The Work Behavior Inventory was developed specifically for use in the workplace, identifying the personality characteristics related to success and effectiveness. This makes it a powerful tool that can be used to address important issues related to:
- Selection – the Work Behavior Inventory offers critical insights into candidates’ job fit and spotlights strengths and potential weaknesses.
- Development – the Work Behavior Inventory identifies the benefits and potential limitations of scores across the personality scales and can be used to address areas an individual wishes to improve.
- Team Building – Understanding the personality and work styles of team members can help teams work more effectively together.
- Leadership – the Work Behavior Inventory describes the person’s leadership style, offering detailed descriptions of when it may be useful and when it may not be effective.
- Talent Management – the WBI identifies high potentials and future leaders.
Validation studies have proven the effectiveness of the Work Behavior Inventory:
- Measures personality and work behaviors of applicants and employees in a highly reliable manner, especially when compared to other personality tests (median reliability of .85 vs. a median of .75 for other personality tests).
- Optimizes the fit between people and position requirements specific to each organization.
- Reduces cost of assessing internal or external candidates for job opportunities and roles.
- Helps assure optimal quality, productivity and effectiveness of the workforce by increasing the confidence in the organization’s talent assessment.
- The Work Behavior Inventory has been shown to be valid for measuring the underlying constructs and is legally defensible.
AAI offers a wide variety of reports for the Work Behavior Inventory: Feedback, Development, Team, and Group. The Feedback Report provides a detailed overview of the test-taker’s personality and work styles. The Development Report provides development recommendations based on the test-taker’s scores on the personality scales. The Team Report offers information on the overall “Team Personality” based on each team member’s scores on the Work Behavior Inventory. The Group Report offers the personality results across teams or groups.
Feedback Report
The Work Behavior Inventory Feedback Report displays the test-taker’s percentile scores on the 40 personality and work style scales. There are 21 Work Styles that are grouped into the Big 5 Factors of personality. These are the primary personality scales. In addition to the 21 Work Styles, the Work Behavior Inventory displays Leadership Styles, Selling Styles, Behavioral Growth Potential, and Occupational Fit scales. It provides descriptive information on each scale and explains the individual’s personality and work styles scores: how they tend to act and interact with others at work.
The Work Behavior Inventory Feedback Report is often used in selection settings but may also be used in development.
Development Report
The Work Behavior Inventory Development Report is designed for individuals and organizations who are primarily interested in development rather than selection.
In contrast to the Feedback Report, which provides rich descriptive information on an individual’s personality and work styles, the Development Report addresses action-based learning and development providing several development suggestions.
It highlights the test-taker’s highest and lowest scores on the Work Behavior Inventory personality scales, and provides several highly relevant development suggestions for both. For the lowest scores, specific action-based development activities drawn from AAI’s leadership development handbook, Coaching Winners!, are provided. Development Action Plan Worksheets with questions to guide the user’s thinking about development planning are also included.
Team Report
The Work Behavior Inventory Team Report displays each team member’s percentile score (anonymously) on the 40 personality scales. The group mean is displayed and the leader’s scores can be highlighted if desired.
The team’s “group personality” is identified, and team assets and considerations are reported. Team members address the implications of the team’s scores with respect to important facets of team effectiveness.
Each team member is also invited to consider his/her own results in the context of the team and identify actions he or she might take to maximize effectiveness as a team member.
Group Report
The Work Behavior Inventory Group Comparison Report provides a comparison of the averaged personality results of two or more teams or work groups. The report can enhance understanding of how each team’s “group personality” compares with that of other teams. It can enable appreciation of the similarities and differences among the groups, awareness of why they may behave differently, understanding of how they might work together more effectively, and knowledge of how to manage each most effectively.
The report includes a Group Effectiveness Worksheet to stimulate thinking about the groups’ differences and similarities and their implications.
Group members will gain most from this report if they first understand their own group’s Work Behavior Inventory Team report. We recommend providing Team reports to key stakeholders in addition to the Group Comparison Report.
