Class of 2006 Abstract / Every organization strives towards excellence. Excellence is often achieved through sound management practices. In this analysis, a local Tucson business was assessed to determine its organizational efficiency. Interviews were conducted in order to assess a broad range of managerial issues including cultural and ethical issues, communication issues, staffing issues and leadership and motivation. Recommendations were provided for potential improvements. Cultural and ethical issues included indifference, a lack of discipline, and unethical behavior. Communication issues included a lack of upward communication, lack of appraisals, proper training and teamwork. Staffing issues included an informal selection process, high turnover and a lack of external sales support. Leadership and motivational issues included no incentives to work harder, lack of upward mobility, no recognition to boost moral, poor attitude and constant tardiness. Recommendations for cultural and ethical issues included standardized meetings, strict discipline and proper enforcement. Recommendations for communication issues included an appropriate training manual, an officially recognized party, one-on-one status checks and an opinion box. Recommendations for staffing issues included a formal hiring process and performance rewards. Recommendations for leadership and motivational issues included creating a team leader, best customer service employee awards, a Stuart Smalley annual ‘feel-good’ meeting and strict tardiness policies. Implementing these recommendations is one possible step in the direction of solving the problems identified.

A replication of an original study of managerial assessment centers performed by Sackett and Dreher (1982) is presented. Their major finding, indicating that assessment centers lack key tenets of internal construct validity, was corroborated in this study of a hotel managers' assessment center. This hotel managers' assessment center is also found to be externally valid using criterion-related validity. The argument is posed that assessment centers, as standardized tests of complex behavioral traits, appear to be operating outside the bounds of normal test construction principles. Five key explanations for this paradox are offered to guide much needed future research in this area. Additionally, a description of commonly utilized assessment center activities is offered the reader.