Organizational Assessment Programs

The purpose of organization assessment programs is to evaluate the potential of employees for growth and development within the organization. Many organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Ford, Intel and IBM use such programs to fulfill their staffing requirements. Since these organizations are known for continuous innovation, they need special target groups in order to handle their very special department. These specially formulated teams consist of those individuals who have greater employability and are able to work under pressure. To speed up high-priority development of new products and innovation of entirely different products, highly competent individuals are required. In order to fulfill their staffing requirements, these organizations take help of assessment programs.

Organizational Assessment Programs

• Assessment Centers: Assessment centers are popular decision-making tools that are used by most companies including Pratt & Whitney, AT & T, Sears Reobuck & Co., TVA, JC Penney, IBM, GE and Bendix. All the individuals (participants) in assessment centers are engaged in a variety of exercises and put in different situations including tests, group discussions, interviews, in-baskets and business games. Their performances are evaluated by the experts. After that a panel of trainers gives them an in-depth feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. They then are given an opportunity to improve their skills and set their future career goals.

• Psychological Testing: Psychological testing consists of written test that help individuals as well as organizations understand their personality, career interests, work attitudes, vocational interests and other personal characteristics. It reveals their career needs and preferences and then they are given jobs that suit their personality as well as skills and competencies.

• Promotability Forecasts: Promotability forecasting is a tool that helps organizations is identifying the individuals with exceptionally high potential to perform different types of jobs. This technique is used in making early forecasts. Once individuals are identified, they are made to attend conferences and training programs and other relevant developmental experiences in order to groom them for higher positions. Several companies have different programs to groom different groups of employees. Along with this, high potential employees are given developmental assignments that are a real test for them.

• Succession Planning: Succession planning is a formal process with an aim to groom lower level individuals to replace next-higher level individual in case he or she leaves the organization or gets retired. The process involves continuous review top executives and the next lower level employees in order to determine whether he or she is the right backup for the senior executive or not. This is the most important exercise which often takes several years in grooming the next person for the senior position. It includes overall development of the selected individual and continuous review of his or her performance. This is a common assessment tool in Fortune 500 companies that choose their CEO by the same process. Organizations create a pool of talented employees who have high leadership potential. They are put to different jobs in different situations and are evaluated by a panel of experts. The process is usually restricted to senior level management only.

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