Assessment: What’s the value added?
- Written by Gary Watkins
- Published in articles551-600
Assessment: What’s the value added?
By: Elaine Saunders
Elaine Saunders is a consultant, and is registered as an Industrial Psychologist with the Health Professional Council Of South Africa (HPCSA).
Elaine Saunders can be contacted on ipcons@iafrica.com about Competency-Based Assessment Workshops to be held in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg in 2002.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this article is to justify the existence of assessment within the corporate context. I think that mistakenly, assessment is often viewed, as a means to an end rather than the powerful tool it can be to control business results.
What do I mean by this – well once again, the process is what is important and here I refer you to the model below.
When management decide upon a strategic direction for the business, they identify certain business results they want to achieve. In order to achieve these results they have to apply resources to the process, and one of these resources is people.
The people they employ have to play certain roles in achieving the strategy and they also need an appropriate set of competencies to take on these roles and to support the achievement of the results. These competencies can be brought into the organisation via selection or they can be developed, where appropriate in current employees. What matters however, is how accurately these competencies can be assessed in order to ensure that the organisation has the right resources to apply to the achievement of results.
If management decides to install a machine in the production line to support the achievement of production and sales targets – they will design the machine to produce a certain amount of product to support the sales targets. They will also carefully monitor that the machine produces this requirement, on a daily basis. Detailed production and productivity charts will be drawn up daily to track progress and to ensure that production is in line with the achievement of the strategic objectives.
However, what do organisations do to track the performance and results of people? Not very much really – we just assume that if we employ someone they will do the necessary work and produce the results. It is the one area where effective control mechanisms are seldom applied.
2. What is assessment?
Assessment is in essence, a mechanism, which controls the performance of people.
When people think of assessment they tend to perceive it in a somewhat myopic light e.g. as an instrument to measure cognitive or personality traits in a selection context. However, assessment is far more powerful than this and extends across a wide variety of human performance and business results. As the model in figure 1 shows assessment contributes to the measurement of human attributes in a selection, developmental and career planning and succession context.
Figure 1: The Role Of Assessment In Business
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STRATEGY
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People |
Business
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Roles Competencies |
Kpi’s Results |
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ASSESSMENT
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Recruitment & Selection Development Career Planning Succession Planning |
Performance Management
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RESULTS
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Let’s have a closer look at these different contexts:
# Selection assessment tells you whether you are ‘buying the right product’ initially, to put it in cold business terms. In a selection context we are measuring competency and we do so, unless we have internal candidates, without any direct exposure to the individual’s prior performance and experience. We rely on the honesty and subjective reports of others, to tell us about the candidate’s past.
The assessment methods appropriate in this context are:
> Psychometric assessment - for behavioural attributes and cognition
> Learning Potential Assessment - particularly where disadvantaged people and equity target groups are concerned
> Biographical Forms and CV’s
> Structured Interviews – based on competencies identified in the competency profile
> Assessment Centres, which include practical exercises, are an option at senior levels of the organisation
> Work samples - for technical and practical skills
Selection assessment is challenging in that we cannot rely on the accurate evaluation of past performance, which research has shown to be a very valid and reliable predictor of future performance.
# Developmental assessments allow you to compare the set of competencies of an individual with those required by a certain role, position or job and then to bridge the gap between the two through the application of training and developmental opportunities, where these are appropriate.
Appropriate assessment methodologies for developmental assessments are:
> The assessment of learning potential - i.e. will the person be able to grasp the concepts presented in training and benefit from the learning experience?
> Language assessment – does the individual have appropriate language skills for training – i.e. will he or she be able to understand the learning materials?
> Numerical skills – i.e. if numerical ability will be required as part of the training, for example in an advanced management program
> Psychological assessment applied as an instrument of self -awareness and learning
> 360-degree evaluation – incorporating self, superior and peer evaluation – as an instrument of self-awareness
The above methodologies create a starting point – a ‘this is where I am now’ scenario. This is then used as the basis for identifying a learning pathway against which progress can be monitored. Self-assessment and the gathering of information from team members and management are critical in enabling the individual to understand the differences in how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others.
# Performance Management assesses the results of human endeavour. In this sense it controls the achievement of strategic objectives. That is of course, if these strategic initiatives and roles have been embedded into the competency profiles in the first place. The methodology most often used in assessing performance outcomes is:
> Daily monitoring of achievement of targets on a daily/weekly basis. This is an integral element of daily operational management.
> 360-degree evaluation
> Structured Interviews
> Quarterly performance evaluation against strategic objectives
> Client Surveys – in customer/client focused environments
Performance management is a control mechanism in the business sense. It controls for business results. However, it is also a powerful developmental tool, when applied in a structured and consistent manner.
3. Competency profiles and NQF unit standards
The competency profile drives the assessment process as well as the control of results. It is the benchmark for the position. It also defines the standards of performance and business results required from the person in that position. Thus the development of the competency profile is crucial to the control of results. If we define what we want to achieve incorrectly in the profile, then we will not achieve the results, i.e. we will be measuring the wrong things.
The first step in any assessment process is to decide what is to be measured. A well-developed competency profile forms the basis of most human resource processes, particularly those mentioned above. Input to the profiles must come from the following sources:
> The company’s strategic objectives – people often look surprised when I ask them for this information – but how can we hope to achieve strategic results if we are not embedding these initiatives into the work that people do on a daily basis?
> The current incumbent of the position and the person the position reports to – it is surprising how different the two perspectives often are
> Existing position profiles (if any) – take care to ensure that these are not out of date in relation to current strategic and organizational development initiatives
None of these sources of information can be left out, particularly the strategic objectives. It is critical to ensure that the activities that people carry out every day and the results they achieve, are directly aligned to strategy. Traditionally the drawing up of job profiles was to simply write down a list of activities that the person performed, without including any element of change, stretch or cognisance of what that particular position contributes to the future growth and viability of the organization.
The competency profile must depict the following information:
> The knowledge, skills and behavioural attributes (competencies) necessary to perform the job
> The outcomes, or business results the individual is required to achieve
> The assessment methods appropriate for measuring these competencies and outcomes in a selection, developmental and performance management context.
This format complies with the requirements of a National Qualification Standard (NQF) Unit Standard. An example of a competency profile for the job of Human Resource (HR) Manager is shown in table 1.
Table 1: An example of a competency profile for an HR Manager job
JOB TITLE : HR Manager
Job Grade :
Review Date : (every year or when structure/roles/responsibilities are changed)
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Competency
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Activity (answers the question what?) Must be able to ….
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Outcome (answers the question why?) In order to ……… |
Assessment Methodology (Refers to a Recruitment, Developmental or Performance Management Context) |
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KNOWLEDGE COMPONENT Guideline Only
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HR Diploma and/or Tertiary Qualification NQF Level 7/8 5 years appropriate experience (t) RHRMK001
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Recruitment : Cognitive Assessment Biographical Form +References/Past Performance Mgt Review
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Competency
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Activity (answers the question what?) Must be able to ….
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Outcome (answers the question why?) In order to ……… |
Assessment Methodology (Refers to a Recruitment, Developmental or Performance Management Context) |
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SKILLS COMPONENT |
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Language (t) RHRMS001 |
Must be able to read , write and speak fluently in English and Afrikaans |
In order to –
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Recruitment : Structured Interview Work Sample +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : 360 degree evaluation Performance Management Review Performance management : Client Survey Performance Management Review 360 degree evaluation **Monitoring results |
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Numerical Skills (t) RHRMS002 |
Must have well developed numerical skills, i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, ratios and percentages |
In order to –
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Recruitment : Work Sample +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Performance Management Review Performance management : Performance Management Review Client Survey **Monitoring results |
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Attention to detail (t) RHRMS003 |
Must be able to produce
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In order to
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Recruitment : Paper and Pencil Test +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Performance Management Review 360 degree evaluation Performance Management : Performance Management Review Client Survey 360 degree evaluation **Monitoring Results |
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Computer Skills (t) RHRMS004 |
Must be able to use a computer effectively and understand and utilise the following software packages
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In order to
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Recruitment: Structured Interview +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Performance Management Review 360 deg evaluation Performance Management : Performance Management Review 360 deg evaluation Client Survey |
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Technical Ability (t) RHRMS005 |
Must have –
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In order to
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Recruitment : Structured Interview Work Sample Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Performance Management Review Performance Management : Performance Management Review Client Survey ** Monitoring Results
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BEHAVIOURAL ATTRIBUTES |
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Competency
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Activity (answers the question what?) Must be able to ….
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Outcome (answers the question why?) In order to ……… |
Assessment Methodology (Refers to a RecuitmentRecruitment, Developmental or Performance Management Context) |
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Leadership Skills (T) RHRMBA001 |
Must have well developed leadership ability |
In order to
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Recruitment : Personality Assessment* Structured Interview Assessment Centre +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Learning Potential Assessment Personality Assessment 360 Degree Evaluation Performance Management Review Performance Management : Performance Management Review 360 Degree Evaluation ** Monitoring Results |
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Interpersonal Skills (T) RHRMBA002 |
Must be able to relate effectively to internal and external clients, and all interested stakeholders |
In order to
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Recruitment : Personality Assessment* Structured Interview Assessment Centre +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Learning Potential Assessment Personality Assessment 360 Degree Evaluation Performance Management Review Performance Management : Performance Management Review Client Survey ** Monitoring Results |
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Problem solving & Decision making (t) RHRMBA003 |
Must have –
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In order to
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Recruitment : Personality Assessment* Structured Interview Assessment Centre +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Learning Potential Assessment Personality Assessment 360 Degree Evaluation Performance Management Review
Performance Management : Performance Management Review 360 Degree Evaluation **Monitoring Results |
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Planning, Organising and Controlling (t) RHRMBA004 |
Must have sound management skills |
In order to
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Recruitment : Personality Assessment* Structured Interview Assessment Centre +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Learning Potential Assessment Personality Assessment 360 Degree Evaluation Performance Management Review
Performance Management : Performance Management Review Client Survey 360 Degree Evaluation **Monitoring Results |
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Stress Tolerance (T) RHRMBA005 |
Must be an emotionally resilient individual who can cope with pressure and interact effectively in sensitive situations |
In order to
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Recruitment : Personality Assessment* Structured Interview Assessment Centre +Performance Management Review/Referencing Development : Learning Potential Assessment Personality Assessment 360 Degree Evaluation Performance Management Review
Performance Management : Performance Management Review Client Survey 360 Degree Evaluation **Monitoring Results |
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* Psychometric assessment – must be supervised by a Registered Psychologist
‘t’ considered being a trainable competency
‘T’ considered being a competency, which may be difficult to train, and which would take some time to achieve results
** Performance Management Assessment: Monitoring Results
Refers to the day-to-day monitoring of short term results via one-on-one discussions or operational meetings.
+ ‘References’ refer to external candidates and ‘Performance Mgt Review’ to internal candidates
The term ‘client’ refers to both internal and external clients
Compiled by : E M Saunders
January 2002
4. Conclusion
So to answer the question, what value does assessment add to an organisation? It is essentially a control mechanism, which if applied effectively, ensures that the correct human resources are brought into the company up front and that these resources produce the required results in line with company strategy. It also ensures that where there are gaps in competency, that these are identified and addressed.
The competency profile is the key driver in an assessment process- it is the planning tool – if we get this wrong, then we get everything else wrong as well. For valid results from assessment, which support the achievement of business objectives, you must make sure the planning process is accurately carried out. No company can carry out effective assessment without a valid set of competency profiles for each position, across all levels.
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Gary Watkins
Gary Watkins
Managing Director
BA LLB
C: +27 (0)82 416 7712
T: +27 (0)10 035 4185 (Office)
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