PDP
Generalities
PDP stands for Professional DynaMetric Programs. The original PDP system was started in 1978 by Bruce M. Hubby, Samuel R. Houston, and Dr. Dudley Solomon. The company PDP Global, which publishes PDP, is based in Colorado Springs.
Assessment
The PDP is composed of two questions, one being about the participant themselves and the second one about their environment. For each question, a series of 30 adjectives displays. The participant evaluates each adjective on a scale from 1 to 5 as indicated in the questions. Adjectives are such as stable, dedicated, charming, deliberate, systematic, etc. The adjectives for the second question are different than those for the first one.
- The first question requires the participant to “mark the response which best describes how you feel you really are on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being no or least, and 5 being yes or most.”
- The second question requires the participant to “mark the response that best describes how you feel others expect you to be or act on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being no or least and 5 being yes or most.”
The results are calculated, which are shown as a profile composed of three graphs in a similar way to those of the DISC systems.
The four core factors are the same as those of other systems devised at the same period or before: dominance, extroversion, pace/patience, and conformity. Other factors calculated by PDP include: logic, thrust, allegiance, and ste-nacity, the last three being regrouped under the category kinetic energy.
| Dimension | GRI a priori |
|---|---|
| Dominance (D) | High 1, Low 3 |
| Extraversion (E) | High 2, High 1 |
| Pace/Patience (P) | High 3 |
| Conformity (C) | High 4 |
| Satisfaction | Engagement Level |
| Energy Style | Response Level |
| Logic | Not applicable |
| Thrust | Very low 3 |
| Allegiance | Low 1, high 4 |
| Ste-nacity | High 1, low 2, high 3 |
Usage
The publisher proposes the assessment for a large number of applications, including coaching, recruitment, management, and leadership development.
PDP’s job profile technique, called JobScan, is targeted at measuring job behaviors. It includes 30 propositions. The evaluator is asked to consider the degree of importance carried by the proposition and select on a scale of 1 to 5 the appropriate value. Propositions are like: “requires regularity in performance of specific tasks,” or “Requires an intense desire to win.” PDP outputs a report with an analysis of the job profile and a comparison with individuals’ profiles. The PDP online platform called PDPWorks helps to send surveys and provide reports for individuals, jobs, and teams. The reports for the team come with an approach called TeamScan, with nine types of reports.
Comments
PDP is said to be based on the works of Thurstone, Cattell, Guilford, Fiske, Horst, and Daniels (PI). It shares a lot of similarities with the 1970s version of the PI system, with which it shares a lot of characteristics. The PDP uses a factor approach and profiles, which makes it a member of the same category of systems as GRI. There are, however, important differences in how the measures are taken, scored, presented, and subsequently learned and used.
Aside from the three kinetic energy dimensions, which are composite dimensions based on the four factors D, E, P, and C, the measures meet the parsimony standard. The PDP was devised before advanced work on factorial analyses and the emergence of the Big Five model, and it’s thus dubious that the four factors D, E, P, and C are as orthogonal as they could be. They are, nevertheless, distant enough from each other to paint a more precise picture of people’s social behaviors than most systems are capable of doing.
PDP developed e-learning early on into what they called the PDP eCampus. The learning is primarily targeted to send surveys, print reports, and interpret the reports on people, and eventually on jobs and teams. Other courses are targeted at communication and strength, but without facilitation, and seem more adequate for Human Resources than for leaders and managers. The deployment of the PDP seems limited to printing reports on people, jobs, and teams, but without taking advantage of learning the profiles.