Work Personality Index (WPI®)
The Work Personality Index assessment is a questionnaire that identifies personality traits that directly relate to work performance. By helping identify individuals’ personality traits, the WPI can help select candidates, guide career development, and improve team functioning. This primary focus of the WPI helps professionals make the most efficient and effective match between people and work roles.
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USING THE WPI IN PERSONNEL SELECTION
The Work Personality Index assessment is useful in personnel selection because it was designed to help match candidates’ characteristics with job requirements. The WPI, when used in conjunction with other techniques and tools, can increase the effectiveness, accuracy and objectivity of an organization’s selection procedure. By conducting a job analysis to identify the personality traits of successful employees, and using the WPI to identify the presence or absence of these traits in candidates, professionals can increase the efficiency and accuracy of their personnel selection process. For example, when hiring salespeople, the candidates who tend to be successful score high on the Ambition, Persistence, and Outgoing scales. By using the WPI to screen for applicants who have these characteristics, you can enhance the quality of those hired and improve turnover reduction.
USING THE WPI IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND TEAMBUILDING
The WPI allows organizations to assist leaders identify their strengths and common challenges in areas important to leadership development including how they work with others, how they set goals, approach their work, solve problems, deal with stress, and manage change. Using the WPI in leadership development will help an individual increase their effectiveness and identify pivotal issues – including leveraging their strengths and overcoming key weaknesses that, when addressed, will significantly enhance their performance and effectiveness.Â
The WPI can also be effective in team building applications. The key aspect of effective team building is to help individuals understand themselves and the other members of their team. This process allows the team to make the most of each person’s strengths and gives each team member an understanding of why and how others adopt different approaches to their work. By helping team Work Personality Index Manual Chapter 1 Introduction 11 members appreciate the differences amongst themselves, they can make constructive use of their diverse skills. For example, with teams working in a structured environment on projects that follow a strict schedule, it is important for someone on the team to adopt a leadership role. In settings where a team needs to brainstorm ideas and develop alternative solutions, it is important that team members be innovative and democratic.
USING THE WPI IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Career development revolves around helping people gain self-awareness of their skills, preferences and values and then identifying occupations that provide a good fit. The WPI can help individuals gain an understanding of their work preferences and link them to possibly satisfying occupations. This information is extremely useful for people who desire to identify potential careers and make choices regarding further education and skill development. Results from the WPI are also helpful for examining job satisfaction in a potential career area. For example, individuals who score low on Energy and high on Attention to Detail usually enjoy work that follows a steady pace, uses methodical procedures, and is well organized. When these same people are placed in a fast-paced, loosely structured environment, they tend to experience dissatisfaction, and potentially poorer performance outcomes.Â
WHAT IS THE WPIÂ INSTRUMENT? The first global scale - Energy & DriveÂ
Energy and Drive involves working hard and wanting to get ahead, persisting in the face of obstacles, and striving for career success. This construct has been an important component of personality theory for many years. In the Five-Factor Model, Energy and Drive is captured by the Conscientiousness factor. However, the WPI separates achievement striving from the dependable and disciplined behaviours that are grouped in the Conscientiousness factor of the Five- Factor Model. This construct is commonly called Achievement Striving, Assertiveness, and Ambition.
The Energy and Drive composite contains the following primary scales:
- Ambition
- Energy
- Leadership
- Multi-Tasking
- Persuasion, and
- Social Confidence.
WHAT IS THE WPI INSTRUMENT? The second global scale - Working with OthersÂ
Working with Others is represented by sensitivity to the needs of others, a willingness to work cooperatively rather than independently, and a preference for working with others and establishing personal relationships. This composite closely resembles the Extraversion factor of the Five-Factor Model.
The elements of Working with Others are found in the following primary scales:
- Teamwork
- Concern for Others
- Outgoing, and
- Democratic.
WHAT IS THE WPI INSTRUMENT? The third global scale - Work StyleÂ
Work Style involves being planful, careful, dependable and disciplined in one’s role. Research has shown that Work Style is consistently related to work performance in a wide variety of occupations.
The five primary scales that reflect the Work Style composite are:
- Persistence
- Attention to Detail
- Rule-Following
- Dependability, and
- Planning.
WHAT IS THE WPI INSTRUMENT? The fourth global scale - Problem Solving StyleÂ
Problem Solving Style involves characteristics such as insight, imagination, originality, being open to new ideas, and maintaining a thoughtful approach to work. This construct is commonly found in many personality taxonomies and has been labeled Openness to Experience, Openness, Culture, Intellect, and Intellectance in previous measures.
The Problem Solving Style composite found in the WPI is composed of two primary scales;
- Innovation, and
- Analytical Thinking
WHAT IS THE WPI INSTRUMENT? The fifth global scale - Dealing with pressure and stressÂ
The Dealing with Pressure and Stress composite found in the WPI closely resembles the Neuroticism composite found in the Five-Factor Model. Representing the tendency to remain calm, composed and free from worry in stressful situations, other common labels for this construct include Emotional Stability, Negative Emotionality, and Worrying.
The two primary scales that reflect the key aspects of Dealing with Pressure and Stress are:
- Self-Control, and
- Stress Tolerance.
WHAT IS THE WPI INSTRUMENT? The sixth global scale - Identifying and Managing Change
How you approach and manage change has tremendous influence on the tasks you will enjoy. For the types of work that involve lots of change, people who describe themselves as flexible and future oriented seem better suited and report more satisfaction. In work environments with greater stability, people who describe themselves as reliable and focused on the present are generally more content. Your preferences also have a strong influence on how you manage your career. People who dislike change often find career transitions difficult. People who enjoy change may find career transitions exciting.Â
The two primary scales that reflect the key aspects of Identifying and Managing Change are:
- Initiative
- Flexibility.
WPI type of Reports
- Report for Development - focuses on personal characteristics and behaviours that influence how individuals perform in work settings.
- Report for Leadership -Â Explores pivotal skills, competencies, and areas of difficulty to help focus leadership development plans and coaching. Â
- Report for Career - Provides insights into an individual’s personality traits, kinds of work that would be enjoyable and how to manage career change.
- Report for select - Describes a candidate’s approach to tasks, how they work with others, solve problems, and deal with pressure.
- Report for job-matching - Our experts will work with you to create custom job profiles to reflect the demands and key performance metrics that are required for success in your organization.
- Report for Leadership potential - Identify high potentials and develop future leaders with this new report. Start using data to predict who will drive your organization’s performance. Â
