Deck 13: Performance Tests and Assessment Centers for Selection

Question 1

From a cost standpoint,when developing a performance test it is preferable to select tasks that require a long time to perform rather than tasks that require a short time to perform.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

All else being equal,it is preferable to have the applicant's performance on one part of the test be closely tied to a previous part of the test.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The Management Progress Study of AT&T marked the beginning of the use of assessment centers for industrial organizations.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Signs are selection tests that gather information about behaviors that are consistent with the job behavior being predicted.

Question 5

Performance tests should never serve as a realistic job preview.

Question 6

Tasks that have standardized operations or products or have easily defined verbal or interactive components are more appropriate in performance tests than tasks not so characterized.

Question 7

Studies that examine the results of using performance tests in selection have been universally positive and have identified several benefits.

Question 8

Performance tests have only been found to successfully predict job performance for clerical and skilled manual labor positions.

Question 9

Minicourse trainability tests use a training setting to create a performance test that predicts future job performance.

Question 10

Asking many questions rapidly and not allowing much time for the applicant's response in a selection interview is an effective performance test for assessing the stress associated with high work demands.

Question 11

Performance tests provide only indirect evidence of the applicant's ability and skill to work on the job.

Question 12

When scoring motor performance tests,a number of separate standards can be scored for both process and product categories.

Question 13

In general,a process is scored in a performance test when there are a small number of ways to do the job and these ways invariably lead to an acceptable product..

Question 14

Research shows that the adverse impact of the performance tests was less than that of the written tests.

Question 15

The most appropriate tasks to consider for a performance test are those that depend on specialized knowledge,abilities,or skills to use company products,personnel,materials,customers,etc,since these tasks distinguish the company's jobs from other organizations' jobs.

Question 16

In general,tasks chosen to be represented in a performance test are those that have a strong bearing on job performance.

Question 17

Tasks that a large majority of applicants can do are useful in discriminating among good and poor applicants.

Question 18

Trainability tests are useful for jobs requiring general knowledge or skill that applicants can be expected to possess.

Question 19

Performance tests commonly assume that the applicants already have the knowledge,ability,and skill to complete the job behavior required in the test.

Question 20

Ordinarily,performance tests are much more expensive than other selection devices if many applicants are involved.

Question 21

The interview is employed quite often in assessment centers.

Question 22

In assessment centers,correlations among dimensions that are measured with the same exercise are very low.

Question 23

Operating a machine is an example of a(n)____________ test.

A)motor
B)verbal`
C)easy
D)sign

Question 24

Assessment centers are usually administered to individuals one at a time rather than to groups of individuals.

Question 25

"Signs" and "samples" are categories of selection tests that both rely upon which of the following "principles" of human behavior?

A)behavioral consistency
B)behavioral variability
C)trait consistency
D)trait variability

Question 26

There is evidence to support the conclusion that it is possible to use data currently available in organizations to yield comparable selection data that are content valid at a lower cost than assessment centers.

Question 27

Unfortunately,assessment centers have been found to be valid for predicting job potential but not job performance.

Question 28

Assessment Centers are a more practical option for small businesses than large ones.

Question 29

In general,adverse impact has not been a problem associated with assessment centers.

Question 30

Which of the following is a true distinction between performance tests and other selection devices?

A)Performance tests provide indirect evidence of an applicant's ability and skill to work on the job, while other selection devices provide direct evidence.
B)The focus is more on the test representing important job activities than on linking the test to specific KSAs.
C)Performance tests do not require judgments by raters or interpretations of scores, while other selection devices do require judgment and interpretation.
D)Performance tests predict future job performance while other selection devices assess current KSAs.

Question 31

In assessment centers,correlations among dimension ratings are usually quite high.

Question 32

The major duty of an assessor in an Assessment Center is to record the behavior of a participant in an exercise and use the data to rate the participant on each behavioral dimension appropriate for the exercise.

Question 33

Partially because of the cost and lack of convergent and discriminant validity of Assessment Centers,selection specialists have turned their attention to other types of simulation devices.

Question 34

The development of an Assessment Center starts with a job analysis to identify clusters of job activities that are the important parts of the job of interest.

Question 35

Usually,there are twice as many assessors in an assessment center as there are participants.

Question 36

Personality tests,both paper-and-pencil and projective,are commonly being included in recent assessment centers.

Question 37

One problem with assessment centers is that they have rarely received favorable support by the courts and the EEOC in alleged discrimination cases.

Question 38

In an assessment center,each exercise should not measure more than one dimension.

Question 39

Assessors (in an assessment center)are usually outside consultants hired for their expertise and objectivity.

Question 40

Which of the following is a limitation in the use of performance tests?

A)Much care must be taken in the construction of work sample tests to ensure their representativeness of job activity.
B)Inferences of the applicant's future job performance must be made from only verbal information.
C)The carryover from verbal description to job performance needed in performance tests is not always complete.
D)The data are subject to willing distortion or faking by the applicant.

Question 41

Which of the following is true in terms of about what we know about assessment centers?

A)They have very mixed results - about half work and half don't.
B)They work (i.e., are valid in predicting both job performance and career movement),
C)They don't work (i.e., aren't valid in predicting both job performance and career movement) because the dimensions do not measure empirically distinct characteristics of the participants.
D)The cost of using them outweighs the benefits.

Question 42

Participants' performance in Assessment Centers is composed of:

A)a General Performance factor and an Exercise factor.
B)a General Performance factor and Measurement Error.
C)an Exercise factor and Measurement Error.
D)Latent Traits and Measurement Error.

Question 43

Which of the following is true about the relationship between dimensions and exercises in an assessment center?

A)Each dimension is measured by one exercise.
B)Each dimension must be measured by more than one exercise.
C)Each exercise measures only one dimension.
D)One exercise is usually adequate to measure all dimensions.

Question 44

Which of the following is a criticism of assessment centers?

A)lack of validity
B)adverse impact
C)very expensive to develop and maintain
D)lack of acceptance by organizations

Question 45

The development of an assessment center starts with a job analysis to identify clusters of job activities that are important parts of the job of interest.These job clusters are referred to as:

A)categories
B)profiles
C)patterns
D)dimensions

Question 46

You are asked to develop a performance test for a mid-level management job that is characterized by multiple,competing,and high job demands.Obviously,stress is associated with this position.What kind of performance test would you create to assess the ability of an applicant to handle this type of stress effectively?

Question 47

Summarize the validity evidence for using assessment centers in selection.Do they work as they were intended to work? Why or why not?

Question 48

If performance tests are so sensible and efficient,shouldn't they be used in all selection situations? Why or why not?

Question 49

Which of the following benefits has NOT been associated with manager-assessors following their assessment center experience?

A)greater proficiency in interviewing
B)greater proficiency in communicating information
C)decreased halo error in rating subordinate performance
D)changes in self-perceived ability ratings

Question 50

What are the two most often-used performance tests in assessment centers?

A)case analysis; personal history data
B)peer assessment; measures of leadership ability
C)leaderless group discussion; in-basket
D)mental ability tests; projective tests

Question 51

Which of the following are considered a "low-fidelity" simulation?

A)situational interviews
B)situational judgment tests
C)hypothetical work situation
D)blueprint reading test

Question 52

What is the "Crown Prince Syndrome?"

A)When assessment center information is used for making managerial decisions it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
B)When participants in assessment centers return to their work, jealous coworkers refer to them as "crown princes."
C)One result of participating in an assessment center is the inflated self-perception of being a "crown prince."
D)Managers who are promoted without being evaluated in an assessment center are referred to as "crown princes."

Question 53

The following are steps in the development of performance tests.What is the correct order of steps to produce a performance test? i.training of judges
Ii)perform job analysis
Iii)develop scoring procedures
Iv)identification of tasks to be tested
V)develop testing procedures

A)ii, iv, v, i, iii
B)ii, iv, v, iii, i
C)ii, iv, i, iii, v
D)ii, v, i, iii, iv

Question 54

Which of the following is a behavioral dimension frequently measured in assessment centers?

A)attention to detail
B)cooperation
C)decisiveness
D)reliability

Question 55

When would it be reasonable to include personal computer skill in an assessment center?

Question 56

Which of the following is TRUE about the choice of standards for scoring a performance test?

A)Quality is more important when correctness of the task effort is secondary to time or cost to complete the task.
B)Quantity is most importantly scored for those performance tests in which amount produced within a given period of time is not within the control of the worker.
C)Learning time is a logical standard for tasks which are characterized by having a variety of novel demands placed on the job incumbent.
D)Safety is an important dimension to consider for all tasks.

Question 57

Work sample tests have been classified as falling into two categories.What are those two categories?

A)signs, samples
B)physical, mental
C)verbal, motor
D)mechanical, problem-centered