Challenge:
The role of a manager within an organisation is fundamental. Identifying a psychological profile of top performing managers is beneficial to organisations because a benchmark can be established to identify characteristics necessary for candidates to be selected into managerial positions. As such, this research was conducted to validate an assessment battery for individuals in managerial roles. The primary objectives of the research process are as follows:
- To create psychometric profiles for the top 100 managers within an organisation in the agricultural sector, as well as similar profiles at the team level.
- To scientifically determine the ideal manager profile and key scales in the assessment battery for selection and development purposes.
Solution/Study:
Research was conducted to provide a descriptive analysis of all assessment scores for the top 100 leaders at a multinational African agricultural organisation. The assessment battery included the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) Form Q that indicates the personality type of individuals; the Hogan Development Survey (HDS®) that measures the possible derailers for managers and employees; the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0®) that assesses the emotional coping resources of individuals; and the Giotto test that measures integrity as an evaluation of an individual’s values, attitudes, and work ethic. Differences between departments were investigated and departmental profiles generated. General trends were highlighted and linked to the strategic concerns of the company.
Application:
In order to get useful information about individuals in managerial roles, this battery of assessments provides an indication of the strengths and weaknesses that these individuals have. From this, we created descriptive profiles for the leaders on each of the assessments.
- The modal type from the MBTI® instrument provided insight into the communication style used by the leadership team, and highlighted potential gaps or conflicts in communication across regions.
- People who are intelligent and capable may sometimes have certain shortcomings that can reduce productivity and harm interpersonal reputation and relationships. The number of derailers and most prevalent derailers from the HDS® provided insight into how the team functions under stress or during change.
- The overall EQ profile highlighted strengths and development areas for the team. It provided information about managers’ coping strategies in situations of stress.
- The Giotto profile helped identify the virtues and vices for the leadership team in order to help deal with counterproductive work behaviour, particularly during organisational change.
By tying all of these various threads together, the leadership team was able to have a clear and measureable indication of the strengths and development areas required in order to develop their combined leadership skills. This assessment battery provided a benchmarking profile for the top 100 managers. The profile could be used to evaluate future applicants who could be considered for promotions into managerial roles.
