Harnessing Your Innate Abilities: Experiencing Assessment Center Exercises
Edition: 4
Copyright: 2023
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In Developing Your Innate Abilities: Experiencing Assessment Center Exercises, students learn a great deal about:
- themselves, by first completing a self-evaluation questionnaire.
- the importance of developing one’s innate abilities.
- a brief history of the assessment center process.
- several universal abilities that are important to be successful at work, in social situations and in life.
- some seminal research findings about the different abilities.
- emotional intelligence.
- how abilities can be measured to an extent by reading scenarios, subordinate counseling exercise, and an in-basket exercise by answering multiple-choice questions.
- why note-taking when reading scenarios and exercises will help one to later demonstrate their innate abilities.
- examples of when and how the abilities (weak or strong) were used.
- about oneself by rereviewing the self-evaluation exercise and reflecting on the extent to which one’s abilities have been improved.
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Overview
A Brief History of Assessment Center Methodology
What are Innate Abilities?
Why You Should Develop Your Innate Abilities
Cappelli’s Review of the Skill Gap, Skill Shortages, and Skill Mismatches
Training on Competencies, Emotional Intelligence, and Self-Management
The 12 Chapters
Design, Organization, and the Experiential Process
Chapter 2 – Planning and Organizing
Overview
Analysis/Discussion about Planning and Organizing Subdimensions
Summary Points
Five Scenarios and In-Basket Items
• Going out of town
• Subordinate’s difficulty with job tasks
• Reduction in force (RIF)
• Newly promoted employee
• Planning for a promotion • In-basket items
Chapter 3 – Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving
Overview
Definition of Problem Analysis
Some Research
Five Scenarios
• Employee with outside business.
• Crude and sexual jokes made during shift.
• Promotional hiring process problem.
• Climate survey results.
• Human resources problems.
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving (Aka Perception and Analysis) Scenarios
Chapter 4 – Judgment
Overview
You Could Lose Your Job!
Judgment Situations at Work
Moral and Ethical Judgment
Nine Scenarios
• Irate customer
• Rumor about an affair and peer pressure
• Subordinate on-the-job accident
• Sexual harassment of female
• Alleged employee theft
• Problem employee with negative personality
• Sick leave usage
• Unsafe workplace
• Coworker training and ethics violations
Ethics and Morals
Chapter 5 – Decision-Making
Overview
Miller and Byrnes Decision-Making Model and Other Research
Thiele and Young
Nine Scenarios
• Sunk costs
• Criminal background check issue
• Team problems
• Employee drinking problem
• Peer issue
• Unethical boss
• Disciplinary and promotional actions
• Off-duty employee behavior
• Workforce needs for cloud computing
Decision-Making Workplace Scenarios
Chapter 6 – Dealing With People/Interpersonal and Emotional Intelligence
Overview
Short History of Interpersonal Skills and Leadership
Descriptions of EI
More Important Research Findings About EI
Can EI Be Trained?
Some Definitions of Dealing With People (Interpersonal) Skills
Dealing With People
Interpersonal Skills
Real-Life Examples
Ten Scenarios
• Bank employee maternity leave and sick child
• Coworker tardiness
• Subordinate performance problems and father’s emergency surgery for cancer diagnosis
• Budget cuts and employee issues
• Family business closing down due to explosion
• Staff meeting about company policy and procedures changes
• Incompetent and sabotaging supervisor who provides no coaching
• Team member unwilling and unable to express his concerns
• Obtaining new client, staff concern, and aggressive vice president (VP)
• Performance evaluation training and new pay-for-performance (PFP) system
Chapter 7 – Adaptability
Overview
A Few Examples
Definitions of Adaptability
Some Research on Adaptability
Adaptability and Careers
Chapter 8 – Workplace Scenarios—How Would You Handle?
Overview
Ten Scenarios
• Ethical dilemma—workplace romance
• Problem employee
• Organizational restructuring
• Policies and procedures
• Inebriated customer at hotel pool bar
• Employee running his own business during work hours
• Hiring process issue
• Handling multiple projects with limited staff
• Workplace bully
• Toxic management colleagues and 360 feedback
• Mini case: Strategic planning
Strategic Planning
Overview
Essential Job Duties
Strategic Plan
Chapter 9 – A Subordinate Counseling Exercise
Candidate Instructions
Written Questions
Scenario
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
Employee Performance Notes
E-mail Message
Subordinate Counseling Exercise
Multiple-Choice Questions
Chapter 10 – Generic Management In-Basket Exercise
Overview
Instructions for IB Exercise
Scenario and Items
Memorandum
Google Code of Conduct
Who Must Follow Our Code?
What If I Have a Code-Related Question or Concern?
I. No Retaliation
III. Google Partners
Antibribery Laws
Dealing With Government Officials
Memorandum
Memorandum
E-mail Message
Phone Message
Handwritten Note in Taped Envelope Addressed to Kevin Costner
X Corporation/Organization Observation Report
E-mail Message
Memorandum
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
Generic Management IB Multiple-Choice Questions
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment/Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing
Judgment/Decision-Making
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment/Decision-Making
Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing, Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving, and Judgment and Decision-Making
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Judgment and Decision-Making
Problem Analysis and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing and Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing
Judgment and Decision-Making
Chapter 11 – Problem Analysis Cases
Overview
Cases
Case 1: Hospital Complaint About Peer, Work Schedule, Communication, and Patient Experience Scores
Complaint About Nurse Peer
Electronic Work Schedule
Patient Experience Scores
Case 2: Which Candidate Should Be Promoted?
Overview
Candidates and Algorithm Data
Matrix: Candidate Characteristics and Abilities
Additional Algorithm Data Information and Bergen’s Thoughts
Case 3: Toxic Workplace
Overview
Case 4: Falsified Sales Report
Overview
What Pesci Did
Meeting With Pesci
Chapter 12 – Reader’s Feedback and Comments About the Scenarios
General Comments
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 10
Reader’s Workplace Experiences
Comments About Some of the Scenarios
Examples of Learning
Chapter 13 – A Model to Reflect on and Use
Abilities
How Measured in Book
Mediating Variables
Career Potential
Predicted Job Outcomes
List of Universal Abilities
Innate Ability Definitions and Self-Evaluation Exercise
Self-Assessment Rating Scale
A Great Extent (5)
A More than Average Extent (4)
To an Average Extent (3)
To Somewhat of an Extent (2)
A Very Little Extent (1)
Perception and Analysis/Problem Analysis
Judgment/Decision-Making
Dealing with People/Interpersonal
Adaptability
Planning and Organizing
References
Dr. Linsey Willis, with more than 39 years of human resources (HR) and management experience, is currently president of L. J. CRAIG & Associates, Inc., a management and organizational consulting fi rm. Her firm’s clients represent a diverse mix of organizations from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Thailand, and Dubai. Linsey serves as an expert witness for attorneys in the employment law and personal industry disciplines. Dr. Willis is also a full-time instructor for Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. She is on the faculty of its Management Department and teaches management and HR undergraduate and graduate courses. She also teaches for the university’s Executive Education Department, leading courses granting HR certification and advanced HR certification.
Dr. Willis holds a doctorate in Public Administration from Nova Southeastern University, a master’s degree in Forensic Studies from Indiana University, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Kentucky. She has also earned certification in HR from the Human Resources Certification Institute, which has certified her as a senior human resources professional (SPHR).
Being able to apply your innate abilities to your career can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful career. Developing skills that will help you progress in your career is ideal to show your complex skills to whoever you’re working for and show them that they need someone with your skills. I refer to the exhaustive list of innate abilities in Developing Your Innate Abilities daily - the better I am at all these aspects of my job function, the better my career outlook becomes.
Student
A lot of times when I plan the list of things I need to get done I usually just try to make a list of everything I need to get done. I’ve learned through Developing Your Innate Abilities, it does not happen by just snapping your fingers, looking at a piece of paper or the computer screen or scheduling an impromptu meeting with staff, etc. It takes time . . .” (Willis, 2017). After reading this, I realize that I do not spend enough time and effort into planning out what I need to do.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities showed me what poor judgment skills are, it also covered how to exercise analytical judgment, which can help judgment skills. I will be using this exercise at work: Seeking expert or experienced advice where appropriate, and researching issues, situations and alternatives before exercising judgment.
Student
I have been in a situation when I have had a coworker I was very good friends with and I knew she was coming into work drunk and drinking on the job. Since she was a good friend of mine I didn’t do anything about it and kept my mouth shut. Developing Your Innate Abilities taught me how to handle such a situation if I was ever in it again. In Question 1 “considering you are not his supervisor, what would be your decision,” my “common sense” (using that word again) at that time was to keep my mouth shut but this made me realize that advising your boss as soon as possible that someone might have a drinking problem is the right step to take in this situation.
Student
I thought the in-basket exercise was very cool and helped us all grasp some knowledge about what the real-world workplace will be like. The situations in this exercise were useful in guiding us regarding what decisions to make for certain employees and the issues that the organization was going through.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities provides valuable real-life office scenarios. I agree that learning how to prioritize tasks is an essential skill. The question about prioritizing the tasks that involved the family emergency I felt was the hardest.
Student
Moral action and moral judgement are interrelated- this is why managers and supervisors need to be a role model to their subordinates. There can be positive and negative behaviors. Developing Your Innate Abilities gives the following examples: helping others, whistle-blowing, resistance to pressure from management personnel or those in authority, and stealing and cheating. By doing things in a moral way and exercising good judgment, we are mirroring positive images to employees. The advantages of doing this goes beyond just showing good moral action and judgment because in the end we will be building a company culture where good moral actions and behaviors are the norm.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities helped me learn the importance of making decisions that are moral and ethical. An example of this would be whether an employee of a company is involved in a type of crime or assault. This series of events would ultimately result from bad judgment and truly reveals the importance of making morally correct decisions. I will use what I learned from this book as a guideline for my decisions in my workplace because I want to refrain from ever being the cause of chaos in my company.
Student
No matter how good or bad the decisions you make in life, that’s what helps you grow your abilities to make better decisions and judgments in the future. Any situation that you are presented can go either way and based on the decisions presented in Developing Your Innate Abilities, it is clear that a lot of people have seen the good and the bad with their decisions. What is important is what you take from any experience and what you learned for next time. I will keep this in mind throughout my life and career, so I don’t let a bad decision hinder my future.
Student
In Developing Your Innate Abilities: Experiencing Assessment Center Exercises, students learn a great deal about:
- themselves, by first completing a self-evaluation questionnaire.
- the importance of developing one’s innate abilities.
- a brief history of the assessment center process.
- several universal abilities that are important to be successful at work, in social situations and in life.
- some seminal research findings about the different abilities.
- emotional intelligence.
- how abilities can be measured to an extent by reading scenarios, subordinate counseling exercise, and an in-basket exercise by answering multiple-choice questions.
- why note-taking when reading scenarios and exercises will help one to later demonstrate their innate abilities.
- examples of when and how the abilities (weak or strong) were used.
- about oneself by rereviewing the self-evaluation exercise and reflecting on the extent to which one’s abilities have been improved.
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Overview
A Brief History of Assessment Center Methodology
What are Innate Abilities?
Why You Should Develop Your Innate Abilities
Cappelli’s Review of the Skill Gap, Skill Shortages, and Skill Mismatches
Training on Competencies, Emotional Intelligence, and Self-Management
The 12 Chapters
Design, Organization, and the Experiential Process
Chapter 2 – Planning and Organizing
Overview
Analysis/Discussion about Planning and Organizing Subdimensions
Summary Points
Five Scenarios and In-Basket Items
• Going out of town
• Subordinate’s difficulty with job tasks
• Reduction in force (RIF)
• Newly promoted employee
• Planning for a promotion • In-basket items
Chapter 3 – Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving
Overview
Definition of Problem Analysis
Some Research
Five Scenarios
• Employee with outside business.
• Crude and sexual jokes made during shift.
• Promotional hiring process problem.
• Climate survey results.
• Human resources problems.
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving (Aka Perception and Analysis) Scenarios
Chapter 4 – Judgment
Overview
You Could Lose Your Job!
Judgment Situations at Work
Moral and Ethical Judgment
Nine Scenarios
• Irate customer
• Rumor about an affair and peer pressure
• Subordinate on-the-job accident
• Sexual harassment of female
• Alleged employee theft
• Problem employee with negative personality
• Sick leave usage
• Unsafe workplace
• Coworker training and ethics violations
Ethics and Morals
Chapter 5 – Decision-Making
Overview
Miller and Byrnes Decision-Making Model and Other Research
Thiele and Young
Nine Scenarios
• Sunk costs
• Criminal background check issue
• Team problems
• Employee drinking problem
• Peer issue
• Unethical boss
• Disciplinary and promotional actions
• Off-duty employee behavior
• Workforce needs for cloud computing
Decision-Making Workplace Scenarios
Chapter 6 – Dealing With People/Interpersonal and Emotional Intelligence
Overview
Short History of Interpersonal Skills and Leadership
Descriptions of EI
More Important Research Findings About EI
Can EI Be Trained?
Some Definitions of Dealing With People (Interpersonal) Skills
Dealing With People
Interpersonal Skills
Real-Life Examples
Ten Scenarios
• Bank employee maternity leave and sick child
• Coworker tardiness
• Subordinate performance problems and father’s emergency surgery for cancer diagnosis
• Budget cuts and employee issues
• Family business closing down due to explosion
• Staff meeting about company policy and procedures changes
• Incompetent and sabotaging supervisor who provides no coaching
• Team member unwilling and unable to express his concerns
• Obtaining new client, staff concern, and aggressive vice president (VP)
• Performance evaluation training and new pay-for-performance (PFP) system
Chapter 7 – Adaptability
Overview
A Few Examples
Definitions of Adaptability
Some Research on Adaptability
Adaptability and Careers
Chapter 8 – Workplace Scenarios—How Would You Handle?
Overview
Ten Scenarios
• Ethical dilemma—workplace romance
• Problem employee
• Organizational restructuring
• Policies and procedures
• Inebriated customer at hotel pool bar
• Employee running his own business during work hours
• Hiring process issue
• Handling multiple projects with limited staff
• Workplace bully
• Toxic management colleagues and 360 feedback
• Mini case: Strategic planning
Strategic Planning
Overview
Essential Job Duties
Strategic Plan
Chapter 9 – A Subordinate Counseling Exercise
Candidate Instructions
Written Questions
Scenario
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
Employee Performance Notes
E-mail Message
Subordinate Counseling Exercise
Multiple-Choice Questions
Chapter 10 – Generic Management In-Basket Exercise
Overview
Instructions for IB Exercise
Scenario and Items
Memorandum
Google Code of Conduct
Who Must Follow Our Code?
What If I Have a Code-Related Question or Concern?
I. No Retaliation
III. Google Partners
Antibribery Laws
Dealing With Government Officials
Memorandum
Memorandum
E-mail Message
Phone Message
Handwritten Note in Taped Envelope Addressed to Kevin Costner
X Corporation/Organization Observation Report
E-mail Message
Memorandum
E-mail Message
E-mail Message
Generic Management IB Multiple-Choice Questions
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment/Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing
Judgment/Decision-Making
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment/Decision-Making
Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing, Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving, and Judgment and Decision-Making
Problem Analysis/Problem-Solving and Judgment and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Judgment and Decision-Making
Problem Analysis and Decision-Making
Dealing With People and Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing and Judgment and Decision-Making
Planning and Organizing
Judgment and Decision-Making
Chapter 11 – Problem Analysis Cases
Overview
Cases
Case 1: Hospital Complaint About Peer, Work Schedule, Communication, and Patient Experience Scores
Complaint About Nurse Peer
Electronic Work Schedule
Patient Experience Scores
Case 2: Which Candidate Should Be Promoted?
Overview
Candidates and Algorithm Data
Matrix: Candidate Characteristics and Abilities
Additional Algorithm Data Information and Bergen’s Thoughts
Case 3: Toxic Workplace
Overview
Case 4: Falsified Sales Report
Overview
What Pesci Did
Meeting With Pesci
Chapter 12 – Reader’s Feedback and Comments About the Scenarios
General Comments
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 10
Reader’s Workplace Experiences
Comments About Some of the Scenarios
Examples of Learning
Chapter 13 – A Model to Reflect on and Use
Abilities
How Measured in Book
Mediating Variables
Career Potential
Predicted Job Outcomes
List of Universal Abilities
Innate Ability Definitions and Self-Evaluation Exercise
Self-Assessment Rating Scale
A Great Extent (5)
A More than Average Extent (4)
To an Average Extent (3)
To Somewhat of an Extent (2)
A Very Little Extent (1)
Perception and Analysis/Problem Analysis
Judgment/Decision-Making
Dealing with People/Interpersonal
Adaptability
Planning and Organizing
References
Dr. Linsey Willis, with more than 39 years of human resources (HR) and management experience, is currently president of L. J. CRAIG & Associates, Inc., a management and organizational consulting fi rm. Her firm’s clients represent a diverse mix of organizations from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Thailand, and Dubai. Linsey serves as an expert witness for attorneys in the employment law and personal industry disciplines. Dr. Willis is also a full-time instructor for Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. She is on the faculty of its Management Department and teaches management and HR undergraduate and graduate courses. She also teaches for the university’s Executive Education Department, leading courses granting HR certification and advanced HR certification.
Dr. Willis holds a doctorate in Public Administration from Nova Southeastern University, a master’s degree in Forensic Studies from Indiana University, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Kentucky. She has also earned certification in HR from the Human Resources Certification Institute, which has certified her as a senior human resources professional (SPHR).
Being able to apply your innate abilities to your career can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful career. Developing skills that will help you progress in your career is ideal to show your complex skills to whoever you’re working for and show them that they need someone with your skills. I refer to the exhaustive list of innate abilities in Developing Your Innate Abilities daily - the better I am at all these aspects of my job function, the better my career outlook becomes.
Student
A lot of times when I plan the list of things I need to get done I usually just try to make a list of everything I need to get done. I’ve learned through Developing Your Innate Abilities, it does not happen by just snapping your fingers, looking at a piece of paper or the computer screen or scheduling an impromptu meeting with staff, etc. It takes time . . .” (Willis, 2017). After reading this, I realize that I do not spend enough time and effort into planning out what I need to do.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities showed me what poor judgment skills are, it also covered how to exercise analytical judgment, which can help judgment skills. I will be using this exercise at work: Seeking expert or experienced advice where appropriate, and researching issues, situations and alternatives before exercising judgment.
Student
I have been in a situation when I have had a coworker I was very good friends with and I knew she was coming into work drunk and drinking on the job. Since she was a good friend of mine I didn’t do anything about it and kept my mouth shut. Developing Your Innate Abilities taught me how to handle such a situation if I was ever in it again. In Question 1 “considering you are not his supervisor, what would be your decision,” my “common sense” (using that word again) at that time was to keep my mouth shut but this made me realize that advising your boss as soon as possible that someone might have a drinking problem is the right step to take in this situation.
Student
I thought the in-basket exercise was very cool and helped us all grasp some knowledge about what the real-world workplace will be like. The situations in this exercise were useful in guiding us regarding what decisions to make for certain employees and the issues that the organization was going through.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities provides valuable real-life office scenarios. I agree that learning how to prioritize tasks is an essential skill. The question about prioritizing the tasks that involved the family emergency I felt was the hardest.
Student
Moral action and moral judgement are interrelated- this is why managers and supervisors need to be a role model to their subordinates. There can be positive and negative behaviors. Developing Your Innate Abilities gives the following examples: helping others, whistle-blowing, resistance to pressure from management personnel or those in authority, and stealing and cheating. By doing things in a moral way and exercising good judgment, we are mirroring positive images to employees. The advantages of doing this goes beyond just showing good moral action and judgment because in the end we will be building a company culture where good moral actions and behaviors are the norm.
Student
Developing Your Innate Abilities helped me learn the importance of making decisions that are moral and ethical. An example of this would be whether an employee of a company is involved in a type of crime or assault. This series of events would ultimately result from bad judgment and truly reveals the importance of making morally correct decisions. I will use what I learned from this book as a guideline for my decisions in my workplace because I want to refrain from ever being the cause of chaos in my company.
Student
No matter how good or bad the decisions you make in life, that’s what helps you grow your abilities to make better decisions and judgments in the future. Any situation that you are presented can go either way and based on the decisions presented in Developing Your Innate Abilities, it is clear that a lot of people have seen the good and the bad with their decisions. What is important is what you take from any experience and what you learned for next time. I will keep this in mind throughout my life and career, so I don’t let a bad decision hinder my future.
Student