Change is one of the things that is most constant for every living being in the universe. This is seen in the personality assessments taking place, as it reflects the conditions of change and the influence of human behavior on the concluding state of affairs within an organization. There are certain determinants of behavior that should dictate the choice of data, and these are important in the evaluation of certain procedures vital to the study and assessment of behavior. These are being reflected in the correlational studies applied on a variety of inventories, such as the Beyond-Personality Inventory of John Coblentz. Unlike other inventories, this inventory centers on things that are beyond the personality, which influences the person in his/her experiences, to engage more in proactive behavior.
The Beyond-Personality Inventory
Definition. Based on the definition of John Coblentz, the Beyond-Personality Inventory “addresses the challenge of experience beyond personality and can help to strengthen proactive behavior” (Coblentz 1). This inventory centers on four objectives that are the following: (1) to affirm qualities that have emerged most strongly in oneself; (2) to affirm qualities that have begun to emerge in oneself; (3) to affirm qualities that have the potential to emerge in oneself in the future; and (4) to assimilate and integrate qualities as values and to apply them to enhance one’s life (Coblentz 1). With these objectives, the inventory was designed to go beyond the theory of personality and the Big Five personality traits, to better assimilate the differences in people’s personalities, as well as the differences in behaviors.
Mission/goals. The goal or mission of the Beyond-Personality Inventory is “to find the place in oneself where illusion (i.e., the dream) and reflection (i.e., the experience) meet in a new reality” (Coblentz 1). Between illusion and reflection, the reflection or the experience is more scientific, since it is more susceptible to acceptance, rejection, or modification on the basis of evidence. A reflection therefore, is more reliable than an illusion, as the former uses “reproducible steps that lead to the same descriptions when followed by different observers” (Mischel 2). For this, participants of the inventory should apply reflection instead of illusion, and should be free from inhibitions when trying to answer the questions. Still, the use of illusion may be necessary for the creative imaginings of the future, which has not yet taken place in the real world, as both illusion and reflection should be balanced. There are no right or wrong answers, so that participants should try to determine the truth, for them to learn “how to become whole, how to become a skilled practitioner of balance” (Coblentz 1).
Intended audience. People who are most likely to answer and complete the questionnaire would be those who are eager to know the qualities that have emerged within their personalities, and those who wanted to enhance their lives by integrating their qualities. It also includes those who would want to know more about their state or views regarding life satisfaction, and those interested in the subjective well-being of a person. These are being witnessed in the study that Zhang and Howell conducted, entitled “Do Time Perspectives Predict Unique Variance in Life Satisfaction beyond Personality Traits?” They come from the Department of Psychology at San Francisco State University. Here, they determined the relationships between the Big Five personality traits, time perspectives, and life satisfaction. Traits that are beyond the Big Five personality traits appeared to be the consequence of individual differences of personalities in cognitive time frames. On the other hand, this questionnaire will not be used by those who apply the Big Five personality traits, which centers on the five basic personalities that are: (1) extraversion; (2) agreeableness; (3) conscientiousness; (4) neuroticism; and (5) openness (Zhang and Howell 1262).
Overall purpose. John Coblentz created the questionnaire to determine the experiences that are beyond the personality traits, for them to know the qualities that emerged within them, as a result of their experiences. There are different events or situations that are being listed in the survey, and the participant would rate how this event is being experienced at this point in time. They will decide whether it has already emerged within their lives, or if it has not yet emerged but will most likely take place at one point in future time. The answers shall reflect the identity or well-being of the participant, and will present the most probable archetype of the participant, in terms of growth and development. The three archetypes are: (1) master; (2) saint; and (3) prophet (Coblentz 7). Each of these identify the most ideal image of the participant, in connection to growth and human behavior with regards to personality.
Design of the Inventory
Ease/difficulty of the questions. Answering the inventory is quite easy, as long as the participant knows his//her own self, and if they are open enough or honest enough to rate the events based on how they feel about themselves. The questions are mostly connected to self-identity, life satisfaction, and the well-being of the person involved. It will reflect the situations wherein the participant is more likely in control of himself/herself, and which situations he/she is more likely confident or in tune with himself/herself. It is one of the easiest questionnaires, since there are no right or wrong answers. To gain the best advantage, participants would only have to answer truthfully, with regards to facts and their well-being.
Lessons to be learned. In rating the one-word events and answering the questionnaire, the participant will learn how to improve oneself, and what qualities should be improved, for growth and development to take place. They will learn how to enhance their lives, how to be more productive, and how to become more whole and more balanced. They will learn how to be a skilled practitioner by learning what archetypes they belong to (master, saint, or prophet?). The scores will determine how they should revise their action plans by knowing what things or events had not yet emerged within their lives. They will know what events were they more dependent, independent, or interdependent. More so, it indicates that “The column with the highest score is your primary path and indicates the archetype into whose mirror you tend to look most often” (Coblentz 7). Still, one’s potential being is enhanced by balancing the three archetypal paths, by letting go of those that have the highest scores, and improving those that have the lowest scores. This will present the main priorities that have to be executed, for self-identity to improve, as well as achieve growth and development.
Outcome of the inventory. By answering the Beyond-Personality Inventory, there are things that the organization is most likely to achieve. First, it will enhance the well-being and knowledge of self-identity of the employees. Second, it will encourage self-growth and development, especially in areas that had had to be filled up and improved. Third, it will enhance the lives of the employees, for them to be more productive and self-confident. Fourth, it will allow employees to be more whole, with a more balanced personality traits. Fifth and final, it will teach the employees on what areas or skills they would have to improve, and which ones can they be less intensive, as compared with the other personalities.
Role of the inventory. The information derived from the Beyond-Personality Inventory can be very useful to the organization, since it allows the employees to be more aware of their skills, personalities, and behavior. This would give them the privilege of being able to learn how to help themselves, and how to improve their well-being by balancing their personality traits, especially those that are beyond the Big Five personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness). If the skills of the employees would be improved and brought to a balance, then it will definitely improve the state of the organization. As Alex Fishleder insisted, “Employees are the heart of an organization, they produce the supply and create the demand” (1). They should be mentally and psychologically well, for the organization to be well and thriving, in spite of challenges.
Redesigning the Inventory
Plans of redesign. The Beyond-Personality Inventory can be applied within the organization, especially in areas where employees had had to go over self-improvement, and in areas where skills and decision making fluctuates or goes out of hand. It would be good to apply the inventory on areas where production and management is strongest, to boost employee morale and innovate the supply and demand. Traits that are beyond the personality appear to be most useful in business and service organizations, since the employees in these organizations would need to experience happiness, balance, and self-fulfillment. These employees would have had to be whole, with an enhanced well-being and a strong self-identity. It would therefore be useful if this inventory would be redesigned, to be used in identifying and assessing the traits of the employees that had emerged, or those that will emerge in the future.
Possible improvements. There are some ways in which the Beyond-Personality Inventory can be improved and used within the organization. To be specific, the inventory may be improved by restating the terms that are to be rated and scored, in such a way that the terms would reveal events that are actually experienced by the employees within their environment. The words “healing” and “inspiring”, for example, are more apt in health care use than in business services; while the words “power” and “connectedness” are more apt in business services than in health care. There are traits that are applied in some circumstances and which are not applied in the others, mainly because of the differences in the environment.
Works Cited:
Coblent, John. “Beyond-Personality Inventory: Archetypes of Change-Agent Style.” The Pfeiffer Library. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. 1998. Southern Nazarene University. 1 July 2015 <http://home.snu.edu/~jsmith/library/body/v02.pdf>.
Fishleder, Alex. “5 Ways to Boost Employee Morale.” Maximizer CRM. Maximizer CRM, 27 May 2014. Web. 1 July 2015.
Mischel, Walter. Personality and Assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1996. Print.
Zhang, Jia Wei, and Ryan Howell. “Do Time Perspectives Predict Unique Variance in Life Satisfaction beyond Personality Traits?” Personality and Individual Differences 50.1 (2011): 1261-1266.
