Assessment and Survey Instrumentation

The following valid and reliable survey instrumentation is available for use with clients. These surveys add value and depth to learning and performance improvement programs. Several of the survey instruments require certification before they can be purchased and used by consultants or organizations.

• Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Challenge^TM
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^TM
• Margerison and McCann Team Management Index^TM
• FIRO-Element B^TM
• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Resolution^TM
• NEO PI-R^TM
• Kegan and Lahey 4-Column Exercise (Immunity to Change)^TM
• Sample and Yopp (2004) Organizational Frames Analysis Questionnaire (OAFQ)

Kouzes and Posner Leadership Challenge^TM

The most widely used contemporary theory and practice of leadership today. Give your managers and supervisors the skills to master the five essential areas of leadership:

• Challenging the process
• Inspiring a shared vision
• Enabling others to act
• Modeling the way
• Encouraging the heart

The revised edition of the LPI includes:

• New ten-point Likert scale
• New scoring software which produces detailed printouts for each participant
• Participant workbooks that now include more than 140 actual steps-to-results
• All the tools you need to obtain complete 360-degree feedback
• Three month follow-up program to track participant's progress

LPI: Self: Use this 30-item inventory to evaluate your performance and effectiveness as a leader. For an even more detailed evaluation, use LPI: Self in conjunction with the LPI: Observer. Results from the simple scoring process will help you develop plans for improvement. The accompanying guidebook includes a worksheet to help interpret feedback and plan improvement in each leadership practice assessed, sections on how to compare scores with the normative sample and on how to share feedback with constituents, and more than 140 actual steps you can take to get results. Includes one copy of the Participant's Workbook.

LPI: Observer: Get a clear picture of how you function as a team leader by combining anonymous perceptions of constituents and colleagues, with your own manager self-assessment. The LPI: Observer provides a balanced picture of leadership traits and allows for constructive discussion of ways to improve.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^TM

The most widely used personality inventory in the world! The MBTI® instrument provides an accurate picture of a person’s personality type. The MBTI® instrument determines preferences on four dichotomies:

• Extraversion-Introversion (describes where people prefer to focus their attention and get their energy-from the outer world of people and activity or their inner world of ideas and experiences)
• Sensing-Intuition (describes how people prefer to take in information-focused on what is real and actual or on patterns and meanings in data)
• Thinking-Feeling (describes how people prefer to make decisions-based on logical analysis or guided by concern for their impact on others)
• Judging-Perceiving (describes how people prefer to deal with the outer world-in a planned orderly way, or in a flexible spontaneous way)

Combinations of these preferences result in 16 distinct personality types. Understanding characteristics unique to each personality type, provides insight on how they influence an individual’s way of communicating and interacting with others. The MBTI is used extensively in team building, interpersonal skill development, and appreciation for individual differences in diversity training.

See Dr. Sample’s journal article, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and OD: Implications For Practice From Research (Organization Development Journal) for additional information.

Dr. Sample is a certified user of the MBTI. He was trained by the late Dr. Mary McCaulley, Center for Applications of Psychological Type (Gainesville, FL).

Margerison and McCann Team Management Index^TM

The Team Management Index measures an individual's work preferences. The TMI provides valuable feedback in the key management areas of leadership, decision-making, team building, interpersonal skills, organization, and information management. The TMI profile highlights an individual's strong points, as well as indicating areas where there is room for improvement.

In essence, the Team Management Index measures four key issues in any work situation. These are:

• how people prefer to relate with others;
• how people prefer to gather and use information;
• how people prefer to make decisions;
• how people prefer to organize themselves and others.

The Profiles are based on the consulting and research efforts by Charles Margerison and Dick McCann. Dr. Sample is certified to use of the TMI in learning and performance improvement programs.

FIRO-Element B^TM

A result of the revised and greatly expanded FIRO theory, this new version retains the attractive properties of FIRO-B: it is short (8-10 minutes), simple, and self-scoring. At the same time, it offers new features and clearer interpretations, based on research conducted over the last decade. Element B measures preferences in the areas of inclusion, control and openness and provides a measure of satisfaction.

An excellent tool for the facilitator and, subsequently, the team members in a number of areas: managing behavior and its results; recognition of sources of and solutions to stagnation in communication and conflict; acknowledgment of unique contributions of the individual, which leads to greater appreciation. Dr. Sample is certified to use of the FIRO-Element B in learning and performance improvement programs.

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Resolution^TM

The best-selling instrument for conflict resolution; provides information about an individual’s style of handling conflict, compared to five distinct modes:

• Competing: High assertiveness and low cooperativeness -the goal is to “win”
• Avoiding: Low assertiveness and low cooperativeness - the goal is to “delay”
• Compromising: Moderate assertiveness and moderate cooperativeness - the goal is to “find a middle ground"
• Collaborating: High assertiveness and high cooperativeness - the goal is to “find a win-win solution”
• Accommodating: Low assertiveness and high cooperativeness - the goal is to “yield”

Used when you need a forum to help clients see through the fear, anger, and frustration of conflict to find opportunities for constructive outcomes. HR and organizational development professionals find this tool invaluable for Conflict and change management, Leadership development, Performance improvement, Team building, Communication enhancement, Employee retention, and Stress reduction

NEO PI-R^TM

The purpose of the NEO PI-R is to obtain a detailed assessment of normal personality. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory, the standard questionnaire measure of the Five Factor Model, provides a systematic assessment of emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles-a detailed personality description that can be a valuable resource for a variety of professionals. The NEO PI-R is a concise measure of the 5 major domains of personality, as well as the 6 traits or facets that define each domain. Taken together, the 5 domain scales and 30 facet scales of the NEO PI-R, including the scales for the Agreeableness and the Conscientiousness domains, facilitate a comprehensive and detailed assessment of normal adult personality. It has useful applications in counseling, clinical psychology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine and health psychology, vocational counseling and industrial/organizational psychology, and educational and personality research.

The NEO PI-R is based on decades of factor analytic research with both clinical and normal adult populations. The 5 domains measured by the instrument provide a clear and concise description summarizing an individual's emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, learning, and motivational tendencies. Dr. Sample is qualified to use of the NEO PI-R in learning and performance improvement programs.

Kegan and Lahey 4-Column Exercise (Immunity to Change)

Two Harvard psychologists, Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey, have developed a model and process that explains why our intentions and accomplishments are often sabotaged through self-inflicted actions that negate our best attempts to change. Their model can be applied to individuals and organizations. Our own personal “immunity to change” is held in place by competing goals and untested assumptions. The 4-column exercise is designed uncover how we engage mental processes to avoid transformative change.

Dr. Sample has been certified in the use of the 4-column exercise and associated learning materials popularized in Kegan and Lahey’s book, How The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work (three day certification program by the authors at Harvard University).

Sample and Yopp (2004) Organizational Frames Analysis Questionnaire (OAFQ)

The OFAQ questionnaire provides respondents with feedback on his or her preferred frame by which to view and understand organizational behavior. This survey instrument is based on the seminal work by Bolman and Deal in their book, Reframing Organizations - Artistry, Choice and Leadership. The authors identified four frameworks used by people to make sense of their organization: the structural frame, the human resources frame, the political frame, and the symbolic frame. Overuse of one frame to the exclusion of the other three frames may result in a stilted and biased view of an organization. Effective leaders must learn to use all four frames.

The OAFQ identifies the respondent’s preference(s) for one or more of the organizational frames described by Bolman and Deal. A copy of this survey is available for review. Go to Dr. Sample’s publications Sample, J.A. & Yopp, M. (2004). Organization frames analysis: A tool to enhance leadership. In E. Beich (Ed.), The 2004 Pfeifer annual: Consulting (pp. 147-150). New York: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

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