oral individual/group exercises, which are
designed to measure their proficiency in distinct leadership competencies
and dimensions using a battery of tools and instruments. “Each organisation
evolves role-related competencies and the assessment centre instruments
measure an individual’s current and future potential in each of these
dimensions. The past eight years have seen a dramatic increase in the
use of assessment centres across the world, and today, they are used for
a spectrum of purposes ranging from recruitment to promotions to redundancy
identification,” states Das.
Considerable effort has
been invested in identifying the managerial competencies required to be
an effective leader in the organisation. Nine major clusters of behaviour
are assessed through these two-day workshops through a series of simulations.
Das lists some of the advantages that Cognizant has enjoyed and continues
to enjoy through the use of assessment centres:
- Early identification of potential that
helps in optimising talent and groom future leaders effectively
- Each participant gets a clear picture
of where he/she stands with respect to each behavioural competency
- Data generated is used as input for several
other subsystems in the organisation such as role-definition for the
individual, training and development, etc
- Cognizant managers and leaders are benchmarked
against global standards for managers and leaders, thereby ensuring
that the quality of management and leadership talent is on par with
global standards.
“Assessment centres
thus go a long way in measuring a traditionally ‘difficult to measure’
concept and ensure an objective and fair method of doing so. Despite this
approach being expensive, Cognizant is convinced that this method is the
most strategic fit for its business and for identifying potential within
the organisation for leadership positions,” insists Das.
Acknowledging that assessment
centres are among the best international practices, Das points out that
Cognizant’s customers appreciate the company’s efforts to get
the right people for the right job. “More importantly, this is reflected
in the Customer Satisfaction Survey results that have been on ascendance
with each passing year.”
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Simulated atmosphere
Assessment centre focusses on promotion/selection/ compensation,
while a development centre helps a professional understand his strength and
areas of improvement. Star performers are identified and groomed over a period
of time for future roles. “A development centre is a technique of measuring
key competencies demonstrated by an individual in a ‘simulated environment’
through the use of various instruments by an experienced unbiased assessor.
Since the process of assessment is ‘simulated’, the observation on
competencies is based on the demonstrated behaviour. The exercise is conducted
under the assumption that the behaviours demonstrated in the ‘simulated
environment’ are similar to those behaviours that will be demonstrated
in real life,” states Varda Pendse, Director, Cerebrus Consultants.
According to Pendse the team size of assessees should not exceed 10-12. Typical
ratio is one assessor for every three assessee. Typical period for a centre
is two days. “The process involves administration, observation and interpretation
of the various tools and providing feedback to the individuals,” she informs.
| Assessment centre process |
- Identification and definition of the strategic
purpose of the “centre”
- Analysis of the target job or capability
level to define the required competencies and skills for success
- Design of appropriate materials (eg simulation
exercises) to collect evidence against criteria
- Training of assessors to use assessment
materials
- Communication with the participants to
inform them of what to expect
- A concluding, structured consolidation
analysis and discussion (final decision-making process) to identify
summary performance and capability for each individual
- Structured, consistently delivered feedback
to the participant on that performance
- Review of the ‘performance’
of the assessment process in delivering against the strategic needs
identified at the beginning.
Source: ITAP International
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Based on ‘adult learning’ principles, Pendse lists the different
types of learnings:
- Learning from experience: Evaluating past behaviour
and circumstances and understanding the takeaways
- Learning by sharing: Sharing feedback with people
who can provide the necessary guidance
- Leaning by demonstration: Understanding the competencies
that require development and demonstrating the appropriate behaviour
- Learning through introspection: Accepting the competency
gaps and commitment towards development.
Each of the key competencies would be assessed by at least two tools. Assessment
centre activities of Cerebrus include:
- A personality profilor
- A leaderless group discussion
- A group work exercise
- An ‘in-basket’ exercise
- Case study
- One-to-one interview.
An integral part of succession planning process, assessment centres are still
a novelty whose significance corporate India is trying to understand.
sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com
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