Assessment Centers and Managerial Performance

Book excerpt: Assessment Centers and Managerial Performance presents the historical development of multiple assessment procedures with focus on those advances relevant to assessment centers. This book discusses the models of job analysis, the nature of managerial work, work-sampling assessment methods, and the process of human judgment based on the assessment center experience. Organized into 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the various methods to describe, evaluate, and predict management effectiveness. This text then describes a number of assessment programs, including the earliest assessment centers. Other chapters consider the five approaches to predicting managerial effectiveness, including psychometric testing, clinical evaluations by psychologists, supervisor's ratings of potentials background interviews, and assessment centers. This book discusses as well the three levels of managerial jobs, namely, supervisory, middle management, and executive. The final chapter deals with the development of standards for assessment center operations. This book is a valuable resource for psychologists.