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Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Application of Developmental Feedback from an Executive Assessment Program

Byham, Tacy M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1133214086

Abstract Details

2005, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Psychology-Industrial/Organizational.
Developmental assessment centers are designed to give participants feedback about their behavior relative to success in senior management. In the current study a theoretical model of the factors necessary to bring about development change for persons who go through a developmental assessment center was created. The model suggests that source, message, recipient and context variables influence five inter-related steps leading from feedback acceptance to completion of development activities. In this research, seventy-nine middle managers or executives from a large manufacturing organization participated in an intensive one-day developmental assessment center session. After the session, they received feedback from professional assessors and a post-feedback survey was completed. Approximately one year later, the participants completed a structured interview with the researcher to determine the extent to which they had created a formal development plan, the quality of any planned development activities and whether they had completed the development activities. The two criteria of feedback acceptance and motivation to engage in follow-up activities as a result of the developmental assessment center experience had high average ratings. This is typical of a high-fidelity developmental assessment center such as this one. And, as proposed, the significant correlates of acceptance and motivation paralleled those of previous researchers. Interestingly, participants’ acceptance of their developmental feedback and their motivation levels had limited or no impact on the remaining three criteria (formality and quality of the development plan and completion of development activities) that were collected a year following participation in the developmental assessment center. The regression models indicated that the most significant contributor to the formality of development plans was perceptions of assistance from a manager or mentor in the creation of the development plan. The hypothesized relationship was substantiated in that plans that were rated high in formality were also likely to be rated high in quality, meaning that the development goals were clear, achievable, behavioral, measurable, prioritized, and used a variety of learning methods to blend skill acquisition seamlessly into skill application. As hypothesized, these high quality plans were more likely to be completed. The discussion focuses on the implication of the results for the proposed model and develops implication for applied practice.
Rosalie Hall (Advisor)
190 p.
Psychology, Industrial
assessment centers; development; development plans; succession management; high potentials; feedback

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Byham, T. M. (2005). Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Application of Developmental Feedback from an Executive Assessment Program [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1133214086

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Byham, Tacy. Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Application of Developmental Feedback from an Executive Assessment Program. 2005. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1133214086.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Byham, Tacy. "Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Application of Developmental Feedback from an Executive Assessment Program." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1133214086

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1133214086
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© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.