Framework for Organizational Assessment

 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES THAT INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS   

What Should We Assess?

Kevin R. Murphy

Assessment in organizations can be carried out for a variety of purposes, many with high stakes for both individuals and organizations. The stakes can be particularly high when assessments are used to make decisions about personnel selection and placementor about advancement and development of individuals once they have been hired. If assessments focus on traits, attributes, or outcomes that are not relevant to success and effectiveness, both organizations and individuals may end up making
poor decisions about the fi t between people and jobs. If assessments are appropriately focused but poorly executed (perhaps the right attributes are measured, but they are measured with very low levels of reliability and precision), these assessments may lead to poor decisions on the parts of both organizations and individuals. In this chapter, I focus on broad questions about the content of assessments (for example, What sorts of human attributes should assessments attempt to measure?) and say very little about the execution of assessments (the choice of specific tests) or assessment methods, for example) or even the use of assessment data. My discussion is general rather than specifi c, focusing on general dimensions of assessment (whether to assess cognitive abilities or broad versus narrow abilities, for example) rather than on the specifi cs of assessment for a particular job (say, the best set of assessments for selecting among applicants for a job as a fi refi ghter). This chapter provides a general foundation for many of the chapters that follow. It sets the stage by discussing broad dimensions of individual differences that are likely to be relevant for understanding performance, effectiveness, and development in the workplace. The remaining chapters in Part One start addressing more specifi c questions that arise when attempting to assess these dimensions. Chapter Two reviews the range of methods that can be used to assess the quality of measures, and Chapters Three through Eight provide a more detailed examination of specifi c domains: cognitive abilities, personality, background and experience, knowledge and skill, physical and psychomotor skills and abilities, and competencies. Part Two of this book discusses assessment for selection, promotion, and development, and Parts Three and Four deal with strategic assessment programs and with emerging trends and issues. I begin this chapter by noting two general strategies for determining
what to assess in organizations: one that focuses on the work and the other that focuses on the person. The person - oriented approaches are likely to provide the most useful guidance in determining what to assess for the purpose of selection and placement in entry - level jobs, and work - oriented assessments might prove more useful for identifying opportunities for and challenges to development and advancement.More read