TMA

Generalities

TMA, which stands for Talent Motivation Assessment, is published by a company of the same name, founded in 1999 in Utrecht, Netherlands. It says to be anchored in a philosophy that supports talent development, positive psychology, and an approach of needs that’s based on Henry Murray’s need theory.

The company TMA is present in 21 countries through a network of resellers. The TMA system is available in 11 languages.

Assessment

The TMA assessment includes 170 questions that take around half an hour to answer. It measures 22 dimensions, which are the following. Those dimensions are also referred to as “talents” which come from each side of each 22 dimensions, thus 44 talents:

Dimension	Description	GRI a priori
Self-esteem	Self-reflecting vs Confident. The extent to which the person has self-esteem and mental stability.	Not Applicable. Comes in different forms depending on individuals.
Respect	Equality vs Respectful. The extent to which a person respects and looks up to others.	Low 1, high 2, vs high 1, low 2
Need for Support	Self-sufficient vs Appreciates Support. The extent to which the person needs support from the people around them.	High 1 vs low 1
Stress management & pressure	Involved vs Stable. The extent to which the person can deal with pressure and stressful situations.	Low 3 vs high 3
Need for Status	Humble vs Presentable. The extent to which the person needs to be held in high esteem and demands recognition for their work and achievements. || Low 1, high 2, high 4 vs high 1, low 2, low 4
Variety	Focus vs Diverse. The extent to which the person needs variety.	Low 3 vs high 3
Ambition & challenges	Satisfied vs Focus on achievements. The extent to which the person is competitive, is willing to strive to be successful, and looks for challenges.	Low 1 vs high 1
Conformity	Groundbreaking vs Dutiful. The extent to which the person adapts and conforms to different surroundings.	Low 4 vs high 4
Extraversion	Gives way to others vs Stands out. The extent to which the person likes to stand out and leans toward extroverted behavior.	Low 1 vs hIgh 1
Helpfulness	Level-headed vs service-oriented.The extent to which the person is willing to help and support others.	Low 1, high 2, high 4, vs high1, low 2, low 4
Social empathy	Factual vs Empathetic. The extent to which the person has a, not necessarily functional, intrinsic interest in people's problems and in analyzing other people's behavior.	Low 1 , high 2, vs high 1, low 2
Sociability & Contact	Individualistic vs Uniting. The extent to which the person needs friendship and social contact.	High 1, low 4 vs low 1 high 4
Dominance	Cooperative vs Directing. The extent to which the person acts powerfully and dominantly.	Low 1 vs high 1
Energy & Action	Patient vs Enterprising. The extent to which the person has the energy to perform tasks and to achieve goals.	High 3 vs low 3
Confrontation	Tolerant vs Assertive. The extent to which the person dares to react in a confrontational manner and set verbal boundaries.	Low 1 high 3 vs high 1 low 3
Persistence	Changes priorities vs Perseverance. The extent to which the person persists and perseveres in context of adversity.	High 1, vs low 1
Decision Making	Deliberating vs Problem Solving. The extent to which the person takes clear positions, makes decisions, and stands by them.	Low 2, vs high 2
Independent Thinking and Acting	Team-oriented vs Autonomous. The extent to which the person needs autonomy and independence in forming their judgments and actions	Low 1, high 2 vs high 1, low 2
Responsibility and Leadership	Conciliant vs Leading	Low 1, high 4, vs high 1, low 4
Purposiveness	Process-oriented vs goal-oriented. The extent to which the person is focused on (defined) goals and results.	High 1, high 4 vs low 1, low 4
Order and Structure	Creative vs Precise. The extent to which the person needs a structured approach, order, and neatness.	Low 4 vs high 4
Pragmatism	Abstract-thinking vs Practical. The extent to which the person values a practical and useful approach and adopts a practical attitude.	High 3, high 2, vs low 3, low 2

The dimensions are further regrouped into six categories, which are the following:

• Emotional balance: Self-esteem, respect, need for support, stress management & pressure.
• Motivation: humble, variety, ambition, and challenges
• Social talents: conformity, extraversion, helpfulness, social empathy, sociability, and contact
• Influential talents: dominance, energy and action, confrontation, persistence
• Leadership talents: decision making, independent thinking and acting, responsibility and leadership
• Organizational talents: purposiveness, order and structure, pragmatism

TMA also provides tools and resources for assessing competencies, cognitive abilities, and obtaining 360 feedback. Each of the 50+ competencies they advocate comes with behavioral examples, information on development potential, interview questions, development activities, and coaching advice. They are proposed to companies and distributors for free for integration into HRM systems.

Cognitive assessment includes the following aspects: spatial perception, logical perception, numerical perception, calculating ability, and technical perception. They are introduced as the foundation for talent-focused development.

Usage

The applications promoted on TMA’s website are for coaching, career planning, and team building. The publisher and distributors acknowledge its use for recruitment and onboarding. TMA deploys with trained professionals who have been through certification training.

Comments

As the comparisons with GRI factors above indicate, the 22 TMA dimensions, or 44 talents, may be easily understood and make sense in a professional setting, but they significantly overlap and lack parsimony. This then questions what each dimension actually includes and how the dimensions are utilized.

Each dimension measures only one expression of what its label stands for. Regardless of the dimension’s label and brief definitions, their understanding and use will greatly vary between individuals.

The use of TMA labels in language, especially when making decisions or in communication, is compromised by a lack of consistency between what the dimension truly contains, and how the dimension is used in practical situations.

The measures are said by the publisher to be ipsative, involving that the intensity of one dimension compares with others and also providing an assessment of the dimensions that characterize an individual the most or the least. However, without a combination with normative assessment, how a dimension’s intensity compares with other dimensions; or to what is required in a position remains unclear. The TMA approach doesn‘t evidence how people adapt their behavior and the energy it takes to do so.

Although, as indicated by TMA distributors, some mechanisms may be in place to track consistency between answers, without asking participants about their understanding of what’s required of them, or what truly describes them, we cannot know about how the two compare, nor how they may vastly differ from each other.

The adaptive aspect is crucial for talent development. The measure should not only predict someone’s behavior but also estimate the effort needed to adapt those behaviors. Without a more precise way to gauge the intensity and parsimony of the dimensions to measure, this aspect cannot be effectively addressed.

The concepts of talent and competencies overlap in large part with personality and need dimensions, which raises questions about how these three differ from one another.

Henry Murray’s need theory, on which TMA’s philosophy is partially built, was primarily developed for clinical cases and with roots in psychoanalysis. Murray was also known for developing a clinical assessment called TAT (which has nothing to do with TMA). The TMA assessment overextends the need notion as Murray theorized it, but helps point to what drives or incites someone, somehow, to behave in a certain way, without having to mention traits.

References

See more about Henry Murray here in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Murray