Fall 2006
Human Resources Measurement News
This month's edition features an article by Robert Hogan, author of the Hogan Personality Inventory, plus our white paper on the prevention of faking on personality tests. We're introducing the Leadership Versatility Index, a new, validated 360 feedback. Please scroll through the headlines to learn which articles will be of use to you. Thanks for your interest. Best wishes, The Staff at Performance Programs.
Introducing the Leadership Versatility Index
Right-Sizing Leadership Skills
We have all seen leaders go to counterproductive extremes, overdoing the behaviors that, in smaller doses, might be their greatest strengths. The Versatile Leader is a new book (Pfeiffer/Wiley, 2006) that guides readers down the sometimes confusing road to balance in leadership skills. Written by subject experts Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser of Kaplan DeVries, Inc., the book has received positive reviews from several major sources, including the New York Times and Robert Hogan, Ph.D., author of the widely respected Hogan Personality Inventory.
Performance Programs, Inc. had the privilege of helping Kaplan and Kaiser introduce the Leadership Versatility Index, a new online version of the 360-feedback instrument used in their validation research. (Visit the free trial.) The Leadership Versatility Index is matched with the book —the book explains the conceptual model of leadership and development, while the LVI is the vehicle for applying it.
There are three ways to learn about this new, validated 360-degree feedback instrument:
1. Visit Leadership Versatility page.
2. Take the Leadership Versatility Index trial.
3. Contact us for a sample report (PDF)
Faking It: Can Job Applicants 'Outsmart' Personality Tests?
"Faking" is probably the biggest apprehension employers have about using personality tests during the hiring process. These concerns are well founded. Job applicants are confronted by more tests all the time. They are motivated to "pass the test" and come closer to a job offer. To get the most from your investment in tests, you need to become skilled not only in test administration and interpretation but in strategies to avoid or detect faking.
Request our free white paper by e-mail. We'll send it within one day.
Can Personality Tests Be Fooled?
By Robert Hogan, Ph.D., author of Hogan Personality Inventory
We are pleased offer Bob Hogan's recent discussion on the topic of "faking" personality tests on our blog, http://surveyfeedback.blogspot.com. He begins:
"To discuss the question of faking on personality measures for employee selection, two distinctions need to be observed. The first is the distinction between measures that are scientifically defensible and measures that are not—all personality tests are not created equal. There are 2500 test publishers in the United States, but only four or five can pass muster in terms of scientific defensibility—the watchword truly is caveat emptor. The second distinction concerns the difference between measures of the “bright side” and measures of the “dark side” of personality...."
To read the full text, visit our blog.
Personality and the Fate of Organizations
If personality in the workplace is one of your favorite topics, you will want to see Dr. Hogan’s latest book. We have placed a review on our web site. We see three immediate applications for Personality and the Fate of Organizations (LEA Inc., 2006).
- If you have been to a Hogan Certification Workshop, the book is an excellent refresher on Hogan’s views and research on human personality.
- If you are a current user of Hogan materials, it will be excellent reinforcement for your work.
- If you are trying to persuade others of the value of personality measurement in organizations, you might offer them a copy of this book.
Personality and the Fate of Organizations offers a definition of personality, gives a history of personality psychology, examines leadership, team performance, organizational theory, managerial incompetence, and how to fix the latter. The main text is only 151 pages. Hogan is author, coauthor or editor of five other books, plus many articles and presentations.
See a Table of Contents.
Purchase a single copy for $24.95 plus $6 shipping (and tax in Connecticut) directly from Performance Programs.
Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory
First it was HPI, HDS, and MVPI. If you're a connoisseur of personality testing, you'll be interested to learn that the new HBRI joins Hogan's alphabet soup.
Most psychologists believe that cognitive ability is the best single predictor of occupational performance and other important developmental outcomes, including health, wealth, and life satisfaction. Most tests of cognitive ability, however, are designed for a general population or educational settings. The Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory (HBRI) is a cognitive ability measure designed for the professionals in the workplace. According to the company, HBRI is now the first measure of cognitive ability to be based on evolutionary psychology and designed exclusively to predict real-world performance. The new inventory draws on the distinction between tactical and strategic reasoning -- questions of cognitive capacity that particularly affect leadership.
The test is online. It is a proctored test and requires review by a certified testing professional. Reports are delivered by a professional, not instantaneously online. Let us know if you'd like to discuss how HBRI would fit in your selection or development programs. Our feeling is that HBRI will be a useful addition to personality or behavioral (360) assessment. We look forward to helping our clients and consultants use it.
Hogan Assessment Certification Seminars
We will offer Hogan certification again at the Water’s Edge Inn and Conference Center in Westbrook, CT on Thursday, November 9, 2006. This full-day seminar is packed with everything you need to know about being an effective user of the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and Motivation, Values and Preferences Inventory (MVPI). For the first time, we’ll be including a discussion of the new Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory (HBRI). The seminar fee is $995 plus tax. It includes a technical manual, a copy of the Hogan Certification Manual, and your own assessments. For more information on the agenda, visit the Hogan Certification Seminar link.
Clark Loudon Wilson, Jr., 92, a psychologist credited with introducing the concept of 360-degree feedback to the management training field, died August 12 at the Shenandoah Valley Westminster Canterbury retirement community in Winchester, Virginia. He had a stroke in late July while visiting his hometown of Riverside, California.
Dr. Wilson’s greatest contribution to the field of industrial and organizational psychology came late in his career after he began to develop the Multi-Level Management Surveys in 1970. An expert in psychological measurement and statistics, he developed assessment tools for managers that provided feedback on relevant managerial and leadership skills from the manager him/herself, the supervisor, direct reports, and peers. The Survey of Management Practices, Survey of Leadership Practices, and Survey of Executive Leadership, were among his most popular titles; the leadership surveys were developed with the cooperation of the World Bank. Over time, multi-level feedback, or 360-degree feedback as it is now known, became a powerful instructional technique that enables individuals to see themselves as others see them and improve their managerial effectiveness. Up to the time of his death, Wilson continued to develop and publish a full range of assessment tools that were of rigorous psychometric standards and highly regarded in the field. The surveys addressed many aspects of organizational behavior and were used throughout the world to improve the performance of managers and leaders.
Paul M. Connolly, Ph.D., president of Performance Programs, was a long-time associate of Clark Wilson and coauthor with him on several surveys. "I was very lucky to work with Wilson," says Connolly. "He was a great teacher, the kind that you find only rarely in a lifetime."
Clark Wilson published his last book in 2003 at the age of 90. How and Why Effective Managers Balance Their Skills brings together his conclusions from 30 years of research.
In the 7th edition of Organizational Behavior*, a leading industrial psychology textbook by Robert Kreitner and Angelo Kinicki (McGraw Hill, NY), the authors offer this assessment in a two-page article in Chapter One:
“Many attempts have been made over the years to paint a realistic picture of what managers do … Fortunately, a stream of research over the past 20 years by Clark Wilson and others has given us a practical and statistically validated profile of managerial skills.”
Clark Wilson was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists.
Clark Wilson Group Certification Seminars
PPI will offer Clark Wilson 360 Feedback Certification Workshops in Old Saybrook, CT on
Friday, November 10, 2006. The seminar provides everything you need to become an effective user of the Task Cycle Surveys, including your own 360 feedback. Visit the link above for an agenda.
Best wishes,
The Performance Programs Staff
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Leadership Assessment 
