Group decision making in an assessment centre

Abstract

Ratings of suitability for training as Naval Officer were obtained from each of four assessors both before and after the final consensus discussion of a selection assessment centre. Analysis was conducted of those cases where three assessors agreed on their initial rating. The probability of a shift after the discussion by the exception to the majority rating was related to (a) whether the exception's rating was initially above or below that of the majority; (b) whether or not the majority rating was high on the scale; (c) the Officer rank of the exception. There was also a significant interaction between (a) and (b) (above). These results are discussed in terms of group influences on decision making.