TQM Management Development in Public Agencies Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Adjective Check List
vice (IRS), a federal agency that has implemented Total Quality Management (TQM). This article will assess the advantages of using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and The Adjective Check List (ACL) in public sector leadership development efforts. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers and Myers, 1980) is used in a variety of settings by trainers and career counselors to help individuals identify their interests and to use that information to se-
Managerial problem-solving styles
What does your ideal organization look like? How do you go about solving problems? Is there really only one way to solve problems? Can your problem-solving style interact with different situational factors to increase or decrease the probabili ty of effective decisions? If so, can you learn to modify your problem-solving style to fit certain basic situational requirements? This article will explore different managerial problem-solving styles. Either consciously or subconsciously, managers are able to exercise somewhat different styles to cope with different situational requirements and personal needs, although they often have a natural tendency to use one problem-solving style more than the others. Personality may have a strong influence on the use of particular problem-solving styles, but differences in individual styles should not be synonymous with differences in personality. We do not at tempt to discuss the numerous perspectives or conflicting positions existing within the field of personality theory. For our purposes, personality is defined as how a person affects others, how he understands and views himself, and his pattern of inner and outer measurable traits. Our major objectives are the following: to present and explain a model for differentiating problem-solving styles of managers; to develop an understanding of some contingencies under which certain problem-solving styles are likely to be more effective for managerial and organizational performance; to develop the ability to diagnose and recognize one's own and other's problem-solving styles; and to increase empathy and understanding of individual differences.
A five-year follow-up study of the self-concept of creative adolescents.
Summary The present study extends the findings of earlier research by showing that the Adjective Check List (ACL) self-descriptions of creative youth with literary-artistic talent are remarkably similar over a five-year period. Some fading in the distinctiveness of these self-reports is apparent over time. In regard to the follow-up results with the math-science boys, no significant differences between the means of the creative and control groups were found on any of the ACL scales. Thus, the high concurrent validities reported in the initial study with the criterion groups in the math-science field did not hold up over a five-year interval. Any use of the ACL for predicting the later self-descriptions of creative youth, then, will have to allow for sex and specialty-field differences in performance.