There are many different types of personality and behavioral inventories available to the public and I am going to compare the three that I have personal experience with. These three are People Styles, Strength Finders, and Meyers Briggs. I have taken all three of the tests and it is amazing how varied the tests are.
Strength Finders was an online test that was challenging because it forced me to read and answer the questions very rapidly which makes sense because they want me to go with my gut reaction but it still made the test slightly stressful. When answering the questions they were not an either or option, I had to choose an answer from a spectrum making it more challenging because of the many options. Once done the survey gave me my top five personality strengths. The goal of this test is for someone to realize their strengths and be able to grow in them because someone can grow in their strengths very rapidly with less effort and time compared to growing in their weaknesses. This test is not focused on directly improving relations with others but is focused on growth and awareness as a person. If someone wanted to take this test they could buy the book online for $13.00 and then use the provided code to take the test.
Meyers-Briggs is a test that can be taken online or hand written. I took the test hand written and it felt like a long process, it was not difficult but long, there were around 80 questions that I had to answer on a scale, not either or. Once done the test gave me a personality profile four letters long that could have been one of two letters for each of the four letters. Meyers-Briggs is focused on growing self awareness and then being able to use that awareness to interact with others more effectively. The Meyers-Briggs test can be taken online for $49.95 but does not give you the counseling that you could get if the test was given by a registered administer of the test.
Strength Finders and People Styles are very different, they focus on completely different aspects of people. While Strength Finders only focuses on an awareness of the person, People Styles takes that awareness of self and expands on it helping develop stronger relations with other people. I think that both of these tests could be very helpful but in different ways. Meyers-Briggs is comparable to People Styles, I feel that Meyers-Briggs goes into more detail explaining a persons personality and why they function in certain ways bringing more self awareness. People Styles is much more broad but helps give a quick overview of a person and how they relate to other people, focusing on how to improve relationships.
All of these test would be extremely helpful in a work environment. They may only be situationally appropriate though. If the staff is having a hard time getting along or there is a few people that are butting heads then People Styles would be a great tool to use or maybe Meyers-Briggs. If one of the staff is having a hard time in a position or the company is looking to hire a new employee for a specific job then Strength Finders would be great because then you would know if the candidate would posses the qualities the job would require. If I was in charge of a small company I would use People Styles because of the affordability and how well it brings awareness to self and the others around. People Styles also has the most potential to bring harmony to a work place because it shows how to work with others so effectively. I feel that all of these are amazing tools and some may be better then others in situations but the more we know the better off we are as we go through the world.
Gallup Inc. (2014) Retrieved from http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx
Meyers and Briggs Foundation (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.myersbriggs.org/index.asp
