Samantha Sargent

EDU 811
Leadership Orientations Assessment

I enjoyed taking the Leadership Orientations Self-Assessment. I found this assessment to

be more difficult than I expected because there were several questions where I was conflicted

between which of the two choices I had more characteristics of.

Overall, I agree with my self-assessment results. The raw scores showed out of the four

frames, the structural frame was the highest score. The score for structural was nineteen out of

twenty-four. Human resources was a close second scoring sixteen out of twenty-four. I agree with

these results because I believe I have characteristics of both a structural and human resource leader.

As a leader, I find it important to look at the data and facts to ensure the task is completed correctly,

but I also value the individuals who are helping to complete the task as well. The political frame

was the lowest score, scoring only an eleven. I assumed the political frame would be my lowest

score because I see a political leader as an individual who is comfortable with conflict and this is

not something I am comfortable with quite yet. Before taking this particular assessment, I had not

heard of symbolic leaders and therefore I did not have opinion of where I would fall in the raw

scores. But, after reading the description on symbolic leaders I would agree on the score I received.

These leadership orientations are reflected in my approaches to problem solving, teamwork

and professional practice. When we are assigned a team presentation in class, I will take the

structural leader approach. I emphasize the importance of structure, rationality, and facts. I find

comfort in knowing our team has a plan in place for the project with all of the items on the rubric

met. In my professional practice, I use both the structural and human resource frameworks. I still

believe it is important to analyze the data to ensure the decisions made are rational, however, the
student veteran population is quite unique and I think it is important to coach, motivate and create

relationships with as many of the students as I can.

Your Scores

Your raw scores for each of the four frames, on a scale from 6 to 24, are:

Structural: 19
Human Resources: 16
Political: 11
Symbolic: 14

Your Percentile Scores

Your raw scores alone do not provide a full picture of your leadership orientations in relation to other
leaders'. Most leaders rate themselves considerably higher on the human resources and structural frames
than the political and symbolic frames. Paradoxically, Bolman and Deal have found that the political and
symbolic frames, which may puzzle or even repel many, are actually more critical for effective leadership. To
get a more accurate picture of your frames orientation, determine your percentile rankings using the table
below, which is based on a sample of more than 700 managers in business, education, and
government. Locate each of your four scores in the appropriate frame column and then look at the Percentile
column to see the percentile range for that frame score.

Percentile Structural HR Score Political Symbolic

Score Score Score
90-100 th 22-24 24 16-24 21-24
80-89 th 20, 21 22, 23 14, 15 18-20
70-79th 18, 19 21 13 17
60-69 th 17 20 12 16
50-59 th 15,16 19 11 14, 15
40-49 th 14 18 10 13
30-39 th 13 17 9 12
20-29 th 11,12 15, 16 8 11
10-19th 9, 10 13, 14 7 9, 10
1-9th 6-8 6-12 6 6-8

What Your Scores Mean

Look at your highest score, focusing particularly on your percentile scores -- this is likely your primary
leadership orientation, the way you instinctively think about and approach leadership. If you have some high
scores (above the 75th percentile for example) and some low scores (below the 25th percentile), your results
suggest that you have distinct preferences for some frames over others. On the other hand, if your scores
are similar (all your scores are fairly close to the 50th percentile), you have a more balanced orientation that
doesn't lean strongly toward any one of the four approaches.