Psychological Testing and Applications

This assignment delves into the world of psychological testing, covering its fundamental principles, diverse applications in fields like organizational behavior, and the important ethical issues surrounding its use. It analyzes different types of tests, explores how they are applied to assess personality traits (like the Big Five and Myers-Briggs), understand work motivation, and measure conflict styles using instruments like the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. The assignment emphasizes the need for responsible and ethical practices in psychological testing.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Perceiving organizational behavior from the perspective of personality tests
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Executive Summary
Behavior represents the type of person an individual is. According to Freud, there are several
stages, through which an individual undergo for achieving proper development. Professionalism
is the stage before the penultimate stage, death. The tests- Myers Briggs, Big 5 Personality
Traits, Mcclelland’s Need Analysis and Thomas Kilmann conflict mode instrument takes the
stages of development to an advanced level. This is in terms of assessing the perspective and
approach of the employees towards the issues of the outer world. Provision of adequate
motivation and encouragement to the employees generates an urge among the employees
regarding the exposure of better performance. This is the initiative of the managers in terms of
making the employees, a better human being, capable of maintaining the balance between the
personal and professional life. In this initiative, conflicts are bound to occur. However,
consideration of Thomas Kilmann conflict mode instrument eases the process of mitigating the
intensity of the conflicts within the workplace.

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Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Brief review of the findings.............................................................................................................3
Myers Briggs Profile....................................................................................................................3
Costa & McCrae Big 5 Personality Traits...................................................................................4
McClelland Needs Analysis........................................................................................................5
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument..............................................................................5
Critical analysis of the topics...........................................................................................................6
Reflection on future leadership skills..............................................................................................8
Action plans based on perceived weakness.....................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References and bibliography.........................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The employees in a company or organization are entrusted with the responsibility to
expose appropriate attitude towards the allocated duties and responsibilities. Exposure of
rationality in the behavior enhances the personality of the employees. Along with this, it also
takes their professionalism to a more advanced level (Miner, 2015). This assignment delves deep
into the behavioral aspects, which plays a crucial role in the workplace. Specifically, the
assignment covers personality tests such as Myers Briggs, Costa and McCrae’s Big 5
personality test, need analysis by McClelland and the Conflict mode instrument developed by
Thomas-Kilmann. Personal SWOT analysis with an action plan is the major highlight of the
assignment, which would act as a cornerstone in polishing the leadership skills, abilities and
competencies of the individuals in future.
Brief review of the findings
Myers Briggs Profile
The aim of the personality test is to enhance the clarity of the personnel regarding the
different psychological types. According to C.G Jung, when personnel are placed in different
situations and circumstances, they perceive it through various judgments. These variations are
natural in terms of the varying intensity of the given surroundings (Myersbriggs.org, 2018).
Applying various methods to perceive different situations exposes the different avenues of
values, motivation and skills before the personnel, which they can choose for the enhancement of
their personality. These aspects makes the personality theory reliable and valid.

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Isabel Briggs Myers along with her mother Katherine Briggs developed certain indicators
to measure the approach of the individuals in terms of dealing with the outer world issues:
Extraversion or introversion; Sensing or Intuition; Thinking or feeling and Judging or
perceiving-
Along with these indicators, there is a table, which depicts four letter codes. These codes
represent the people with different psyches. If individuals consider the personality types as equal,
they appreciate the variability in the different opinions and viewpoints of the neighbors. This is
also applicable for the employees. If they are convinced that all of them belong to different
socio-cultural backgrounds, with different perceptions and judgment, they would become aware
of these personality types (Myersbriggs.org, 2018). Rationality exposed by the managers for this
inculcation might reduce the instances of conflicts, discrimination and harassments in the
workplace.
After conducting the test, I found that I am a mediator type of person. The greatest strength
of these people is that they are true idealists, searching good within the worst people. As a matter
of specification, these persons, in spite of being shy, are always in an attempt to make things
better; which has much similarity with my character. They have hidden talents, which if given
shape can lead to prospective results. Mixing with people is difficult for these people; however,
when they find a person with similar mentality, they experience joy and happiness. Along with
this, they listen to more people but talk with a few people. Being idealistic makes them
impractical, compelling them to suffer from depression, dejection, deceives among others.
Moreover, their introvert nature is an obstacle for them to enrich their knowledge (Refer to
Appendix).

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Costa & McCrae Big 5 Personality Traits
Personality psychologists are of the opinion that there are five dimensions of the
personality of the individuals- extraversion, agreeableness, openness, contentiousness and
neuroticism. These traits bring Trait theory into the discussion, as through the effective
utilization of these traits, employees can alter their personality into leaders. Extraversion reflects
the extrovert nature of the employees to mix with people. Agreeableness reflects the lack of
oriental and judgmental decision before accepting an offer (Judge & Zapata, 2015). Openness in
the characteristic trait of the employees possess flexibility to inculcate positive as well as
negative suggestions in the minds of the employees. Rationality enhances the vision of the
employees towards the rightful actions. This rationality conglomerates the trait of
contentiousness and neuroticism. This is because if the employees understand that being
depressed would not help them to achieve their goals, it would be easy for them in terms of
maintaining stability in their lives.
The results of Big Five Personality Test depicts that my sores of openness is high as
62.5%. I am moderate in moderate in contentiousness. The score for this is 42%. I have received
low score in extraversion, which exactly matches with my personality. I am highly agreeable, as
I have received a score of 73% in the personality test. The score for neurotic is very high as of
90%. These kind of persons have negative thoughts, which compel them to encounter depression,
sadness, anxiety, guilt and shame (Refer to Appendix 1). The personality traits relate with my
personality traits. If someone hurts me, I feel I am the saddest person in the world.
McClelland Needs Analysis
The typical component of this personality test is motivation as proposed by McClelland.
If the employees are provided with adequate motivation, encouragement and support, they feel

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an urge to expose better performance. In this process, they would be made familiar with their
needs and the power needed for fulfilling these needs (McClelland, 2015). For example, if a boss
motivates the employees regarding their capability to rectify the mistakes, the employees become
aware of their necessity to perform the allocated duties and responsibilities diligently. On the
contrary, being harsh or rude to the employees for their mistakes would create a negative
impression on the employees about the managers. This connotation attaches a negative
connotation to the aspect of motivation.
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument
This instrument is of utmost necessity in the workplace in terms of mitigating the
instances of conflict. This instrument is a test, where the participants interpret and learn about the
different conflict handling modes from the feedback materials. The instrument has achieved
popularity among the companies and organizations through its effective functionality for more
than 40 years (Kilmanndiagnostics.com, 2018). The usage of this instrument is devoid of any
skills or qualification. As a matter of specification, this instrument assists the Human Resources
Department to organize group discussions and trainings for exposing the staffs to the business
dynamics. Effective utilization of this instrument helps the managers to assess the behavioral
tendencies of the staffs in response to different conflicting situations.
Critical analysis of the topics
The workplace can be considered as the outside world, where the employees and the
other staff reside. Here, their ultimate goal is to expose better performance, so that the company
emerges successful in fulfilling the identified aims and objectives. Provision of motivation and
encouragement to the staffs results in the achievement of positive outcomes. Viewing it from the

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other perspective, adequate motivational support from the senior and the experienced managers
inspires the staffs to upgrade the standard and quality of their current performance (Kim et al.,
2017). In this process, the staffs become aware of their needs as well as the demands of the
managers. This need identification process aligns with the propositions of McClelland’s Need
Analysis Theory. Once the employees emerge successful in comparing their needs with the
needs of the managers, they become capable of assessing the effectiveness, appropriateness and
feasibility of their power and authority.
The assessment highlighted in the previous paragraph indicates interplay with the
personality types of the staffs. This is because in the process of upgrading the standard and
quality of the performance, the staffs are exposed to various situations and circumstances, which
vary in terms of their intensity. Herein lays the appropriateness of Myers Briggs Personality
Test. If the staffs think logically about achieving solutions for tackling the situations, they are
judgmental (Hogan, 2017). Having discussions with the team members regarding the ways and
means to expose logical approach make the employees’ extrovert in a positive sense. This can be
correlated with the trait of openness, one of the dimensions of personality. Evaluation of the
gathered information enhances the intellect of the employees, contradicting the trait of blind
agreement as proposed in Big Five Personality Traits.
Being a victim in the conflicts makes the employees depressed, adversely affecting their
psyche. This affection seriously hampers the performance of the employees. These aspects
relates with the neurotic traits of personality (Madrid et al., 2014). The trait of contentiousness
acts as an address to these traits, possessing the flexibility to enhance the strength and capability
of the employees to move on their life. It is the stage, where Thomas-Kilmann’s conflict mode
of instrument finds its applicability. Consideration of this instrument convinces the staffs

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regarding the inevitability of the fact that they belong to different socio-cultural backgrounds.
Achievement of understanding in this direction can be possible only if the managers patiently
deal with the varying viewpoints of the employees. Cooperation of the managers would act as a
keystone for the staffs in terms of undertaking the instrumental assessment for mitigating
conflicts with the colleagues in the workplace (Kaiser, LeBreton & Hogan, 2015).
Further, Thomas-Kilmann’s conflict mode of instrument can be contrasted with the
Costa and McCrae’s Big 5 Personality traits. Conflict opposes the trait of openness and adds
to the negative connotation of extrovert. In view of the previous sentence, the intensity of the
adjective “big” seems meager. Delving deep into the matter, garrulousness does not make the
staffs broad-minded. However, frequent experimentation with the gathered sources compels
them to encounter negative results. This is in terms of the absence of patience for evaluating the
gathered suggestions and reach to an appropriate conclusion (Lee, Park & Koo, 2015). Herein
the indicator of Judgment and Perception from Myers Briggs Personality Test attains a
negative connotation. This negation reflects the absence of applying judgmental perceptions,
which is one of the basic needs of the employees in terms of taking decisions. If the employees
and staffs are not aware of this need, motivational support is of no use, even if the managers are
conscious towards the betterment of the employees.
The propositions in the previous paragraph question the behavior of the staffs and the
management. Reciprocation of the consciousness of the managers by exposing lack of
understanding is also one of the grounds on which Myers Briggs Personality Test can be
nullified. This lack of understanding raises doubts over the employment of the staffs, challenging
Freud’s stages of human development (Brown, Crossley & Robinson, 2014). These doubts also
question their position in the workplace.

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Reflection on future leadership skills
As an employee, I feel I lack the basic understanding of my needs. This is the reason why
I fail to live up to the expectation of the managers. In this perspective, I need to take into
consideration, McClelland’s Need Analysis. I feel that this consideration would make me
acquainted with my needs in the workplace. This need identification would enclose before me
the power, which I can apply in the process of executing the allocated duties and responsibilities.
In the process of this need identification, I would be exposed to varying and conflicting
situations. In this, losing temper would be foolishness. Therefore, I need to keep calm and
perceive the situations rationally. Herein lays the appropriateness of the Judgmental perception,
one of the crucial indicators of Myer Briggs Personality Test. This rationality would directly
help me to emerge as a leader, creating positive image about me in the minds of the managers.
I lack patience when my viewpoints clash with the others. This has resulted in my
suspension from the work temporarily. Here, I need to take into consideration the Big 5
Personality Tests for understanding that my colleagues possess different viewpoints due to a
variant social background. Specifically, I need to concentrate on being openness in terms of
gaining knowledge about what the others think regarding the situations in which they are placed.
Listening more would expose before me the avenues, which I can refer for enhancing my
leadership skills. On the other hand, if I blindly agree to the gathered suggestions and advice, I
may be deceived, which would deviate me from my targeted goals. Dejection, depression and
sadness would be common if I give up easily. This would be my weakness, questioning my
professionalism. Action plans are needed for restoring the stability in life. Consciousness
towards the development of action plans reflects my thirst to emerge as a leader. Creating short
term, realistic and achievable goals in the plans would help me to enhance the focus on altering

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my personality. Evaluation of the created plan is crucial in terms of excavating the drawbacks in
the exposed performance. Spontaneous modification of these drawbacks with creativity would be
my urge to upgrade the standard and quality of my workplace performance.
Action plans based on perceived weakness
Planning acts as a central doctrine in terms of systematizing and prioritizing the tasks.
Creation of the plans, in response to the lack of clarity regarding the appropriate position in the
workplace, proves beneficial for the employees in terms of exposing better performance. The
following is an example of an action plan, which the employees can make for enhancing clarity
regarding their needs in the workplace:
Explanation
Specific To conduct self-assessment exercise
Measurable Taking into consideration the checklists and templates would reflect the measurability of
the recommendation
Achievable Overcoming the challenge of conflicting attitude makes the recommendation achievable
Realistic Refererring to various external sources makes the recommendation realistic, possessing
flexibility to enrich the perspectives of the employees
Time The proposed recommendation can be achieved within the time span of 2 years
Table 1: SMART action plan for overcoming the identified weakness
Evaluation is crucial for gaining awareness about the drawbacks within the exposed
performance. Maintaining consistency in the execution of evaluation is necessary in terms of
raising the standard and quality of performance. Herein lays the appropriateness of the checklists
and the templates, which would make the employees aware of the extent to which they have been

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successful in overcoming the identified and the specified weakness. In this process, the
employees would be confronted to various situations, which would deviate them from their
targeted goals. Consciousness towards upgradation of performance would unconsciously
inculcate rationality within the characteristic traits of the employees.
Referring to various external sources would broaden the perspectives of the employees
regarding the diverse workplace issues. For this, the employees need to indulge in group
discussions and the question answer session of the lectures and seminars. Along with this,
listening to the suggestion of the experts would prove beneficial for the employees in creating a
positive image about themselves in the minds of the managers and bosses. This positivity is
crucial for emerging as a leader. Apart from this, if the employees pursue personality
development classes, they would feel the difference in their overall personality.
Selection of the gathered sources, based on their priority would prove fruitful in terms of
enhancing the decision-making skills and abilities of the employees. Herein lays the
appropriateness of Myers Briggs Personality Test. The concept of time, here, is the confidence of
the employees in terms of overcoming the weakness in the performance. Consciousness towards
being tactful; not blindly following the suggestion provided by the external sources makes the
employees aware of their needs in the workplace. This is possible only if the managers and
trainers provide adequate motivation and encouragement to the employees.
In this process, the employees would get a number of solutions, which might deviate
them from the targeted goals and objectives. The employees need to be open minded but blindly
agreeing to the gathered solutions would inculcate the skills of self-assessment within the
employees. This assessment would act as an agent for the employees in modifying their

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personality. Provision of motivation would make the employees aware of their roles and
responsibilities, which they are to execute in the workplace.
Development of short-term goals would improve the focus of the employees regarding
the efficient execution of the allocated duties and responsibilities. However, these goals need to
be realistic and achievable. Herein lays the appropriateness of checklists and templates, which
clears the vision of the employees regarding the extent to which they have been successful in
overcoming the weakness.
Using these smart objectives would help me to become practical. Self-assessment would
make me acquainted with my strength and weakness, increasing my score of conscientiousness.
Mixing with large number of people would enhance my confidence, increasing my extraversion
score. This would be my primary goal. Along with this, I have to ensure that I do not blindly
agree to the suggestions, which I get. This would make me rational along with agreeable. This
would attach more weightage to the score of openness.
Conclusion
This assignment emerges successful in providing an insight into the dynamics of
organizational behavior. The consideration of personality tests acts assistance for the employees
in terms of assessing the approach, which they need to expose in the workplace. Self-reflection
on the future leadership skills is to prepare the employees for emerging as successful leaders.
Consideration of weakness, here, aligns with the statement, “Failure is the stepping stone to
success”. Action plan is the initiative of the employees to overcome the failures and step towards
success. Critical analysis of the action plan relates with evaluation, which is of utmost

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importance for the employees in terms of upgrading the standard and quality of their
performance.

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