Individual Assignment: Analysis of PAPI

Subject- Psychological Testing (PTST) Submitted to: Dr. Hardik Shah

Submitted by: Kumar Anshuman 12HR-012 E-mail: kumar.anshuman1@gmail.com

Contents
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 INTRODUCTION LIST OF ITEMS QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS TEST ADMINISTRATION RELIABILITY & VALIDITY ORGANIZATION(s) WHERE PAPI HAS BEEN USED SAMPLE REPORT CONTRIBUTION TO THE MANAGEMENT PROFESSION LEARNING 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 10 10

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1 INTRODUCTION
PAPI (Personality and Preference Inventory) is a leading work related personality assessment used by HR professionals and line managers to evaluate the behavior and preferred work styles of individuals operating at all levels. The instrument was originally designed by Dr Max Kostick, Professor of Industrial Psychology at Boston State College, in Massachusetts, USA, in the early 1960s. The idea behind developing this was to come up with an instrument which could be simple in administrating & scoring, used by non-psychologists and covered aspects of personality relevant to the workplace. There are now two versions of the PAPI, the PAPI-I, which is an ipsative version, and the PAPI-N, which is a normative version. PAPI-I is recognizable from the way that it presents questions in a forced-choice format. PAPI-I, as per the design of ipsative instruments, examines and compares the attributes of an individual and does not allow comparisons to be made between individuals. As such, PAPI-I should be used only when the essential aim is to understand a person, not when it is necessary to make judgments in order to compare them with others. PAPI-N is recognizable from the way it presents questions as single statements, each accompanied by a rating scale. Unlike PAPI-I, PAPI-N, as per the design of normative questionnaires, is suitable for assessment situations where there is a need to make judgments about a person in order to compare them with others. PAPI-N is thus suitable for assessment situations which require comparative judgments to be made about people. Both these versions however measure the personality dimensions clustered in seven key areas: agreeableness active dominance conscientious persistence openness to experience seeking to achieve sociability work tempo

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LIST OF ITEMS

The development of PAPI instrument is based on the need-press theory given by Henry Murray as the PAPI scale consists of two broad factors: Needs Measuring Preferences Roles Measuring Perceptions

Further each of the factors has 10 items each to give a total of 20 item-scales for PAPI instrument: Role Scales:

Leadership role (L) Organized type (C) Attention to detail (D) Conceptual thinker (R) Social harmonizer (S) Ease in decision making (I) Work pace (T) Emotional restraint (E) Role of the hard worker (G) Integrative planner (H)

Need Scales:

Need to control others (P) Need for rules and supervision (W) Need for change (Z) Need to finish a task (N) Need to be noticed (X) Need to belong to groups (B) Need to relate closely to individuals (O) Need to be forceful (K) Need to achieve (A) Need to be supportive (F)

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The PAPI Role scales measure how an individual perceives himself or herself in the environment. These scales also include the situational characteristics that put pressure to behave in certain ways. The PAPI Need scales measure the deeper inherent tendencies of an individuals behavior such as the need to belong to groups and finish a task. These scales measure an individuals preference for behaving in a particular way. Although there may be numerous scales which can be thought of for measuring the perceptions and preferences of an employee in a work place, these 20 scales appear to be quite exhaustive and should provide a great insights to support the information on which crucial HR decisions are made.

3 QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS
PAPI-I comprises 90 paired items: 180 statements paired in a forced choice format from which one has to be chosen. 45 dual statement items are used to assess Roles and 45 dual statement items are used to assess Needs. Each of the 20 PAPI scales is thus measured by 180/20 = 9 statements. PAPI-N is a 126 item questionnaire, comprising 126 single statements, each accompanied by a Likert-style rating scale. Each of the 20 PAPI scales comprises 6 items, with the Social Desirability scale contributing a further 6 items to the questionnaire. The length of questionnaires appears to be very lengthy. Both the versions may try to have 5 questions under each scale making a total of 20 X 5 = 100 statements each. Thus instead of 180 statements in case of PAPI-I and 126 statements in case of PAPI-N, both will have 100 statements each. It is a matter of research and debate whether such modification is possible or not.

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4 TEST ADMINISTRATION
PAPI is delivered through a dedicated IT platform where the candidates have to complete the questionnaire at a time and location most suitable to them or their potential employer. The online platform provides users with a range of additional features such as role profiling facilities, interview guides and candidate feedback reports. As a first step, the individual under review is asked to spend approximately 15-20 minutes completing the PAPI personality questionnaire. Once the questionnaire has been completed, the results are then mapped on to a PAPI profile wheel displaying the respondents profile in a visual format. PAPI is currently owned by Cubiks Group Ltd. and they only provide the online platform for administrating the test. As soon as the assessment gets completed, Cubiks online integrated assessment platform immediately generate a PAPI report. The biggest problem here could arise not during the test, but immediately after the test. As soon as the test is completed, the system generates various kinds of reports which are quite detailed in nature. It becomes absolutely critical that the person administrating the test must be trained to understand and analyze the reports. Based on the analysis of report, the test administrator / interviewer may either take an instant decision or develop a discussion with the candidate to analyze him / her further.

5 RELIABILITY & VALIDITY

PAPI is recognized as a valid and reliable measure of personality by a number of institutions internationally including The British Psychological Society and the Swedish Test Committee. Research was conducted by Jess Sans, Francisco Gil, ngel Barrasa and Mara Paz GarcaVera. The PAPI-N was translated into a Spanish version and tested on 239 men and women. The test assessed the participants on the 20 scales of PAPI. The reliability was assessed and an alpha of above .70 was found for 18 out of the 20 scales. This is almost the same as the findings for this test when conducted in English, which were alphas above .70 for all 20 of the

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scales. The only scale which really posed a threat to internal consistency of the Spanish version was the need to be forceful. There is evidence to back its validity, as the previous team of researchers also conducted a study on this aspect of the test. While this test was designed for those applying for a job, it was tested to see whether or not it would be useful for assessing the personality of volunteers as well. A group of 91 volunteers and 110 psychology undergraduates were tested and their scores were compared with those of the job applicants. Although moderate differences were found, the volunteer group similarly had alpha coefficients above .70 for 17 of the 20 scales. Thus the statements under need to be forceful scale may need revision or further customization before releasing for use.

ORGANIZATION(s) WHERE PAPI HAS BEEN USED

The concept of PAPI isn't new and has been in use for over 40 years by HR professionals mainly for recruitment and people development. Large companies such as KPMG and consulting firms like Premier Global & Quadrangle Consulting use PAPI on a large scale. The importance and involvement of PAPI for KPMG can be estimated by the statement of the Resourcing & Development Manager, KPMG Belgium: "At KPMG, we take the aspect of
personality very seriously. It is vital that the people we employ share our perspective and will be able to work comfortably in our culture. Cubiks has developed an innovative personality assessment that is

already playing an important role in our graduate recruitment operations." There are a large number of companies which outsource their recruitment processes entirely or partially to the consultancy firms and use / ask consulting firms to use the PAPI instrument for finding most suitable candidates for their companies.

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SAMPLE REPORT

PAPI has over 15 standard reports that can be used by clients for a wide variety of purposes. Most clients prefer customized reports that reflect their competencies. The partial list of customized PAPI reports includes: PAPI Competency Based Interview Guide: This report provides the mapping of PAPI to the client competencies. It interprets the respondents scores on PAPI to provide an indication of whether each competency is strength or a development area for the respondent. The report lists interview questions, response indicators and rating scale to help the client conduct an effective interview. The interview questions, response indicators and rating scales can be 100% customized to client needs. The report is useful to bring in deeper, more standardized assessment to the hiring process. PAPI Competency Development Report: A highly customized report that offers clients an insight into the respondents strengths and gaps against their competency framework. The report can be further customized to reflect development ideas, list training programs and intervention available for the respondent at client site, provide linkages to 360 feedback or provide coaching tips. PAPI Job Profiler Report: This report aims to provide a view of person-job fit. The report maps the respondents profile to role requirements using a scientific methodology. It provides percentage job fit, job strengths and gaps in respondent's repertoire. It can be further customized to include interview questions or developmental guidelines. PAPI Career Motivator Report: This report provides the respondent with career options that would best utilize his/her strengths. The report is customized to reflect roles/careers available at client site and is often used to facilitate transition management or internal job movements. A Sample Report using random responses for PAPI-I can be seen as below:

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Category Followership Work Direction

Leadership

Activity Social Nature

Work Style

Temperament

Code F W N G A L P I T V X S B O R D C Z E K

Detail need to support authority need for rules and supervision need to finish a task role of hard intense worker need to achieve leadership role need to control others ease in decision making pace vigorous type need to be noticed social extension need to belong to groups need for closness and affaction theoretical type interest in working with details organised type need for change emotional restraint need to be forceful

Score 5 6 6 5 4 5 4 3 5 3 6 4 1 3 4 5 6 4 5 6

Reverse Order Reverse Order

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CONTRIBUTION TO THE MANAGEMENT PROFESSION

PAPI maps out an individuals personality, providing valuable information about their preferences and typical behavior at work. This allows HR professionals to assess whether an individual has the qualities needed to be successful in a role, a team, or a business culture and enables areas for development to be identified. By using PAPI, managers can obtain a much deeper understanding of the potential strengths and development needs of their staff. This information can then be used to help with promotion decisions, individual development and is ideal for using in conjunction with other development interventions, such as coaching and training courses. PAPI presents itself as a great tool for management profession by helping in certain critical situations like: Gain Vital Insight for Selection Decisions Pinpoint Development Priorities Define the Ideal Profile Structure the interviews around insightful reports and guides

LEARNING

There were various new terminologies and concepts learnt while evaluating this instrument. Got to know and understand the concept of Ipsative and Normative type of instruments. Further the tool appeared to be different than other personality traits as it is perhaps the only tool which differentiates between innate (NEED scales of PAPI) and learnt behaviors (ROLE scales of PAPI). While conducting research, it was also learnt that there exists a relationship among the PAPI scales and the Big Five Personality Traits. With one perspective it can also be said that all research works on analyzing personality traits using different tests do find some or another similarity and connection with each other.

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