Bovasso, Kari
GM591:
Leadership & Organization
Professor Jim Lott
20Nov03
Life Styles Inventory
Assessment
LIFE STYLES INVENTORY
Written Assignment
There are three styles presented by the LifeStyle Inventory: the Constructive Style, the Passive/Defensive Style, and the Aggressive/Defensive Style. My actual test results are attached at the end of this summation, and below are my thoughts on each style’s results.
CONSTRUCTIVE STYLES: Percentages and Brief Text Evaluation
In the Constructive Style phase, I scored 85% in Achievement, 95% in Self-Actualization, 93% in Humanistic-Encouraging, and 93% in Affiliative. The circumplex, included elsewhere in this synopsis, indicates that this phase is to “reflect self-enhancing thinking and behavior that contribute to one's level of satisfaction, ability to develop healthy relationships and work effectively with people, and proficiency at accomplishing tasks.” In the accompanying Self-Development guide, LSI1, there are summations of the different personality traits. First, according to the somewhat high score in the Achievement section, it says that I ‘tend to want to do things well,’ that I ‘focus on quality.’ Next, the high score in Self-Actualization says that I have ‘confidence in my ability to make things better; that I approach things with a realistic view.’ Third, the high score in Humanistic-Encouraging says that I am a ‘supportive leader’ and that I ‘garner respect from others.’ Last, the high score in Affiliative says that I ‘am comfortable around others’ and ‘build satisfying relationships.’
PERSONAL ASSESSMENT:
I tend to agree with this assessment of the Constructive Styles. Of the three styles, these are my strongest; most ‘dominant.’ I know what my limitations are, but I know what I do well, and constantly challenge myself. I always try to encourage my friends and others to do the best that they can, and offer my help if they need it. As a manager I always tried to live up to my own motto that: I will never ask you to do something that I refuse to do myself. I have had many friends tell me that they respect what I have accomplished in my life, as I have done so with little or no support from my family. When I left one of my previous employers, twelve of the thirty-two employees also left because they had only remained working there because of me; I made their environment more enjoyable. I believe that one reason I try to help others is due to my being in Sea Scouts (the mariner division of Boy Scouts) for 14 years. In scouting, we were responsible as a group to teach the others in our group what we were learning – a group effort to do our best and teach everyone else too.
PASSIVE/DEFENSIVE STYLES: Percentages and Brief Text Evaluation
In the next section, the Passive/Defensive phase, I scored 15% in Approval, 10% in Conventional, 20% in Dependent, and 42% in Avoidance. This phase is to “represent self-protecting thinking and behavior that promote the fulfillment of security needs through interaction with people.”
My scores in most of these sections of the Passive/Defensive phase were pretty low percentages, except for the Avoidance segment. The low score in the Approval segment means that I ‘appreciate but do not need approval from others’ leading towards less stress in my life, and/or that is easy for me to relax. The low score in Conventional means that I am ‘inner-directed’ and that I can accomplish and set my own goals. The low score in Dependent indicates that I ‘do not rely on others for direction.’ The medium-level score in Avoidance means that I sometimes doubt my own abilities, but that I can ‘accept failure, learn from the experience, and move on.’
These scores are my second highest in this assessment.
PERSONAL ASSESSMENT:
My parents separated when I was just six years old, and both of them met someone shortly thereafter. We lived with my father. I am the youngest of four children, each of them separated by only one year, where the oldest of the four is six years older than I am. We were left to ourselves much of the time, as my father was dating and tended to spend most evenings with his new girlfriend. Here is where my upbringing had an even greater effect. By the time I was in junior high school, most of the other kids in my family had already moved out, or moved in with our mother. Even when I was in elementary school, I remember coming home to an empty house a lot so I was left up to my own devices a fair amount of the time. I didn’t really care then, and it has not changed much, about what other people think of what or how I accomplish things – I did not have any other choice. If I wanted to eat, I made dinner; if I wanted clean clothes, I did my laundry. If I didn’t have much input from anyone else through the course of my day (aside from school), why would I hold much power in someone else’s views of my methods? This is from a personal, not business perspective. In respect to business, however, I think I work best if a supervisor tells me WHAT they want accomplished, but leave HOW it is accomplished up to me. Of the three styles, this area is my ‘weakest.’ I don’t view this as ‘weak,’ however; I just know that I have to watch what and how I say things to authority figures!
AGGRESSIVE/DEFENSIVE STYLES: Percentages and Brief Text Evaluation
In the last phase, the Aggressive/Defensive phase, I scored 42% in Oppositional, 25% in Power, 9% in Competitive, and 25% in Perfectionistic. This phase is to “describe self-promoting thinking and behavior used to maintain status/position and fulfill security needs through task-related activities.” The medium-level score in Oppositional means I have a ‘healthy skepticism;’ a ‘questioning’ nature. It also means that I ‘can be an objective listener, and I view others criticisms of me as constructive.’ The low-to-medium score in Power means that I don’t ‘use my authority to force or control others,’ that I ‘have patience for others.’ The low score in Competitive means that I am not ‘driven’ to compete with others, that I can work well in a team, and that I can produce high quality results. The low-to-medium score in Perfectionistic means that I ‘work hard to attain results,’ that I am ‘internally motivated.’
PERSONAL ASSESSMENT:
This is the lowest scoring section of my Life Style, and I tend to agree with this assessment too. I have always asked a lot of questions, always been somewhat skeptical. People feel almost overly comfortable with me; I have had many strangers tell me their life stories without any prompting from me. In the workplace, I tend to take other people’s suggestions and find the most efficient methods possible for the tasks at hand.
Am I An Effective Manager?
In terms of planning, since my highest score was in the Self-Actualizing section, the LSI says that I can blend the ‘right people with the right tasks,’ that I have ‘realistic goals and strategies.’ The next highest scores were the Humanistic-Encouraging and the Affiliative (equally). These mean I have a ‘team approach to planning, with high levels of staff input.’ Unfortunately, it may be hard to accomplish the objective in question, due to lack of a formal plan. These are fairly accurate observations, but knowing I have problems with the group approach, I usually tend to take on projects either independently, or just in a partnership. Organizationally speaking, as previously stated, I tend to be informal and assign tasks to those best suited for them. In terms of staffing, I can become very close to those on my staff, and may even hire friends who fit the requirements for the position. However, do not be misled. I am friendly, but I have no problem directing and working with any staff member regardless of any previous or now existing friendship. I like to let staff work according to their own methods, so long as goals and objectives are being met in a timely and/or efficient manner.
Which Style Should I Seek to Improve?
I would actually rather improve the Passive/Defensive Style section over the Aggressive/Defensive phase, even though the latter was a lower scoring phase. I have been doubting my own abilities most of my life. I have great ideas, yet I sometimes don’t pursue or volunteer them because I fear they won’t be accepted by upper management. I know that it was mainly the environments and people that I worked for that held me back, and my family’s lack of support, but I should have pursued new ideas in a different fashion. I feel I had even more improvements to offer the businesses I worked for rather than the few I actually incorporated into their businesses. In order to improve upon this, I have been a little more realistic in my assessment of myself. When I feel like discounting something I have an idea for or any other situation that calls for my input, I assess the situation and apply my idea to it. If it has merit, values, or would benefit the company or staff members by increasing productivity or efficiency, then I will push it forward regardless of how I may initially shoot it down in my mind.
Closing Thoughts
I enjoyed this exercise; however, it isn’t entirely representative of me as a manager. I answered the questions from an all-around perspective of myself, not just as a manager. I react differently with friends, family, and schoolmates differently than I do in the workplace. As I am sure applies to most people in like situations. But I do feel that this is a valuable and neat tool to figure out where I need to improve my managerial skills. I think a great deal more people would benefit from this type of assessment, regardless of whether or not they felt the need in their line of work. The results could be used to evaluate a possible career change that would better fit your personality type, and managerial methods, that would make for a better working environment.
Name: Kari Bovasso |
Date Survey Taken:
|
Your LSI Styles Profile
The scores (out of 40) and the percentiles in the table and in the circumplex below depict your perceptions of how you think and behave.
The CONSTRUCTIVE Styles (11, 12, 1, and
The PASSIVE/DEFENSIVE Styles (3, 4, 5, and
The AGGRESSIVE/DEFENSIVE Styles (7, 8, 9, and 10 o'clock positions) describe self-promoting thinking and behavior used to maintain status/position and fulfill security needs through task-related activities.
Position
|
Style
|
Score
|
Percentile
|
1
|
Humanistic-Encouraging
|
38
|
93
|
2
|
Affiliative
|
38
|
93
|
3
|
Approval
|
7
|
15
|
4
|
Conventional
|
8
|
10
|
5
|
Dependent
|
10
|
20
|
6
|
Avoidance
|
4
|
42
|
7
|
Oppositional
|
6
|
42
|
8
|
Power
|
3
|
25
|
9
|
Competitive
|
5
|
9
|
10
|
Perfectionistic
|
16
|
25
|
11
|
Achievement
|
37
|
85
|
12
|
Self-Actualizing
|
38
|
95
|
Your LSI Styles Circumplex
Examining your Circumplex
To receive an accurate interpretation of your 12 styles, it is important for you to consider the score of each style in terms of its range within the profile. The three ranges correspond to the percentile points in the table above and circumplex below:
HIGH -- Your style score is in the HIGH range if it is at or above the 75th percentile.
MEDIUM -- Your style score is in the MEDIUM range if it is between the 25th and 75th percentiles.
LOW -- Your style score is in the LOW range if it is at or below the 25th percentile.
