The in-basket exercise can establish the training and development needs of an organisation as well as provide counselling for career transitions.
Advantages of the in-basket technique:
* The in-basket technique is fairly easy to construct because its raw materials are current problems and paperwork. * The in-basket is a flexible instrument. * When it is properly developed, effective utilization is to some extent built in because the users are the experts. * The same in-basket can be used to focus on the particular solutions achieved, the method of attack, or the consequences of the actions. * The design of the in-basket permits concentration on limited aspects or balanced coverage of a broad, complex problem. Disadvantages of the in-basket technique: * Although the construction is not particularly technical or difficult, it is time consuming. * The fact that the present supervisors establish the rating may merely mean a pooling of mediocrity where the "best solution" may not be the top rated one. * Employers using the in-basket technique tend to be large organisations which recruit a substantial number of employees. |
History of the In-Basket Technique:
Having described briefly what the In-Basket is, it may be well to go back a little in order to sketch in the scene in which it developed. In many of the manual jobs, in the so-called “skilled trades,” and in many clerical jobs, analyses of activities performed have been utilized for a long time. Job descriptions which specify skills and knowledge required to exercise those skills have been established. Both selection devices and training programs have been built around these analyses and have been validated in subsequent performance on the job. The in-basket exercise has been used for many years in both the public and private sectors. This tool has been used primarily to recruit management level personnel in business, educational and government settings. Such "Day in the Life" examinations have been used in industry since the 1950's, concurrent with the development of Personnel Assessment Centers.
This technique focuses on:
* Building decision-making skills * Assess and develops Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (KSAs) * Develops communication and interpersonal skills * Develops procedural knowledge * Develops strategic knowledge These skills are mainly cognitive to a certain extent than behavioural. |