Variables and Indicators

Introduction

This document presents the variables and indicators used by the GRI model. Variables and indicators are set after the hypotheses are formulated. The model helps link the use of the independent variable, the use of assessments, with the dependent variable: the performance. The different variables and their indicators are specified, as well as the relationships between the variables.

Model’s Schema

The model presented below was first built from field research, with an initial focus on the use of personality assessment by managers, and was successfully tested in organizations. It has undergone further corrections and refinements over the years, while enlarging the scope of analyses to other assessments and other uses and users, but keeping the focus on performance and its three types: strategic, social, and economic.

Variables

The model includes 17 variables regrouped into three groups: independent, antecedent, and dependent variables.

• Independent variables. There are ten in two categories:
  • Practical use: Organizational Development, Management and Leadership, Coaching nd Mentoring, Selection and Recruitment, Therapy and Clinical, Other Uses.
  • Abstract Use: Self and Social Awareness, Curiosity and Agency, Learning and Development, and Communication and Language.
• Antecedent variables. There are four. Assessment Technique, User, Environment and Culture, Publisher and Consultant (if any).
• Dependent variables. There are three. Strategic, Social, and Economic.

The relationship between the variables that seemed the most relevant was translated into hypotheses..

The practical and abstract independent variables influence each other without being able to say which of the variables of each of the two groups precedes the other. There is no latency between the two. They are nested (Mbengue & Vandangeon-Derumez, 1999, p. 340-342). For example, the following relationships were noted:

• The use in Management and Leadership, Selection and Recruitment, Communication and Language, Self and Social Awareness, and Organizational Development has the effect of continuing to improve the skills acquired through the Learning and Development process. The acquired skills reinforce other uses and communication with other users in the company.
• The use of the assessment technique in Selection and Organization improves the Self and social Awareness, and Leadership. Leadership will, in turn, foster Communication, and vice versa. Better Communication helps in leadership development.
• Facilitating Communication reinforces all other uses, especially in Learning. In return, the use in Learning reinforces the use of the assessment technique’s language in Communication.

With the antecedent variables, the characteristics of the assessment technique are connected with the business model of the publisher and consultant (if any). The use of reports provided or not after answering an assessment, as well as the way the assessment results are learned, communicated to participants, and deployed in the organization, favors the use by some users, such as consultants, psychologists, and other expert practitioners.

Between the variables Environment and Culture, and User, the connection is obvious. People will naturally fit into jobs that answer their aspirations, require their experience, and skills. This applies to adaptive profiles as well: some people prefer structured environments (High 4), while others enjoy risky environments such as the creation of a start-up in emerging markets (Low 4).

Connections have been observed between User and Environment and Culture variables on the one hand, and potential uses in Organizational Development, Management and Leadership, and Selection and Recruitment on the other hand. But one can imagine a connection between people and the assessment. Indeed, some people are tightly bound to the technique they use. Similarly, a connection exists between Environment and Culture, and Assessment Technique; a technique's use may be part of an organization’s culture.

When the assessment use is included in the general policies of the company, some uses require consensus at the highest level of the organization. Their implementation and their effects can be long-term, can require a strategic vision, and involve the company’s leadership and board.

Indicators

The indicators are constructed in such a way that they can acquire value through field observations and interviews. The indicators and their possible values ​​are presented in a separate document. They are objective or subjective in nature.

• The objective indicators are those that are measured by an objective measurement process that is quantified with or without the help of statistics. They relate only to Performance.

• The subjective indicators were obtained during the first exploratory phase in the large field. They are specified by codes in a separate document, together with a proposition that defines each, and with comments on how they indicate the intensity of the variables.

The indicator values are obtained through interviews with users of the assessment technique or with individuals with whom they are in contact. These values are allocated based on the intensity of use, the significance of the effects, like decisions made as a result of use, the changes enacted in the company's processes or policies, its culture, and its beliefs, and the impact on individuals and their environment, among others.

Additionally, indicator values are influenced by the person's conviction, the tone of their voice, and their attitudes (enthusiasm, neutrality, weariness, etc.). All these aspects are documented in the test interview report to assign the most accurate values possible to the indicators.

Conversely, it is not necessary to assign values on a graduated scale that is overly detailed. Scales with three or four values appear sufficient.

Indicators of dependent and independent variables

The objective indicators of the dependent performance variables are obtained with GRI’s adaptive profiles of the organizations or teams concerned on the one hand and by recording economic performance indicators on the other.

The subjective performance indicators and the indicators of the independent variables of use are evaluated on an ordinal scale with four values: very low, low, strong, and very strong. The "average" value is not retained, in order to force the assessment into low or high and avoid an overly neutral assessment. A symbol is assigned for each level of value.

Value Level	Symbol
Very strong (intense, very good, excellent, etc.)	VS
Strong (frequent, good, etc.)	S
Low (opportunistic, infrequent, etc.)	L
Very low (rare, non-existent, etc.)	VL

Indicators of antecedent variables

The indicators of the antecedent variables are measured from field interviews, observations, and available literature, typically on the Internet, social media, and other collected information on the users, assessment technique, the business model of the consultant and publisher, and the environment and its culture.

The ordinal scale on three values: low, intermediate, and high, allows, unlike the indicators for the dependent and independent variables, a "neutral" intermediate value.

Qualifications up or down at the antecedent level are less precise but sufficient. Symbols are assigned according to the levels. The indicators of the Assessment and the Publisher and Consultant Model variables are, in principle, stable. Some indicators of the User and Environment variables may change over the observation period:

Value Level	Symbol
Low	L
Intermediate	I
High	H

Indicators Recap Table

The names and values ​​taken by the 110 subjective indicators and the four objective indicators of the model are summarized in the following table. The indicators are specified in a different document HERE.

Variable Names	Variable Name	Nbr of Indicators	Scales	Code
Dependent Variables
Strategic Performance	iopstra		Measured. Discrete values ​​between 0 and 1.	P
Social Performance	iopsoc		Measured. Discrete values ​​between 0 and 1.	Q
	igpsoc		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.
Economic performance	iopcon		Measured. Discrete values.	R
	igpecon		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.
Independent Variables
Organizational Development	isuorga		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	O
Management and Leadership	isulead		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	M
Coaching and Mentoring	isucome		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	H
Selection and Recruitment	isusele		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	S
Therapy and Clinical	isuclin		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	T
Other Uses	isuothe		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	Z
Self and Social Awareness	isucosa		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	A
Curiosity and Agency	isuagen		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	E
Learning and Development	isuaprt		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	D
Communication and Language	isucomm		Surveyed. Ordinal. 4 values.	L
Antecedent Variables
User	isapers		Surveyed. Ordinal. 3 values.	U
Assessment Technique	isatest		3 groups. Surveyed. Ordinal. 3 values.	T
Publisher and Consultant Model	isabuis		Surveyed. Ordinal. 3 values.	B
Environment and Culture	isaenvi		Surveyed. Ordinal. 3 values.	C