Multisource assessment programs in organizations: An insider's perspective

✍ Scribed by Stéphane Brutus; Mehrdad Derayeh

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 113 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1044-8004
• DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.1023

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This study is an overview of multisource assessment (MSA) practices in organizations. As a performance
evaluation process, MSA can take various forms and can be complex for an organization to use. Although the
literature on MSA is extensive, little information exists on how these programs are perceived by the individuals
responsible for their implementation and maintenance. The purpose of this study was twofold: to describe the current
MSA practices used in organizations and to assess the issues associated with implementation and management of these
practices from the perspective of the individual responsible for managing an MSA program. One hundred one companies
located in Canada were surveyed for the study; almost half of these organizations (43 percent) were
using MSA. Interviews of managers responsible for MSA in various organizations and some archival data on these
organizations were the main source of data for the study. The study revealed that the use of MSA differs widely from
one company to another. In addition, results show that, once implemented, MSA requires a number of adjustments. The
source of these adjustments centered on employee resistance, lack of strategic purpose for MSA, poor design of the
instrument, and problems with the technology used to support MSA. These results are discussed and a proposed
research agenda is outlined.