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Charles Woodruffe. Development and Assessment Centres: Identifying and Assessing Competence. London: Institute of Personnel and Development, 2000, 294 pages, softcover. Reviewed by Ronald J. Karren, Associate Professor of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Assessment centers have been used extensively over the past 30 years to identify, assess, and give feedback to those most likely to succeed. This text generally offers those who are involved in selection and development a carefully defined process of designing and implementing a group of simulation exercises for an assessment center. The main purpose of this book is prescriptive. It is to discuss in-depth how an organization should design either an assessment center or development center. Although it is primarily for practitioners, human resource managers, and organizational consultants, there are a number of chapters that are geared towards a more academic audience.
It is clear that the author has expertise with assessment and development centers, and one of the highlights of this text is the discussion of the various similarities and differences between the two types of centers. The primary objective of the development center is to identify the participants' strengths and weaknesses and to assist them in constructing a development plan. Although the development center has had a much shorter history than the older and more researched assessment center, there are a number of rather important qualities and design issues that distinguish the two types. For example, in the development center, there is less need for fairness and secrecy, because this center is less competitive. Assessors may play a different role, acting as observers and giving feedback after each exercise. The author believes that development centers should not...