Leaderless Group Discussion

A leaderless group discussion is a situational exercise commonly used in assessment centers, one of the most widely used and heavily researched tools for managerial selection and development. A typical assessment center is composed of situational tests designed to elicit specific managerial behaviors. The exercises used are representative of situations that participants may actually encounter in a job. For example, in a leaderless group discussion candidates participate in a job-related discussion in which no spokesperson or leader has been named. They are presented with a scenario containing multiple problems that they must attempt to resolve in an allotted period of time, usually around one hour. For example, candidates for an executive-level position within a health care organization may be directed to recommend solutions to personnel or financial issues facing a fictional but similar organization. Participants are directed to discuss the presented issues and to arrive at recommendations on which they all agree by the end of the allotted time. Trained assessors observe participants in this exercise and evaluate demonstrated performance across a variety of skill dimensions determined to be relevant for the particular job in question. Dimensions commonly assessed in a leaderless group discussion include judgment, leadership, and teamwork orientation. Performance in this exercise is then typically considered with performance in other exercises (often including role-playing simulations and assorted written exercises) to arrive at final ratings of effectiveness. These ratings are then used to predict future managerial performance.