Saturday, April 28, 2007

Assessment Tests

In general, there are three main types of assessment tests:
  1. Personality & Motivation
  2. Interests
  3. Abilities
Let us focus on the first part - Personality & Motivation Tests.

There are various types of instruments that measure our personality and motivation. They are designed with specific objectives and these tools can be very useful in identifying our individual inner feeling and thinking.

Some of my favorites are:

  • Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) by CPP. More than 2 million annually have benefited from this instrument. It is an useful instrument to learn your preferences for a lifelong growth and development. Key word - understand self & others. Four dichotomies: Extraversion-Introversion; Sensing-iNtuition; Thinking-Feeling; Judging-Perceiving.


  • Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B) by CPP. Identify the key motivators that drive behaviors and help transform a group of individuals into a cohesive team. A powerful instrument to discover our need for participation, influence, and closeness. Must-have instrument for mentoring & coaching.


  • Occupational Personality Questionnaires (OPQ32) by SHL. SHL provides over 250 assessment tools of various instruments. One of the instruments i.e. OPQ32 provides valuable information on individuals preferred behaviour on 32 personality characteristics. The dimensions are grouped into three areas: relationship with people, thinking styles, and feelings & emotions. You will love it once you mapped the 32 dimensions into your own competency framework.


  • Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) by Thomas International aka DiSC: Dominance -Influence - Steadiness - Compliance. High on each D-i-S-C meant that the person likes to be around people, loves to complete one task at a time, cautious in decision making, and lives a challenge & taking charge.

I will explain later on the individual instrument - the advantages & disadvantages & how to cheat on it.


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