The Assessment Center is one of the most powerful and widely used tools in managerial selection and career development. This article gives a comprehensive picture of issues related to assessment centersits uses, its historical background, the role of competency model in the assessment center design, methods used and their limitations.

Assessment Center is a process and not a place. The Assessment Center method can be applied to the managerial selection. It is a valuable technique for the identification of management potential.

Since the content may differ widely depending on the objectives of the program, it becomes difficult to exactly define an Assessment Center. However, a formal Assessment or center should consist of a standardized evaluation of behavior based on multiple inputs. Therefore, an Assessment Center can be defined as "a variety of testing techniques designed to allow candidates to demonstrate under standardized conditions, the skills and abilities that are most essential for success in a given job."

Assessment Center is a device of selection and management development and is frequently used as a career development tool. Assessment Center is designed to minimize different forms of potential rater bias and to ensure that each participant is given equal opportunity to demonstrate ability across a range of standardized situations.

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