Assessment Center
Fact Finding Activity
Brinshay C. King, Elizabeth A. Knutson, Jarrod K. Murray, Benjamin T. Pharr, & Shavonta M. Robinson
Human Resource Development
Dr. Larry Wiley
Assessment Center Project
Abstract
Participants will be assessed on how well they can research and find information through
interviews and searching, where available, on a computer. This will assess their fact finding
capabilities. The participant will be given a specific scenario and directions. They will have 5
minutes to make inquiries and research on a mock website. They participant then has 10 minutes
to prepare a write up and present their findings. The KSAO’s that are covered in this exercise
are public presentation, reading comprehension, active listening, communication, analyzing,
problem solving, time management, oral comprehension, oral expression, deductive reasoning,
working under pressure, researching, and processing information.
Introduction
The definition of fact finding as, “a person who searches impartially for facts or actualities of
a subject or situation, especially one appointed to conduct an official investigation.” The fact
finding exercise of the assessment center would be generally verbal, such as role playing
exercise. In this exercise a student has been chosen to meet with a SHRM president and the goal
is to work with the local SHRM within business projects. Basic information about the program
will be given to the participant (assistantships, practicum, class hours, internships, courses
required, etc.); student will be interviewing a SHRM representative to attempt to figure out how
to do all these tasks. Say class size is twelve; student would have to see how to incorporate 12
students. The participant will be assessed only on the information that is provided. The
participant will be judged on any assumptions that they create from the activity (for example,
assuming a computer lab is available). The participant will have to assume an investigative role
in order to receive more information at would be considered to be important to the task. If there
are computers available during the assessment, then the participant will use a mock website to
research information. There they will need to decipher between valuable information and
information that may not be useful for their ultimate goal.
The scenarios are made to be as realistic as possible. This mundane realism is achieved by
treating the participant as a newly accepted I/O student that needs to go to the Board of Regents
as to why the program should still be on campus. This is to create an environment that the
student (participant) will be forced to learn the information after finding it, not just simply copy
and paste. After they have researched the information and written up what they have found they
will be required to give an oral presentation of what they have found. This is to measure how
much they, the participant, have been able to learn and to see where they may have done better
creating a sense of ownership.
Method
The participant will be briefed quickly on the role they will be assuming upon arrival.
They will be in a room isolated from other participant s so that the assessment can be
individualized. The participant will be given a scenario. The scenario will be read to the
participant as follows:
Scenario
You are a new student in the industrial organizational psychology program and have been
selected to serve on a committee to secure internships for members of your program. You will be
meeting with a panel comprised of three human resource managers who have expressed a
willingness to work with your program and offer internships to graduate students. You know
your program of study requires each student to complete 600 hours of internship/practicum
experience. You also know that most students will have little to no practical experience in the
human resources field.
Directions to the participant:
You will need to review the information for each potential internship that you have been
given (via the website). You will have five minutes to review the material. After completing your
review, you will be given the opportunity to speak with all three human resource managers at
once. You will have exactly ten minutes to interview these professionals and ask questions about
their proposed internship position. After speaking with the panel, you will then have ten minutes
to prepare an oral presentation about your findings. Make no assumptions about the potential
internships when giving your presentation; you are limited only to the information provided by
the handouts and/or the panel. You will then have five minutes to present your findings.
Information provided to the participant:
Your graduate program had 30 students enrolled for Spring 2013. Of these 30 students,
between 15 and 20 will need internships. Students will prefer paid internships, but many will
give preference to an internship that will fulfill half of their experience (300 hours). Internships
should be during weekday mornings or during the weekend so that it does not conflict with
coursework. Some tasks, such as filing or answering phones, while an essential function to the
internship, cannot be counted toward practicum experience.
Panelist Information:
Internship Opportunity One: A theme park approximately 5 miles away from the college
has an opening for a HR generalist. The park employs approximately two hundred seasonal
employees. Responsibilities would include completing paperwork, data entry, managing payroll,
filing, and managing vacation/time off requests. Filing generally comprises 25% of the job duties
(around 5 hours a week). The position would require the intern to work 20 hours a week,
including weekends. The internship is paid, and the intern would earn 700 dollars a month. Two
positions are available.
Internship Opportunity Two: The payroll department on campus is seeking an intern to
work with ADP, a payroll management system. Payroll would be managed for approximately 30
employees. The internship is 20 hours a week. Students would be required to work three days a
week before class. In addition, students would be expected to answer telephones approximately
10 percent of the time. The internship is unpaid. Two positions are available.
Internship Opportunity Three: A human resources consulting firm is seeking an unpaid
intern to assist in salary studies for benchmarking client salaries, policy research, and assisting in
employee handbook creation. On occasion the intern may need to be present with clients to
review policies and/or explain other appointed tasks that where performed. The intern may at
times be required to assist in training and/or the creation of training manuals.
KSAO Scale
The KSAO’s scale shows the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes
that are needed for a graduate assistant in a university setting (see figure 1). The highlighted and
starred KSAO’s are the attributes that are measured by the fact finding exercise of the
assessment center. The KSAO’s that are measured in the fact finding exercise are: public
presentation, reading comprehension, active listening, communication, analyzing, problem
solving, time management, oral comprehension, oral expression, deductive reasoning, working
under pressure, researching, and processing information .
Grading Rubric
The grading rubric can be seen in figure 2 in the appendix. The rubric is created to assist
in having all of the raters rating the participant on a similar scale as to reduce rater error. The
rubric covers 5 separate rating scales from unsatisfactory to exceptional behavior of the notated
KSAO’s. Within each dimension there are brief definitions that would place the participant in
each category
Grading Sheet
The grading sheet is a simple marking system with a built in algorithm that calculates the
participants score and percentage (see figure 3). The algorithm adjusts the score in accordance to
the weight of the ranking based on a likert scale like system of 1 through 5, having unsatisfactory
set as 1 and exceptional as 5. To reduce error the rater only places a “x” in the place where they
feel the participant belongs for that particular area. To also reduce error, there is a formula put in
place to insure that the raw score can only equal 13 (the total possible marks for any participant).
When the rater reaches the score of 13 the cell will highlight in green assuring the rater that there
are no errors within the marking.
Conclusion
In conclusion the fact finding exercise of the assessment center is based primarily on face to
face interaction and does an excellent job covering public presentation, reading comprehension,
active listening, communication, analyzing, problem solving, time management, oral
comprehension, oral expression, deductive reasoning, working under pressure, researching, and
processing information. The scenario is a realistic situation that the student may find themselves
in on a smaller scale, searching for jobs or internships and having to know the industrial and
organizational psychology program intimately in order to better explain themselves in
interviews. This activity also prepares them for many of the onsite graduate assistantships on
Valdosta State University’s campus.
Appendix
Figure 1 KSAO Scale
Knowledge
Computers
Educational Expectancies
English Language
Public Presentation Formulation*
Research Procedures
Policy and Rules
Mathematics
Skills
Abilities
Others
Reading Comprehension*
Oral Comprehension*
Interacting with Computers
Active Listening*
Oral Expression*
Communicating with Instructors and Peers
Communication/Speaking*
Written Comprehension Documenting/Recording Information
Writing
Written Expression
Getting Information*
Critical Thinking/Analyzing*
Category Flexibility
Processing Information*
Monitoring
Deductive Reasoning*
Organizing, Planning, and Priortizing Work
Problem Solving*
Inductive Reasoning
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
Time Management*
Works Under Pressure* Professionalism
Highlighted sections (also marked by an asterisk) will be measured by the "Fact Finding" exercise.
Figure 2 Rubric
Rubric
Public Presentation Formulation
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Communication/Speaking
Critical Thinking/Analyzing
Problem Solving
Time Management
Oral Comprehension
Oral Expression
Deductive Reasoning
Works Under Pressure
Getting Information
Processing Information
Unsatisfacroty
Unprepared, not able to
convey information
Marginal
Slightly
Prepared
Meets Expectations
prepared, able to
convey information
Surpasses Expectations
All of previous and answered
most questions
Exceptional
All of previous and
answered all questions
Figure 3 Score sheet example:
Participant Name:
Rater Name:
Grading Sheet
Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent
x
Public Presentation Formulation
x
x
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
x
Communication/Speaking
x
Critical Thinking/Analyzing
x
Problem Solving
x
Time Management
x
Oral Comprehension
x
Oral Expression
x
Deductive Reasoning
x
Works Under Pressure
x
Getting Information
x
Processing Information
1
4
3
3
Raw Ranking Score: 2
Total Raw Ranking Score: 13
2
12
12
15
Total Adjusted Score: 2
66%
Total Adjusted Score:
43 out of 65
Rating Percent
Additional Comments: