The Relationship between Program Evaluation Research and Selection System Validation--Application to the Assessment Center Method

摘要

This field study describes a comparative evaluation approach to determining the effectiveness of a popular personnel program--the assessment center method. In contrast to traditional validity research, the emphasis is on the key roles of multiple (often conflicting) program values or goals, on alternatives to using an assessment center, and on cost-effectiveness. While the data indicate that the specific assessment center under study did as well predicting advancement criteria as comparable centers reported in the literature, it was less effective that other, less costly, alternatives. Further, when it came to less traditional criteria (or goals) such as the prediction of performance effectiveness of managers or enhancing employee development, it was generally inferior to the other 'programs' examined. It is proposed that this approach to assessing an assessment center (or any selection system) is in many ways superior to validation programs commonly pursued by industrial/organizational psychologists. (Author)