Factors affecting the consensus judgment process in managerial assessment centers

Examined the consensus judgment process in a middle management assessment center where 719 candidates were assessed by 19 assessors. Additional data from an upper management center were also examined. Three questions were addressed: (a) How often and for which dimensions is there a need for a consensus discussion? (b) Are some assessors more influential than others? (c) Can the group consensus judgment be predicted based on prediscussion ratings made by the individual assessors? Disagreement among assessors necessitating a consensus discussion was found for 22.4% of all assessment ratings, with considerable variation among dimensions in the need for a consensus discussion. Differences among assessors in the amount of influence exerted were minimal in the middle management center but more substantial in the upper management center. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).