Assessment Centers (AC) are centers set up by an organization for periodic or continuous assessment of the competencies required to perform current, future likely or higher level jobs / roles / tasks. They are increasingly used to identify high fliers or fast trackers and develop leaders/competencies for the future.

One of the ways in which AC has been extended while keeping its essential methodology is in using assessments as a stimulus for all kinds of development of the participants. This extension is available even if the primary aim is selection/promotion. The collection of reliable information on strengths and weaknesses is a valuable opportunity which can, with the small extra effort needed, be turned into material to stimulate development. This has become more important in current conditions where opportunities for promotion are less numerous and many people who perform their jobs well needed to be encouraged to see the future in terms of development without obvious promotion.

There has been a trend towards using the term “Development Centre”, in place of “Assessment Centre”. Often the change of emphasis has not actually been very great, but there has been a gain in reduced anxiety – participants find the term “development” more friendly and less threatening than “assessment”. If the aim is genuinely directed towards the development of all participants then the Development Centre title is justified and honest. If, however, there are mixed aims, and some sponsoring managers are using the activity to select people (positively and/or negatively), the title will be seen as the sham it actually is, and the motivation to see it as an open opportunity for development will suffer.
Assessment Centers use trained assessors normally chosen from within the corporation. They are trained through intensive "Assessor Training Programs". They need to have mastered "observation" "recording" "classifying" and "measurement" skills.

	In-Basket Exercises
	Role-plays
	Psychometric Tests
	Simulation Exercises
	Leaderless and Leader-led Group Discussions
	Case Studies
	Biographic Behavioural Incident Interviews (BBII)
	Simulated Incident and Assessment Technique (SIAD) etc.

	Our chairman Dr. T. V Rao used the first known Assessment Center in India in 1974 to select and recruit a group of project leaders for Parishram (Gujarat).
	Dr.Rao also is privileged to have worked with Dr.David McClelland of Harvard University who is the founder of competency movement and McBer (now known as HAY - McBer).
	TVRLS has done competency mapping and helped in setting up ACs and ADCs in ESCORTS, BPL, NTPC, SRF, RBI and ONGC. Besides modified form of Assessment Centers have setup in many other corporations
	TVRLS is currently offering a course in Competency Mapping and Psychometric Testing.
	TVRLS has developed its own Psychometric Tools for use in Assessment Centers.
	TVRLS has trained over 150 top level Assessors in NTPC who in turn have assessed over 800 Managers within a year
	TVRLS also conducts Assessors Training Programs.
	TVRLS has a list of accredited assessors in its own Advisory Board & has competent assessors
	TVRLS specializes in designing in implementing Assessment and Development Centers.
	TVRLS is in the process of adapting various Psychometric Tests including MBTI to suit Indian culture.
	The book " Developing Motivation through Experiencing" by Dr. Uday Pareek and Dr. T. V.
	Rao outlines various Assessment Center Methods and is being used on a text in various Assessors' Programs.
	Dr. T. V Rao designed and introduced the concept of IOAC (individual and organizational Assessment Center) at the Academy of HRD and promoted the same in the last twelve years.
	With all this expertise TVRLS is uniquely positioned to design develop, and implement ACs and ADCs.