We’re sorry, we no longer offer the Manager Style Appraisal test.

Purpose: The Manager Style Appraisal (MSA) assesses an individual’s style of management from his or her co-workers’ point of view. Used for management training and development and as a basis for discussion. The survey may be administered in conjunction with the Management Styles Inventory (MSI) to provide a comparison between co-worker ratings and manager’s self-ratings on the MSI.

Scoring: Self-scored

Format: The Manager Style Appraisal is a  60-item paper/pencil inventory, employing the Williams-Hall 10-point equal-interval scale, for assessing co-workers’ perceptions of their manager’s practices. Analysis is based on the Hall Style Parallax — a model of management behavior that is an extension of Likert’s Production-Morale Theory and the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid relating performance concerns with people concerns, as a function of the manager’s personal priorities. The inventory provides a total score for each of the five management styles described by the model, as well as scores for each style on four components: philosophy, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The survey may be administered in conjunction with the Management Styles Inventory (MSI) to provide a comparison between co-worker ratings and manager’s self-ratings on the MSI.

Note: The MSA uses the same items found in the Management Appraisal Survey.

Brief Description: This survey is designed to evaluate managers’ management practices as viewed by their co-workers. A wide range of management situations is covered within which the manager’s practices may be evaluated in terms of their effects on co-worker potential. Some of these situations will be familiar to you and others will be less familiar. In the latter event, you are asked simply to indicate what you believe your manager would be inclined to do if faced with these situations. The results of this survey will be used to provide your manager with meaningful information about his or her impact on others’ efforts to realize their potential in their work. The MSA shifts the focus of the Style Parallax model to assessment of managers by their co-workers. The MSA generates valuable feedback about the way the manager’s practices are received. Co-worker ratings may be compared by the manager with self-ratings from the MSI on overall management style and four management components.

Video Support: In-depth explanation of Hall’s Style Parallax Model of People/Performance Issues. Creates for the manager an understanding of the benefits and pit-falls of each management style. With real-life vignettes this video dramatizes the impact of each of the five styles: Developer, Manipulator, Taskmaster, Comforter, and Regulator allowing the viewer to proceed toward more effective managing. Includes instructions for scoring/interpeting the MSI & MSA. (Sold Separately)

Sample Item: Participants respond to each question by placing each response provided on the point on the scale which would represent how characteristic that response is for their manager.

1. Most types of internal activity stem from organizational goals. Once these goals have been identified, plans and policies must be drafted which facilitate goal attainment. How does your manager handle the planning function in your organization? My manager:
a.
After consulting with subordinates, interprets the requirements of organizational policy and develops the final plan.

b. Plans, develops and interprets policy with the major objective in mind keeping the morale of subordinates high.

c. Jointly plans, develops, and interprets policies with subordinates in order to arrive at a common perception of the goals and ways of attaining them.
d. Plans and/or interprets the objectives of the organization for subordinates so that they fully understand what management requires of them.

e. Relies primarily on superiors for plans and interpretation of organizational policies and pass them on to subordinates as clearly as possible.

Companion Piece: Management Styles Inventory (MSI)

Languages: English

Norms: In this instrument norms provide a reference point in the form of standardized T-scores so that direct comparisons of data may be made. The T-scores have been generated from a normative sample of 25,993 individuals who have completed the MSA.

Reliability and Validity: The MSA has construct and concurrent validities similar to those of the MSI. The median coefficient of stability is greater than .70 and the instrument discriminates between high, average, and low achieving managers, indicating good concurrent validity. The MSA is deemed suitable for both concept and diagnostic training, team discussion, and research purposes.