The assessment center is a contemporary approach to identifying managerial potential for purposes of selection, placement, promotion, or development. This research determined the extent to which participants actually implemented developmental activities following assessment. The organization assumed that learners would follow-up with recommended activities on their own. There has been no study to determine they did. This study set out to determine if participants did implement development and the conditions under which they did or did not.
First, a preliminary questionnaire was administered to all 120 graduates of the Success Program. Nineteen participants who were originally divided into (a) those who completed one or more recommended developmental activities and some self-selected developmental activities, (b) those who did not implement recommended developmental activities but did complete one or more self-selected developmental activities, (c) those who implemented recommended and/or self-selected developmental activities but did not complete any, and (d) those who did not implement either recommended or self-selected developmental activities were interviewed. It was found that most people did. Individuals were further classified into levels of implementation: (a) High implementers, (b) moderate implementers, (c) low implementers, (d) implementers of self-selected activities only, and (e) non-implementers.
This study provides evidence to support the organization's assumption: Through the assessment center process, individuals will be motivated to change their managerial behavior. Seventeen of the nineteen Success graduates followed up with development. While they differed in the number of activities they pursued, they targeted the same skills cited by the assessors for improvement. Further, the program was a positive learning experience for almost all its members. Self-awareness was heightened and served as a catalyst for further development in targeted managerial skills. Self-reported changes in management behavior tended to focus on the same skills targeted by the assessors for improvement. Both individual and organizational responsibilities were reflected in the problems encountered and reasons given for not pursuing development. Personal factors generally related to the willingness to devote time and energy to self-development and to the individuals' perceptions about the importance of change. Organizational factors generally related to feedback, relevance of the training to job functions, and post-program support.
Although it was concluded that the Success Program is basically a sound one, recommendations were made to aid the organization in strengthening its program. / Ed. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/76464 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | Nichols, Billie E. |
| Contributors | Adult and Continuing Education, Stubblefield, Harold W., Chalofsky, Neal E., Giegold, William C., Cline, Marvin G., Morgan, Samuel D. |
| Publisher | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation, Text |
| Format | x, 255 leaves, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 13720007 |
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