A firms internal assessment goals tend to be the same as its external assessment goals

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HR Staffing | Internal assessment goals and methods

Internal assessment implies the identification and evaluation of a firm’s current employees for the purposes of re-assignment, training, promotion or dismissal purposes. The evaluation also include on which employee’s skills are needed to execute their business strategies and assessing their staff to identify if their skills match the objectives of the business requirements. If this exercise is done periodically the exercise of internal assessment improves the company’s workforce and their capabilities are better aligned with the business strategy.

Internal Assessment Goals

The goals of an internal assessment exercise are to determine the best fit with the requirements of the other jobs in the company. When an employee desires to take up tasks in higher positions, he/she is evaluated against the company’s values and requirements for the position compared to other applicants. A company while preparing for future business needs to plan and prepare the current staff for the future requirements. The goals for this exercise include,

• Evaluating the fit of employees for other jobs
• Improving the company’s strategic capabilities
• Collecting information for restructuring or downsizing decisions
• Rationalizing and optimizing the current employees for fit
• Increasing the company’s ROI and investments made with staffing\
• Leveraging positive stakeholder reactions
• Supporting the HR strategy and talent philosophy
• Reinforcing the employer image
• Identifying staff development needs
• Legal compliance

Methods of Internal Assessment

Internal candidates or employees are assessed by the same methods that are used for assessing external candidates. Recruiters have an advantage since the employee is already working and his/her data is readily available. Employees can also be assessed by an external recruiter, but other performance review methods conducted by supervisors are equally effective and less expensive.

• Skills inventory: This is also called the skills database and this allows a company to maintain a list outlining which employees have what type of skills, characteristics and relevant job competencies.
• Mentoring: Mentoring is a dynamic relationship between a more experienced employee and a junior employee aimed at promoting career development for both of them.
• Performance review: This is also called performance appraisal and this is conducted by the employee’s supervisor to provide performance feedback to the employee. The appraisal feedback is not limited to the supervisors only, peers and other line managers are also involved in feedback.
• Multisource assessments: This is sometimes also called 360-degree assessments and involves and supervisor as well as other people familiar with the employee’s job performance.
• Job knowledge tests: These tests are effective for external candidates and as well as for internal assessment because these are used to measure a person’s knowledge, cognitive ability, motivation to learn and help to predict which employees will perform the best in an open position.
• Assessment center: This is a method to measure the job candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies by putting them though a series of simulations and exercises that reflect the typical challenges of the job they are applying for.

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The evaluation of a firm’s current employees for training, reassignment, promotion, or dismissal purposes

Internal assessment PROCESS GOALS

- ethical - legally compliant - accurate

Internal assessment OUTCOME GOALS

Maximize fit Maximize return on investment (ROI) Identify new hires’ development needs Support talent philosophy and HR strategy Establish and reinforce employer image

3 other purposes of internal assessments

- evaluating employees' fit w firm's other jobs - assessing employees to enhance firm's strategic capabilities - gathering info with which to make downsizing decisions

same as before: person: job, group, vocation Org fit: as ppl move up heirarchy they bc increasing important in shaping culture. Making sure ppl promoted reinforce not undermine the culture is an important goal for internal assessments *not always best to maintain status quo tho

special ways to max ROI for internal besides ways for external 

Improving performance reviews is a cheap internal assessment method So is assessing as employees rotate through job assignments

generating positive stakeholder reactions

- meeting needs (employees will react neg if think its unfair, managers dont want to regularly assess bc the time) of stakeholders is a goal

negative stakeholder reactions from internal assessment methods

- managers dont want to regularly assess bc of the time - employee may react negatively if they think promotions are unfair - employees turned down will become less motivated or leave - managers dont want their best employees transfered out of their team: reduce willingness to participate in internal assessment programs -

qualities of assessments to ease neg reactions of stakeholders 

- Ass. methods’ ease of use, speed, fairness, and ability to predict important job success outcomes all influence whether recruiters and managers use is consistently and correctly - Training on the purpose of this and rewards can help

positive stakeholder reactions from internal assessment methods

Other managers feel rewarded by developing and mentoring their employees to move up in the org 

specific solutions for generating positive reactions from employees

- Treat with respect, max justice perceptions - honest comm: how to be more competitive for jobs they want - make action plan to give them T&D to prepare them/ enhance motivation - com honestly/sensitive if firm feels they will never get roles interested in: help find new career path - If one of your finalists is an employee thats been passed over before, consider this: promote or might lose

specific solutions for generating positive reactions from managers

- assess/reward based on ability to develop promotable talent - They need to believe that rewards of participating honesty in process are greater than those of not doing so - Can do this by pay to performance appraisals and pay to their participation in internal assessment programs - comm and reinforcing this strongly and clearly will get them to believe that talent belong to the company not themselves

supporting firm talent philosophy and HR strategy (specific to internal)

- firm viewing employees as investors might stimulate comp to incorporate more developmental feedback into ass. process to improve promotability of employees - firm who wants employees to contribute long term needs to view employees in terms of their long term potential within firm and help them identify and pursue career paths that interest them

reinforcing org's employer image (specific to internal)

- walk the walk: be who it claims to be - firm claims environment where employees can grow will not maintain that image if does not give them feedback and development opportunities *goal should be to reinforce employees' desired image of firm. - Help improve retention by reminding them that firm values them and clarify how they fit into future strategy

Assessing ethically (specific to internal)

- If manager or work group thinks someone is likely to leave, may treat them differently/invest less in their future dev. - Some employees dont want manager or coworkers to know **Important for firm to have confidentiality policies/procedures to respect wishes of these employees

Complying with the Law (specific to internal)

- often greater liability risk for internal bc glass ceiling and termination issues. Ex: promoting minorities/women less - open door policy to develop anyone interested in being considered for supervisor position: enhanced perception of fairness, can help ppl realize if they dont want higher jobs - Internal selection process can be heavily affected by unions

Internal Assessment Methods

SAME AS EXTERNAL AND THEN SOME Multi-source assessments Skills inventories Mentoring programs  Performance reviews of task and interpersonal behaviors  Job knowledge tests  Assessment center methods  Clinical assessments

education, interests, experience, skills, previous training, and performance record of employees (if u need specific language for job)

a dynamic, reciprocal relationship between a more experience employee and more junior employee aimed at promoting the career development of both

mentoring characteristics

- through formal program where it is assigned or informal - Good way to initially assess employees and enhance their careers and improve their chances of being promoted - Mentors can be asked to nominate their proteges for positions they are ready for or vice versa - Effective training tool for smaller companies who cant afford formal training programs

performance reviews as internal assessment method

- Employees prefer reviews from supervisors to be main source of feedback - But other sources important: coworkers see dif side of performance/behaviors - Sometimes supervisors see less ( ex traveling sales ppl)

multisource assessment: who rates

Self Supervisor Peers External customers Internal customers Supervisor’s boss subordinates

frequency SELF observes behaviors

task- high interpersonal- high

frequency SUPERVISOR observes behaviors

frequency SUBORDINATES observes behaviors

task- low interpersonal- medium to high

frequency PEERS observes behaviors

task-medium to high interpersonal- medium to high

frequency INTERNAL CUSTOMERS observes behaviors

task- medium interpersonal- medium

frequency EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS observes behaviors

task- low interpersonal- medium

multisource assessments: characteristics

- Can be used alone or together
- Should be weighted on credibility - Source’s ability to accurately observe and rate the employee should be considered

multisource: SELF (why? pros/cons)

WHY: allow employees to provide performance doc that others dont have + convey dev goals/desired career tracks to firm
PROS: - Identify areas employees feel could benefit from dev
CONS: -  ppl arent usually good judges of own behaviors - High performers tend to rank selves lower than others - Other ppl rank selves too high

multisource: PEER (why good? requirements for them to work)

- Tend to get good look at each other’s tasks and interpersonal behaviors, especially when work done in teams - High validity
- to work well, employees must believe they are fair - to reduce influence of politics/friendships, must understand characteristics required for success and be familiar w job requirements matrix for position - can eliminate highest/lowest peer ratings and average rest

multisource: SUBORDINATES (Why/Pros, Cons)

WHY/PROS: - Dont see all task behaviors, often see interpersonal + leadership behaviors - Thus unique and important perspective on strengths, limitations, behaviors. Cons: - afraid/reluctant to give neg feedback -> anonymous critical - If fear ratings are identifiable or fear consequence, then will not be accurate, if they agree at all

multisource: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS (Definitions, Why/Pros)

- incorporates perspective of stakeholders beyond normal chain of command -rewards only on expectations of ppl controlling comp --> cust feedback expands range of stakeholders will seek to please -EXTERNAL: dont see/understand work processes/rules influencing behaviors=cant separate task behaviors from policies, regulations, resouces that affect employee options - So some ppl say external customers should only evaluate interpersonal behaviors

multisource: Internal and External Customer definitions

Internal: Users of any products or services supplied by another employee or group within same org. External: are those outside (other firms, general public)

do all multisource assessments get used for all decisions? 

*often ratings provided by ppl who do not supervise worker are only used for employee development and performance evaluations. Contrast, promotion and transfer decisions based on supervisor ratings.

multisource: SUPERVISOR'S BOSS (why?)

Most firms require a sup’s manager to: - ensure that he/she has been diligent in conducting an employee’s performance assessment - confirm results of the supervisors' assessments

Assessment Center Methods (definition and what do they inclue)

- Measure job candidates’ KSAO by putting them through simulations/exercises that reflect typical challenges of job - Assessments usually include: an interview, cognitive testing, personality testing, and a simulation

Assessment Center Methods (pros/cons, when to use them)

- Very efficiently detect strengths/weaknesses - Good predicting how successful candidates will be in particular positions - work in variety of org settings + useful for selection, training, career planning, and improving managerial skills - USE IF CANT AFFORD TO MAKE BAD HIRING DECISION (see how they perform in job before you hire) - more $ than others

Assessment Center Methods: INTERNAL ONLY METHOD

Bc assessment centers more expensive than other methods:
can get the same outcome as using expensive testing center by giving employees a chance to demonstrate managerial talent by becoming a team leader or committee chair

clinical assessments (definition and examples of methods)

- assessments that rely on trained psychologists to subjectively analyze a candidate's attributes, values, and styles in the context of a particular job
- EXs: ability and personality tests, interviews, direct observation of employee's behaviors

clinal assessments (When to use?)

- also expensive like assessment center methods
- use for high level positions like CEOs: associated w greater power and whom JDs can be flexible - firms will use to assess strengths and weaknesses to determine the BROAD impact person would have

the nine box method: (definition, why use it?)

- Combined assessment of employee’s PERFORMANCE and POTENTIAL - Method for displaying judgements made about employees, not for making those judgements - Helps firms understand overall strength of their workforces, but only valuable if assessments determining which box ppl go in is quality/valid

the nine box method: the 3 levels of current performance (and which direction?)

horizontally: exceptional performance, fully performing, not performing

the nine box method: 3 levels of performance potential (and which direction)

vertically: eligible for promotion, room for growth in current position, not likely to grow beyond current position

Career Crossroads Model (definition/characteristics)

- dif leadership levels require dif skills/competencies
- successful leaders change perspective on whats important (values/priorities) as they move to higher levels of leadership - Each passage requires you learn new values/skills and unlearn old ones - Uses natural hierarchy that exists in most large, decentralized bus organizations - 6 career passages, each representing increased complexity

Career Crossroads Model (passages)

Starting point: Managing yourself Managing others Managing managers Managing a function Managing a business Managing multiple businesses Managing the enterprise

why is the career crossroads model a good internal assessment method?

By taking a long term perspective, it enhances the org’s ability to create its own leadership talent from a broad talent base rather than relying on identifying and hiring external star performers.
One of the biggest mistakes is promoting based solely on mastery of current positions rather than potential and readiness to assume the responsibilities and adopt the values of new positions as leaders.

succession management: definition

an ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing and developing an organizations leadership capabilities to enhance its performance

why succession management is important? pros

- Ensure continuity of firms leadership, prevent key positions from remaining vacant, and prevent employees from being promoted prematurely - Reinforces philosophy of employees as investors vs assets - Key driver of retention - signals stakeholders that firm’s leaders are preping for future -  can effect the choice of which bus strategy to pursue - Affects firm’s long term direction and growth

Succession management Plans: definition and pros for why its important

written policies that guide the SM process - should be put in place before needed - very good investment PROS - helps firm's future managers/execs prepare for their position - also creates series of "feeder positions" up and down firm's talent pipeline - quickly get ppl you need (ceo that died replaced in 6 hours) - cost (execs hired from outside paid 3x more than internal)

Replacement Planning: definition and pro/con

the process of creating back-up candidates for specific senior management positions
PRO: good for quickly identifying possible successor when role unexpectedly opens
CON: does little to improve firm;s long term leadership readiness

Steps in Developing a Succession Management System

1. Assess current/future competencies, behaviors, values needed for future job performance in position. 2. Assess each identified/interested candidate's strengths, weaknesses, and readiness to move into other positions. 3. Create plan to continually/systematically improve the capabilities of all identified succession candidates. 4. make plan to ident. qualif./interest. internal ppl for open pos 5. Evaluate system on relevant criteria 6. Continually improve the system

Requirements to make Succession Management Effective? (wont work without these specifications)

- Process must be fair, impartial, communication openness, backed by top management (need to be committed/involved)
- Emp. must be able to express interest in roles of interest + not be coerced into pursuing roles not interested in - must make sense + be useable by different bus units - Align w other HR processes - standardized: focus/guide dev of emp. to meet strat needs of org + increase perceptions of pgm fairness by reducing opportunities for favortism

What Makes Succession Management Effective? (overall why is it used)

Understanding the nature of talent gaps with enough time before the talent is needed can allow the organization to:
1.Plan for and remedy any workforce talent deficiencies
2.Develop an external recruiting strategy to bring in external talent
3.Redesign the work to reduce the need for the talent expected to be in short supply
4.Plan alternate career paths for surplus talent

Succession Management Tips

1. keep the process simple 2. use tech to support process 3. align SM plan w firm's bus strategy 4. focus on development 5. Model effective SM behaviors at the top 6. approach SM as key bus activity

the process of systematically matching career goals with opportunities for their fulfillment
- To be strategic, CP must complement expected future talent needs of the prg. - When integrated with the org's SM and labor forecasting processes, CP and SM can help give any prg a snapshot of available talent for meeting current and future needs.

- Assessment centers: - Career counseling/development workshops: - Training and continuing education -  Job rotation, Challenging and developmental job assignments,  mentoring - Sabbaticals

making a career development plan

• Assess yourself • Set goals • Develop an action plan • Revisit and revise as needed

Which of the following methods is generally not used to conduct an internal assessment?

When employees are turned down for the promotion or lateral moves for which they were considered it rarely affects productivity?

What is identifying specific backup candidates for specific senior management positions?

Why do some firms prefer to call groups of employees targeted for accelerated development acceleration pools rather than high potential pools?