Psychological Assessments in South African organisations faces many challenges at present. One of these challenges is the fact that these assessments were developed in racially segregated societies, developed and standardised for white South Africans (Huysamen, 2002). This meant that speakers of the African languages were at a disadvantage when they had to participate in these assessments (Classen, 1997). This challenge brings about criticism on the fairness, validity and ethical practices of psychological assessment and emphasises the need to develop equitable and unbiased psychological tests.Psychometric assessments support the talent acquisition, development and career management of employees and it is therefore important that these assessments are valid, reliable and unbiased to any employee or group or culture.
This paper proposes to discuss the nature and value of psychological assessments in the South African work context by looking closely at the history behind the assessments as well as legislation and professional bodies that govern the use and development of psychological assessments. This paper will also discuss the overview of psychological assessments and related concepts.
