Personality measure comes of age

The Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) - the original workplace personality assessment is 21 years old this year. Over the past three decades the OPQ has become one of the most widely used occupational psychometric tools throughout the UK and worldwide.



Launched by SHL, the world-leader in objective assessment in the workplace, the OPQ was among the first dedicated measures of personality in the workplace. In the intervening years the OPQ has consistently raised the bar on assessment of occupational personality with each new version.

The most significant change in recent years has been the move online. SHL has seen the use of online assessment grow at 35 per cent year on year. This growth, combined with the OPQís translation into 28 languages, has transformed the OPQ into a truly global tool. Global organisations can assess many hundreds of applicants wherever they are in the world using the Internet. Over 4 million OPQís have been administered online in the past four years.

Now available in online, PC, and paper and pencil format, with both normative and ipsative options, the OPQ has evolved to meet the changing demands of the HR community and is continually being developed by SHL. The OPQ is supported by over 130 separate global validation studies based on the responses of tens of thousands of individuals. There are over 50 defined norm-groups allowing comparison of individuals against specific role, level, industry and cultural norms.

All data on OPQ is updated on the new OPQ32 Technical Manual, the first truly international manual for the OPQ, which will be released at the end of 2005. This new manual is based on OPQ32 data from tens of thousands of people. In addition to new chapters on reliability, construct validity, criterion-related validity and group comparisons, it includes traits comparisons between countries and new data specifically relating to online administration.

The SHL OPQ has the support of many of the FTSE 1000 and is used as an integral part of many companiesí recruitment programmes. Current clients include Kimberly Clark, Shell and 3M. Rick Woodward, learning & development director for Kimberly Clark commented: We simply have to get the best people to remain competitive and the use of psychometric assessment and ability tests is crucial in this. In particular, the OPQ enables us to learn things about candidates that we wouldnít be able to identify from a CV or in an interview situation. It helps us make decisions that enable us to remain ahead.

Since its introduction, the OPQ has grown into a family of highly reliable products that add value at numerous points in the employee lifecycle. Versions exist to assess directors and senior managers, graduates, administration staff, technical workers, call centre staff, salespeople and semi-skilled staff. A wide range of reports provide information on leadership potential, learning styles, team compatibility, emotional intelligence, motivation and many other elements related to success in an organisation.

Professor Dave Bartram, research director at SHL, commented on the OPQ: Personality measures are not static, and continued investment is required to ensure they continue to meet the requirements of the market. Over the past 21 years SHL has continued to invest in the development of its product, and as a result now has one of the most robust, psychometrically rich, and usable measures available. With an R&D spend of over 3 million annually, we intend to remain at the forefront of the industry with the OPQ as our flagship product.