Selecting political candidates: A longitudinal study of assessment centre performance and political success in the 2005 UK General Election

Silvester, Jo; Dykes, C.

doi:10.1348/096317906x156287

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…One illustration of this has been the introduction of quasi-scientific methods (such as formal assessment centres) for evaluating the operational skills and future potential of candidates. 60 The argument has been made that such methods minimize the influence of subjective and unproven assumptions about particular types of political candidates. This is because selectors are forced to assess profiles against specific competencies and practical tasks.…”

Section: Professionalized Politics and Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bending without breaking the mould: race and political representation in the United Kingdom

Saggar¹

2013

Patterns of Prejudice

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Section: Professionalized Politics and Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bending without breaking the mould: race and political representation in the United Kingdom

Saggar¹

2013

Patterns of Prejudice

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“…Importantly, there has been little systematic investigation of whether political selection systems are fair (Lovenduski, 2005) or that they demonstrate good criterion-related validity (Silvester & Dykes, 2007).…”

Section: Persuaded Members Of the Italian Parliament And Italianmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there is clearly an opportunity to apply I/O psychology knowledge and methods to political selection, to do so effectively would depend on developing greater knowledge in including the time spent on these, the different ways in which politicians tackle them, or the KSAs they require (Silvester & Dykes, 2007). It is, of course, possible to speculate about characteristics that might prove important.…”

Section: Persuaded Members Of the Italian Parliament And Italianmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Politics and Politicians at Work

Silvester

2008

International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2008

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. (Gandz & Murray, 1980). Much less likely would be descriptions of political actions being used for the good of others or to achieve some work-related goal. Permanent repository linkPolitics is associated with the "dark side" of workplace behaviour and researchers have described political behaviour as inherently divisive, stressful, and a cause of dissent and reduced performance (e.g., Bolino, 1999;Fandt & Ferris, 1990; Ferris, Adams, Kolodinsky, Hochwater & Ammeter, 2002;Kacmar & Baron, 1999;Witt, 1998). For the most part political activity is seen as something that needs to be minimized or removed to maximize organizational functioning.Yet, politics and politicians are also at the heart of democracy: their performance affects This chapter considers why I/O psychologists do not look to political arenas to test or apply their theories and research, and why there have been so few attempts to explore organizational politics in the broader political context of government organizations. It considers whether this is a missed opportunity or whether valid differences make it difficult to draw comparisons between politics in the workplace and the politics of government. In order to do this, the chapter critically reviews research on workplace politics by I/O psychologists and reflects on findings in relation to the broader arena of politicians and political work. The primary focus is on individuals acting politically rather than groups or political systems. It asks whether a better understanding of political activity at work might be gained by studying politicians and political environments. The 1970s and 1980s saw burgeoning interest in the topic of organizational politics.Effort was devoted to explaining why politics occurred, when it was likely to occur, the form it might take, as well as its likely consequences. Research focused on politics as an organizational phenomenon, with political activity resulting from individuals or groups with different needs competing for limited organizational resources. Organizations were described as political battlegrounds where coalitions form and deform in the process of building and exercising power, and daily campaigns are waged in an effort to control scarce resources (Bies & Tripp, 1995;Ferris, Perrewé, Anthony & Gilmore, 2000). Two broad perspectives emerged from this work. In the first of these researchers typically view politics as an illegitimate aspect of organizational life: a phenomenon that causes conflict and division between organizational members, impeding the achievement of organizational goals. Central to this perspective is the idea that politics involves placing self-interest above the interests of organization and other organizational members (see definitions of political behaviour in Table 1). Pettigrew (1973), for example, describes company politics as the by-play that occurs when a person or group wishes to advance themselves or their ideas...

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“…However, in the case of public sector reform many different groups have a vested interest in defining what future roles should involve. It is less straightforward than the simple top-down approach of defining work from a managerial perspective (Silvester and Dykes, 2007). At the very least stakeholder analysis enforces the need for researchers and practitioners to be explicit about whose views are being taken account of in shaping a particular job.…”

Section: Medical Competenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It involved undertaking a stakeholder analysis, followed by critical incident interviews with MPs, shadow ministers, party volunteers, party whips and members of the public, to capture what they considered to be the behavioural indicators of effective and ineffective MP performance (Silvester, 2003). These competencies and behavioural indicators were used subsequently to develop an assessment centre for approving prospective parliamentary candidates, and to conduct a validation study investigating the individual characteristics associated with performance in the 2005 General Election (Silvester and Dykes, 2007). A similar project was conducted for the Improvement and Development Agency, the main government-sponsored organization for developing capacity in local government, which scoped the cross-party skill sets for UK local councillors (Silvester, 2004).…”

Section: Political Competenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work and Organizational Psychology

Silvester¹

2008

The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology

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Selecting political candidates: A longitudinal study of assessment centre performance and political success in the 2005 UK General Election

Abstract: This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link

Cited by 42 publications

References 24 publications

Bending without breaking the mould: race and political representation in the United Kingdom

Bending without breaking the mould: race and political representation in the United Kingdom

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Politics and Politicians at Work

Work and Organizational Psychology

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