User:Contribute Ideas/TRACOM
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The TRACOM Group is a workplace performance company in the Human Resource industry specializing in Interpersonal Skills Training and Performance Consulting. It is a division of Reed Business Information, whose parent company is Reed Elsevier.
In 1964 Dr. David W Merrill and Roger Reid set out to create a model that could predict the success in selling and management careers. (Merrill and Reid, Personal Styles & Effective Performance, 0-8019-6899-2) What the partners ended up discovering was that people's behaviors and actions are consistent. TRACOM's original SOCIAL STYLE model was worked on by Dr. James W. Taylor, who at the time was a staff psychologist at Martin Corporation (later Martin Marietta) in Denver. Dr. Merrill obtained the rights to use the SOCIAL STYLE model.
Originally, SOCIAL STYLE was determined by having respondents say "yes" or "no" to 150 adjectives measuring three scales: Assertiveness, Responsiveness, and Versatility.
Assertiveness: The effort a person makes to influence the thinking and actions of others. Or - the measure of whether a person appears to ask or tell in interactions with others.
Responsiveness: The extent to which a person reacts readily to influence or stimulation with a display of feelings.
Versatility: A type of social endorsement based, in part, on the extent to which others see the individual as competent, adaptable, and behaving appropriately. Versatility measures the extent to which a person appears to be working to make relationships mutually productive.
The scales discovered during this early stage of research revealed that by combining the two dimensions, Assertiveness and Responsiveness, four patters of behavior, or SOCIAL STYLEs, can be identified.
Driving: (Tell Assertive + Control Responsive) These individuals are seen as strong willed and more emotionally controlled.
Expressive: (Tell Assertive + Emote Responsive) These individuals are described as outgoing and more dramatic.
Amiable: (Ask Assertive + Emote Responsive) These individuals are seen as easy going and supportive.
Analytical: (Ask Assertive + Control Responsive) These individuals are described as serious and more exacting.
In 2004 TRACOM created a new survey that used behavior-based statements instead of an adjective checklist - because it proved to be more valid and reliable. It continues to use the Assertiveness, Responsiveness and Versatility scales but can now provide an even greater depth of information about an individual's behavior - especially his/her Versatility - and is much more accurate, especially when translated into a variety of languages.
TRACOM has two divisions:
Training Division specializes in SOCIAL STYLE Training, Team Training, and Conflict & Communication Training.
Performance Consulting Division with expertise in Leadership Development and Employee Engagement.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Personal Styles & Effective Performance by David W. Merril and Roger H. Reid. Copyright 1991 and 1999
- Casey Mulqueen, Ph.D.(2004) Enhanced Technical Report.
