Yes, from one perspective... it truly depends on how they are used.
Many people, especially Human Resources practitioners, use assessments (and there are a myriad of them) to help leaders better understand their employees. This is to be applauded - anything to help us all work well together is extremely beneficial.
In fact, it's even helpful to the individual who has an assessment done for themselves. The assessment helps people examine their values, thinking capacity, energy levels, confidence, behavior, and business aptitudes. Organizations and individuals use these tools for:
- Recruitment
- Team building
- Career Development
- Leadership
- Management
- Outplacement
- And FUN!
There is a caution, however. Sometimes assessments cause us to discount ourselves or the people we are trying to help - this becomes a challenge when one assumes them to be the ultimate truth and bases all decisions on the result of these assessments. In fact, the results are dependant on how the person has answered the questions. The answers may turn out differently based on interpretation, expectations, current situations, truthfulness, etc. What we should keep in mind is that assessments are merely tools and thus, they are best used in conjunction with many other aspects to build the individual and organization.
