The Structured Interview: An Alternative to the Assessment Center?

• DOI: 10.1177/009102609402300203
• Published date: 01 June 1994
• Date: 01 June 1994
• Author: Phillip E. Lowry
• Subject Matter: Article

The Structured Interview

An Alternative

To The

Assessment Center?

This

article

discusses how to

improve

the validity and

reliability

of

structured

interviews.

A

framework

for the

structured

interview

is

suggested.

The

framework

is based on the

founda-

tions

laid by

various

researchers,

as well as the guidelines for assessment

centers.

The

proposed

framework

was used to

structure

an interview used in a selection

test.

The

results

suggest

that

this kind of

structured

interview

may

be a valid and less

costly

alternative

to the

assessment

center.

Additional

research

to refine and build on the

framework

is suggested.

By

Personnel selection for managerial and supervisory positions is im-

Phillip

E.

Lowry

portant

for efficient and effective conduct of business in both the private

and public sectors.

The

most widely used personnel selection process today is the inter-

view. Dipboye reports that over

70%

of organizations in the United States

use the

unstructured

interview in promotion decisions. In Europe the

percentages are even higher with over

90%

of British and 94% of French

employers reporting the use of interviews for managerial selection.1

The

validity and reliability of the

unstructured

interview has been

shown to be relatively low. Several procedures, such as

adding

structure to

the process and establishing

standards

have been suggested for improving

the interview process. These preliminary efforts have markedly improved

the reliability and of the interview process.2

Purpose

Phillip

E.

Lowry

is

the

Chair

of

the

Department

of Public Adminis-

tration

and

is

concurrently

an as-

sociate

professor

of

management

and

public

administration

at the

University

of

Nevada,

Las

Vegas.

Dr.

Lowry

teaches

and

conducts

research

in the personnel assess-

ment

and selection

process.

His

latest

article,

"The Assessment

Center:

Effects

of

Varying

Con-

sensus

Procedures"

appeared

in

Public

Personnel

Management,

Vol.

21,

No.

2,

Summer,

1992.

The

purpose

of this article is to build a framework of suggested

procedures for the structured interview based on both the foundation laid

by

previous researchers, and the guidelines in use for assessment centers.

This

framework provides practitioners and researchers with a new starting

point for the design and conduct of structured interviews and also defines

nascent

standards

for the structured interview.

The Assessment Center and

the

Structured Interview

The

assessment center method, while not used as extensively as the

interview, has been receiving increasing attention. It is particularly impor-

Supportfor

this

research

was provided in part by a

grant

from

the

First

Interstate

Bank.

Public Personnel Management Vol. 23 No.2 (Summer 1994) 201