Assessment in Organisations
Lecture 1
What is individual assessment?
Individual assessment:
(1)The use of measurements such as tests and assessments used in an organizational/ work context
(2) to make employee-related decisions
Measurements Decisions
- Interview - Succession planning
- Assessment center - Selection
- Personality questionnaire - Training plan
- Intelligence test - Reward
- Assessment/ Rating - Career choice
- 360 Feedback - Promotion
- …. - …..
Assessment: more goals and more forms
What is the use of assessment?
Individual/ group differences in performance matter:
- People have skills and other qualities
- These skills relate to job performance
- Relative differences in these skills are fairly stable, so people with higher skill levels will
perform better
- People differ in work performance and different jobs require different skills
- Required skills can be measured
➔ Productivity/ efficiency, well-being/ satisfaction, fair opportunity for individuals and groups
What should an assessment meet?
The use of assessment must be:
- Reliable, valid, practical to use, produce the right results, fair to all concerned and not lead
to discriminatory effects for groups of people
- > Fairness/ non-discriminatory recruitment and promotion processes- a matter of measures,
procedures, policies or?
This includes several theoretical, methodological and practical considerations
,Course learning goals:
1. Understand theories and research findings on key predictor and criterion constructs and
measurements in AIO (intelligence, personality, motives and behavior/ work performance)
2. Apply psychometrics to assess the quality of predictor and criterion measures
3. Perform assessment-related skills (job analysis, structured interviews, assessments)
4. Synthesis Relate instruments (e.g. selection interviews, situational judgement tests, multi-
source feedback, assessment center) to prediction goals in AIO based on psychometric
qualities, ethical aspects and content requirements
Basic model of individual assessment
Constructs are a mental constructs, which
derive scientific value from shared
meaning for different people; vuilding
blocks for theories.
Measurements (‘’measures’’) are
observable; they represent constructs;
used to test theories
Examples of
,Schmidt & Hunter, Classic Meta analysis (1998)
Exam Question
You are asked to improve the selection process for a sales position and you decide to include an
online sales person test (a type of personality test). Over time, you want to examine the validity of
this assessment tool in relation to overall performance.
1. What would the design of this validation study look like? Name the steps in the predictive
and concurrent design.
1 Analyze the job (which performance behavior is relevant)
2 Choose a criterion (e.g., sales, acquisition, fit)
3 Form predictive hypotheses (that will predict the criterion, e.g. proactivity, extraversion)
4 Select method of measurement (personality tests, interview)
5 Design research (concurrent vs. predictive)
6 Collect data
7 Analyze & Evaluate results (correlations and regression)
2. What is ‘’restriction of range’’ and how does this affect the results of the validation study?
, Lecture 2
Job Analysis
Job analysis: The process of studying and collecting information related to the activities and
responsibilities of a specific job.
- Job analysis defines the jobs/ roles within the organization and the behaviors required to
perform these jobs
- Job analysis is the starting point for all HRM activities: recruitment & selection, training &
development, performance appraisal, evaluation & compensation
‘’Although the popularity of job analysis has decreased the last decades, a thorough Job analysis is
NOT a waste of time!’’
Basic Model of Individual Assessment
Where can we find job analysis in the basic
model?
What is the use?
Optimize results
Fairness
Iterative improvement
Justify
Save work & energy
Purpose of Job Analysis
- Job analysis: A study of what a jobholder does in the job, what must be known in order to do
it, what resources are used in doing it, and perhaps the conditions under which it is done
Organizational Need Analysis
Organizational need analysis is an important management task
- Method: Conference/ dialogue, root-cause-analysis, SWOT, survey, etc.
- Outcomes: problem definition, actions and alternatives, costs and benefits, practical
opportunities and constraints, commitment.
- Level of analysis: organization- group-person
- Need analysis is often neglected in practice
- Need analysis links Aio to strategy goals organization