First, the common misunderstandings in the application of leaderless group discussion
Leaderless group discussion makes candidates have strong interaction. For candidates, we can examine the comprehensive quality of candidates from many aspects, and we can test the ability and quality that interviews such as written tests can't test. It is precisely because of this feature that the proposition, organization and even grading of leaderless group discussion have high professional requirements, but some human resources workers have not fully understood this evaluation method and have not mastered and mastered it in practice, so some application errors have appeared, which not only affected the recruitment and selection work, but also objectively strengthened the resistance of line managers to the application of evaluation center technology. Common application misunderstandings mainly include the following aspects:
1, leaderless group discussion is only suitable for selecting managers.
Relatively speaking, leaderless group discussion is more suitable for the selection of middle and senior managers. Evaluators can intuitively observe some behaviors of candidates with leadership potential, such as effective communication, solving various problems in interaction, and reaching agreement through coordination. However, with the development of practice, the scope of application of leaderless group discussion has already exceeded this "framework" and has been widely used.
2. Leaderless group discussion can measure many people at the same time.
In the actual evaluation, in order to save time and improve efficiency, the maximum number of participants in each group reached 12. If the net discussion time is 40 minutes and twelve people are evaluated at a time, then everyone has only about three minutes to participate. In fact, everyone's participation is uneven, which means that people with low participation may only have one minute to speak. It is conceivable that the evaluator at this time has been unable to undertake the heavy responsibility of observing group interaction behavior.
3. Without leading group discussion, everything can be measured.
In practice, many leaderless group discussions have many evaluation dimensions, ranging from analysis and judgment, language expression ability, organization and coordination ability to stress response, strategy, self-confidence and influence. Or, regardless of job characteristics, use a set of scoring tables to score all job candidates. It is conceivable that if a measuring tool can measure anything, it probably can't measure anything well. In fact, every evaluation tool has its most suitable dimension.
The more intense the discussion, the better.
It is very important to discuss the design of topics and processes. Some people think that the main criterion for discussing design quality without leading group is whether the discussion process is intense enough. Actually, it is not. Although intense discussion can see more interactive behaviors of candidates under great pressure, too intense discussion process may also distort the real behavior patterns of candidates. For example, someone is not the kind of person who haggles over every ounce, but the discussion process requires candidates to try their best to convince each other or strive for more benefits for themselves. In order to get high marks, candidates may also show positive or even excessive fighting behavior, rather than real and possible behavior.
5. The total score of individual items is more accurate.
Some people think that leaderless group discussion is the highest measure of behavior, and it is impossible and unnecessary to score accurately according to dimensions in a short time, so it may be more accurate to give the overall score. In fact, although the total score can enable the evaluator to comprehensively integrate the evaluation information, there are still many problems, the biggest of which is that the meaning of the total score is not clear, and the evaluation result is greatly influenced by the evaluator's subjective factors. If different evaluators score overall according to their implicit performance model, it is likely to lead to a decline in the credibility of raters.
6, untrained managers as evaluators
We know that the evaluators' behavior observation skills in leaderless group discussions are particularly critical to the accuracy of the evaluation. In practice, many enterprises use untrained managers as evaluators. Some practitioners also have an inappropriate assumption: the older managers are, the more experienced they are and the more accurate their evaluations are. Therefore, we tend to hire older managers for evaluation.
It is true that managers, especially older managers, are experienced and have a large number of readers, and they do have some advantages in evaluating people. However, observation without leading group discussion is a job that requires skill and high concentration. If a manager has no experience in this field, it is difficult to be competent as an evaluator.
7. Only use leaderless groups to discuss the screeners.
In reality, in the case of a large number of candidates, many enterprises only use leaderless group discussion as a measuring tool for screening, such as the recruitment of fresh graduates. This seemingly efficient practice is very dangerous, and many people who are suitable for this position may be screened out.
Second, how to make effective use of leaderless group discussion
So, what should enterprises do to make good use of this tool for effective evaluation? Tonghe Consulting has summed up some experiences in many years' practice and would like to share them with you.
First of all, it is necessary to clarify the scope of application of leaderless group discussion.
Traditionally, leaderless group discussion is suitable for the recruitment and selection of managers, especially for the selection of middle and senior managers. In fact, in today's practice, the use of leaderless group discussion has long gone beyond the framework of "middle and senior managers", and many well-known large enterprises use this evaluation technology in campus recruitment and civil service examination. Therefore, leaderless group discussion not only has obvious advantages in examining candidates' management potential, but also plays an active role in comprehensive quality evaluation. Generally speaking, the general principles applicable to leaderless group discussions are those positions that often deal with "people", which may include:
1. Recruitment and selection of management personnel, including leadership, management, administration, public relations, sales and other positions that often deal with people. This is also the most classic application of leaderless group discussion.
2. Recruit non-management personnel and evaluate their general quality. This is an extended application of leaderless group discussion. For example, language expression ability, interpersonal communication ability, teamwork consciousness, logical thinking ability, sense of responsibility and other general qualities can be investigated through this form.
Second, the number of candidates without leading group discussion should be moderate, not too much and not too little.
Most evaluators in the leaderless group discussion think that it is most appropriate for an leaderless group to discuss and evaluate six candidates. The so-called "appropriateness" means that the evaluator can observe, record and evaluate the behaviors of all candidates, including personal behaviors and interactive behaviors, as well as the whole group discussion process. There are more than six candidates, but the evaluator obviously feels that the information processing load is too heavy to evaluate each candidate effectively and accurately.
Some people may ask: since there are not many people to be measured at once without leading group discussion, is it better to have as few people as possible? Actually, it is not. If the number of people is less than five, the interaction between groups will often be insufficient, so that the assessed can not fully display their talents. So we think the more suitable candidate should be 5-8 people.
Third, the selection of factors for discussion and investigation by leaderless groups must match the position.
Generally speaking, items 7-8 are suitable for discussion in leaderless groups. If there are too many evaluation factors, the examiner will pay too much attention to grading and ignore observation. The principles of designing inspection elements are as follows: first, according to the job description and job requirements, design the elements that need to be inspected most; Second, the factors suitable for investigation in written test, structured interview, file basket and other evaluation methods, combined with other evaluation methods, will no longer appear in the discussion without leading groups; Third, combining the characteristics of leaderless group discussion, fully investigate the elements of interpersonal interaction, and other information that can be obtained by investigating a single candidate does not need leaderless group discussion.
Fourthly, the evaluation method can combine a single dimension with the overall score and separate the record table from the score table.
In order to avoid the disadvantages caused by a single total score and make the evaluation more objective, the author tried a method of combining a single dimension with the total score in practice, separating the record table from the score table for your reference.
Firstly, according to the characteristics of the positions to be selected by the leaderless group discussion, the dimensions suitable for the leaderless group discussion and measurement are determined, and a record table and a score table are set for each dimension. Secondly, make corresponding records according to the requirements of the record table during the test. Then, ask the evaluator to rate each dimension. Finally, please refer to the dimension score and give the total score according to your overall judgment. The total score is used as the basis for scoring the candidates' performance in the leaderless group discussion. This method combines the advantages of analyzing and integrating two ways of thinking, and it is proved to be feasible in practice. When presenting the evaluation results, it can not only provide the dimension score, but also provide the overall score, which has a more objective test basis.
Fifth, the appraisers should be specially trained and provided with sufficient technical support before the test.
The discussion of the implementation effect by the leaderless group largely depends on the evaluation level of the evaluator. Because the appraisers are mostly from the middle and senior leaders of the employer, their business is busy, and they usually rush to the front. After a short period of "training", they are put into the appraisal work, so many appraisers don't know how to observe and grasp the scoring scale. In view of this situation, it is suggested that operators should provide sufficient technical support to evaluators from the following aspects to help them master the evaluation work of leaderless group discussion: (1) Design principles of leaderless group discussion; Responsibilities, mission and key performance measurement indicators of the target post; The working environment of the target position, such as corporate culture; The leaderless group discusses the definition and operational definition of evaluation dimension; The leaderless group discusses the content and skills of behavior observation; Contents and methods of records; Scoring process, method and matters needing attention.
1, explaining the design principle, evaluation process and matters needing attention of leaderless group discussion.
2. Explain each evaluation factor in detail, and give high-score characteristics and low-score characteristics; Explain in detail the contents and methods of records and the definition of each evaluation dimension.
3. Explain various possible phenomena in the evaluation in detail to help the evaluator make a correct judgment on the candidate's performance. Mainly to help them distinguish clearly: the performance of candidates is seeking common ground while reserving differences, good at compromise, or unprincipled; Stick to principles, or be opinionated and argue irrationally; Whether it is proactive, or test performance, and so on.
4. Organize simulation discussion and simulation evaluation. Before the formal evaluation, try to arrange a group of simulated leaderless group discussions, so that the evaluator can be familiar with this evaluation tool and fully communicate with the operator.
In a word, leaderless group discussion, as an advanced evaluation method, is increasingly favored by human resource management practitioners. Studying its characteristics and laws carefully and avoiding its problems and shortcomings will certainly promote the continuous development and innovation of this evaluation technology and inject new vitality into the practice of human resource management.