Laura Borgogni, Laura Petitta, Silvia Dello Russo, Andrea Mastrorilli INTERPRETATIVE REPORT Name: Gender: Age: Education: Profession: Role: Years worked: People managed: female 30 postgraduate degree (year 20) entrepreneur/director Management 2 5
Introduction The ALQ is a self-report questionnaire regarding the behaviour of those who coordinate other people. It is therefore exclusively reserved for people who manage Human Resources. It reveals a person s management style, in reference to three macro-areas that make up the leader s work. Two behavioural macro-categories regard the management of activities (Activity management) and the management of relationships (Staff management). The ALQ investigates a number of aspects for each of these two areas, distinguishing between two types of behaviour: those more oriented towards maintaining the current situation, that is to say maintenance behaviour, and those more linked to new initiatives, which therefore denote a proactive approach and an effective search for ongoing improvement, that is to say development behaviour. An orientation towards development is not antithetical to an orientation towards maintenance. On the contrary, it is complementary and presupposes its existence to a certain degree. In the same way, a high frequency of activity management behaviours does not presuppose a low frequency of relationship management behaviours, or vice versa. Instead, high (or low) scores for both types of behaviour may coexist. The third ALQ macro-category, cross-sectional to the maintenance and development behaviours targeted at the management of activities and staff, is Self-management. This macro-category emphasises a number of characteristics that distinguish effective leaders, to be specific, Ethics, Self-regulation, Self-enhancement (the constant striving towards those behaviours that the leader implements in the search for ongoing self -improvement, such as seeking out feedback and paying attention to what the staff think of him /her) and Passion. The agentic leader is therefore someone with a high capacity for self-management in the various circumstances, making the most of the opportunities that present themselves, capitalising on favourable situations, as well as on adverse situations and failures. He/she has a high capacity for absorbing feedback and making it his/her own, without becoming concerned or defensive, thereby following a path of ongoing development; he/she has a high capacity for putting him/herself back into play and to the test, for critical thought and controlling his/her emotions, without however avoiding involvement and never failing to infuse the things and activities in which he/she is most interested with passion; he/she has a capacity to recognise others and values ethics as principles that go hand in hand with self-development and the development of others. He/she expresses his/her human agency in the development of the activities and staff members for which he/she is responsible. Those with lower scores in staff and activity development, but with strong self -management, can develop these two aspects and move towards the agentic leadership style. On the other hand, cases in which a person also has quite low scores regarding the maintenance (as well as the development) of activities and staff members, alongside a high level of self-management, appear to be rare. This configuration of scores could be linked to a tendency to provide socially desirable answers regarding oneself, or to highlight a certain immaturity in the role displayed by the person who, partly due to lack of experience, could need to strengthen his/her leadership capacities. There is no ideal style, since each individual organisational context may require a style that is not equally valid and effective in other situations. However, it is important that the leadership style expressed by a person is consistent with the organisational structure and culture, with the mission of the organisation and its specific area of business and, lastly, with the current phase in the life of the organisation. Page 2 of 12
The report is divided into the following sections: 1. General profile: this section reports all the candidate s questionnaire results, in the form of raw and standardised scores (transformed by means of comparison with the specific reference group) and expressed in the form of charts. 2. Social desirability: provides a relative indication of the person s style of presentation, any attempts to falsify the test and the definitive validity of the report. 3. Analytical profile: provides a detailed description of the scores obtained by the person in each of the eight sub-dimensions measured by the ALQ. 4. Leadership style and human agency: includes the graphic expression and detailed description of the leadership style that characterises the person and his /her overall level of human agency. Important: not all reports include this section, which is only present when the scores of the person assessed fall within one of the combinations connected to the four leadership styles: Transformational, Coach, Innovator and Manager. The descriptions and the charts in the various sectors of the report refer to the test scores obtained by the person, transformed into T points by means of comparison with the specific reference group. Use of the report This report provides useful information for human resource assessment programmes, especially potential assessment, and for leadership development programmes, since the ALQ permits thorough and detailed recognition of leadership behaviours. However, it should be remembered that this is just one part of the assessment, which, in order to be complete, should be integrated with a broader analysis of interests, motivations, attitudes and other characteristics of the person, to be performed using other tools and by means of an interview. It is also important to bear in mind that: the test results are based on the description that the person has given of his /her behaviour, which does not necessarily reflect how others perceive him/her. The accuracy of the results therefore depends on the honesty with which the person answered the items and his/her level of self-awareness; there are no right or wrong answers regarding an individual s behaviour: each person s style has its own advantages and disadvantages, but certain aspects suit certain activities, roles or tasks better than others; the results of psychometric tests such as the ALQ make it possible to make reliable predictions regarding how the person will behave in a sufficiently wide range of situations. Page 3 of 12
1. General profile Activity management Raw score T points Maintenance Development 52 45 56 68 Staff management Raw score T points Maintenance Development 34 54 95 54 Self-management Raw score T points Self-regulation Passion Ethics Self-enhancement 43 45 31 53 30 50 32 60 Graphic profile Activity management Maintenance Development 45 68 Staff management Maintenance Development 54 54 Self-regulation 45 Self-management Passion Ethics 53 50 Self-enhancement 60 25 VERY LOW 35 45 55 65 75 LOW AVERAGE HIGH VERY HIGH Page 4 of 12
2. Social desirability 45 25 LOW 45 AVERAGE 55 HIGH 75 Raw score: 36 This person has very probably provided a profile that has not been significantly modified for better or for worse: his/her self-presentation is therefore consistent with the principal aspects of his/her leadership behaviour. Page 5 of 12
3. Analytical profile Area: Activity management Maintenance 45 Development 68 25 35 45 55 65 75 VERY LOW LOW AVERAGE HIGH VERY HIGH As regards the Activity management macro-area of the Maintenance aspect, this person tends to look after the monitoring and execution of current activities, whilst not always succeeding in adequately setting priorities and intermediate work deadlines. When required, he/she sets the objectives by trying to focus on the broadest company strategies. He/she takes care to ensure results, but does not always respond efficiently to emergency or critical situations. He/she takes care to maintain quality standards and to make the best use of the available resources, although this is not a priority for him/her. Now going on to examine the Development aspect of the Activity management macro -area, the test results indicate that this person displays professional conduct which makes a proactive contribution to organisational development, constantly improving the ways in which the work is carried out. He/she makes use of his/her strategic vision to come up with successful solutions or find innovative ideas that go beyond the established approaches. He/she always undertakes different and challenging activities, supporting creative contributions within his /her team and facilitating the circulation of information within the organisation. He/she plans activities carefully, coming up with forms of recognition that facilitate the achievement of results. Page 6 of 12
Area: Staff management Maintenance 54 Development 54 25 35 45 55 65 75 VERY LOW LOW AVERAGE HIGH VERY HIGH By examining this second macro-area of the Maintenance aspect, it emerges that, when necessary, this person undertakes to provide staff members with the information needed to understand his/her decisions. He/she makes an effort to understand their point of view and, when required, takes time to listen to their opinions and to exchange ideas. His/her management style is therefore oriented towards participation and involvement, although this is not his/her primary goal. As regards the aspect of Staff Development, this person demonstrates a tendency to trust in the capacities of the people he/she works with, although he/she is not always able to fully grasp their talents and identify opportunities for professional development. In fact, he/she manages to entrust challenging professional objectives to the best prepared staff members, but has greater difficulty managing people who are not motivated by professional development. He/she finds it easier to delegate routine activities, assigning the most innovative activities only to those who show the most aptitude for solving problems and difficulties. However, he/she also attempts to make the most of everyone s contribution, acknowledging the various results and showing satisfaction with the job done. Page 7 of 12
Area: Self-management Self-regulation 45 Passion 53 Ethics 50 Self-enhancement 60 25 35 45 55 65 75 VERY LOW LOW AVERAGE HIGH VERY HIGH If we consider the Self-regulation aspect, it seems that this person is generally able to handle emotions at work, succeeding in maintaining an adequate performance. However, when faced with particularly demanding and difficult moments and excessive stress, he/she may become distracted and interrupt his/her work, without taking care to complete the work within the set deadlines. He/she is generally able to contain him/herself, but if he/she has to deal with very animated conflicts or heavy criticism, he/she may lose control and act impulsively. He/she may also be discouraged by his/her failures, especially if they are significant, displaying a certain difficulty in reacting to the failures themselves. It emerges that this person is generally passionate about what he/she does, although he/she is not always able to convey this passion to others. If necessary, he/she has no trouble involving and encouraging staff members to believe in a shared objective, but he /she only occasionally wins them over and manages to carry them along, putting him/herself forward as an example to be copied. If we now consider the Ethics aspect, we can say that this person tends to act loyally with staff, in keeping with ethical principles. He/she tends to demonstrate equity in his/her decisions, although this is not a priority. He/she tries to act correctly towards others and to provide an example. Lastly, this person presents a high level of Self-enhancement, indicating that he/she seeks constant self-improvement at work and uses new stimuli as opportunities for development. He/she acknowledges his/her mistakes and uses feedback on his/her work to learn through experience, being interested in how others perceive him/her. He/she grasps innovative stimuli favourably in his/her work and uses them to facilitate change, even when he/she achieves good results. Page 8 of 12
4. Leadership style and human agency The following illustration shows the leadership style that characterises the person, from amongst the four styles measured by the ALQ: Transformational, Coach, Innovator, Manager. This illustration is only present when there are specific combinations of scores in the various aspects of Activity management and Staff management which make it possible to attribute one of the four styles to the person. Each style is represented by a disc, containing a number of small circles. Each circle represents a possible combination of scores (high, average, low) in Activity and Staff management (oriented towards Maintenance or Development), which can however be attributed to one of the four prevalent styles. The positioning of the circles within the discs and in relation to one another, indicates the representativeness of the combinations within each style. The closer a circle is to the centre of the disc, the more it constitutes a prototypical combination of the style to which it belongs; the farther the circle from the centre and the closer it is to other discs, the more it indicates a style that borders the two types. The shaded circle represents the person s characteristic leadership style, described below. The external rim around the discs provides a graphic representation of the overall level of human agency, if present. The latter is linked to the scores achieved on the Self-regulation, Passion and Self-enhancement scales. If they are all low, the person is not considered to be very agentic; if they are all average, we are faced with a person who displays an average level of human agency; if they are all high, the person is believed to be very agentic. When the scores on the Self-regulation, Passion and Self-enhancement scales combine in a different way from that indicated above, it is not possible to classify the individual as agentic. Therefore, no indication regarding the level of human agency will be provided. Page 9 of 12
As shown by the chart, the ALQ results indicate that the person is a Innovator leader. This section is divided into the following paragraphs: 4.1. Introduction to the leadership style: describes the leadership style that characterises the person. 4.2. Individual-context integration: presents the organisational contexts in which this style appears to be most efficient and can be used. 4.3. Dark side: describes the dark side of this leadership style, that is to say the risks that a person can face by implementing it in unsuitable contexts in terms of organisational culture and the personal characteristics of the staff. 4.4. Interview indications: to conclude, provides some suggestions on how to investigate that which emerged from the questionnaire during individual interviews. 4.5. Human agency: describes the overall level of human agency that characterises the person. Page 10 of 12
Introduction to the Innovator style of leadership This leadership style is characterised by strong orientation towards the development of the organisation and the various work activities. The Innovator generally identifies professional objectives in line with the strategies and quality standards expected by the company and ensures that they are achieved, establishing accurate timescales and monitoring the execution of the various activities. However, as well as always considering the organisational processes as a whole, he/she also often makes strategic and perceptive decisions which benefit the entire organisation. In fact, he/she actively undertakes to go beyond routine and ordinary working methods, always looking for creative ideas and solutions and encouraging others to try out innovative methods. Thanks to his/her particular strategic vision, he/she anticipates certain activities that have not yet been requested in an attempt to identify new possibilities for company success. Although he/she manages his/her staff members in a participatory fashion, taking care to ensure communication and circulating useful information to help them understand the reasons behind his/her decisions, he/she is above all committed to coming up with more and more avant-garde working methods and activities. In the same way, despite seeking to assign differentiated objectives according to the potential of his/her team members so as to provide them with targeted motivation, he/she is more focused on innovative activities than their development. Individual-context integration The innovator is more effective with staff members who perform highly specialised and avant-garde activities. For example, he/she could be particularly suited to managing roles that involve a high technical component, such as engineers or members of a research team. From a broader organisational point of view, this type of leader fits well into contexts strongly oriented towards innovation, also as regards their particular field of business, which also have a fairly strong hierarchy, meaning that the innovative drive is generally integrated at the top. He/she fits particularly well into contexts characterised by: a) high tolerance of uncertainty, meaning that new situations and activities are actively sought out; b) considerable formal distances, meaning that leaders generally have more authority and greater decision-making power, linked to their status, which cause them to involve staff members less; c) long-term mind-sets, as regards the organisational strategies to be followed; d) a high level of individualism, because the leader pays relatively little attention to people s needs, to understanding their deepest needs and to supporting them emotionally. We suggest using this type of leader in hi-tech contexts, working on new projects with staff members who are highly results-oriented. Dark Side Page 11 of 12
This type of leader risks being, or being perceived by staff members, as remote from others. This can lead him/her to act defensively and negate his/her emotions at work, contributing to increasing the stress of the people around him/her, who instead need to be supported when faced with the challenges and constant drive for excellence that he/she imposes. Interview indications In order to gain a better understanding of this person s leadership style, we recommend investigating the subjective nuances of each individual during the interview phase. Some examples of questions include: Can you tell me about a situation that arose during the last six months, when you contributed to the development of a strategic vision within your group? In what way did you behave and how did you act exactly? ; Can you tell me about a situation that arose during the last six months, when you facilitated the trial or learning of new working methods? In what way did you behave and how did you act exactly?. Answer matrix # R # R # R # R # R # R # R # R # R # R 1 2 2 4 3 5 4 7 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 7 9 7 10 7 11 2 12 7 13 4 14 6 15 5 16 6 17 4 18 4 19 5 20 6 21 6 22 6 23 6 24 7 25 6 26 4 27 6 28 1 29 5 30 4 31 5 32 7 33 7 34 4 35 5 36 7 37 6 38 6 39 5 40 6 41 6 42 6 43 6 44 6 45 6 46 6 47 6 48 5 49 2 50 6 51 6 52 5 53 7 54 7 55 7 56 7 57 7 58 7 59 7 60 2 61 5 62 6 63 6 64 6 65 6 66 2 67 6 68 6 69 4 70 6 71 2 72 5 73 7 74 6 75 2 Page 12 of 12