History of The FIRO Business® Instrument

The FIRO Business® Test is an extension of the original FIRO-B® Test. It was created from the increasing needs of organizations who were seeking to develop and get the most out of their teams and leaders. The original FIRO-B test was not developed specifically for business applications, so the FIRO Business test was created to use terms that are suited for business application and established an international norm, meaning that it can be used by organizations across the globe. The FIRO Business Instrument takes advantage of what has been gathered from 50 years of research and use of the FIRO-B Assessment, and applies it purely to a business setting.

What is The FIRO Business® Instrument

The FIRO Business test is an altered and updated instrument based off of the foundation created by the FIRO B test. It has been shortened in order to reduce redundancy, and the psychological jargon and other less-appropriate terms were removed as to make the instrument be more appropriate for a business setting.

The Firo Business assessment rebrands the three main areas of the instrument versus those of the Firo B test:

• Inclusion (from the FIRO B assessment) was replaced by Involvement
• Control  (from the FIRO B assessment) was replaced by Influence
• Affection (from the FIRO B assessment) was replaced by Connection

Each area is modified by two further factors:

• Expressed Behavior
• Wanted Behavior

Expressed behavior is related to how we feel about exhibiting a behavior toward other people. Wanted behavior is related to the level we want other people to exhibit a behavior toward us.

By applying Expressed Behavior and Wanted Behavior to Involvement, Influence, and Connection, you end up with the six needs of an individual.  The six needs are as follows:

• Expressed Involvement: This score shows how often you act in ways that encourage your participation in situations. It reflects how much you generally include other people in your life.
• Wanted Involvement: Scores how much you want to be part in others’ activities. It reflects how much attention and recognition you want from others.
• Expressed Influence: Scores how often you act in ways that help you direct or impact a situation. It reflects how much authority and responsibility you desire.
• Wanted Influence: Shows how much leadership and authority you want others to assume over you. It reflects how much direction, supervision, and structure you want from others.
• Expressed Connection: Scores how often you act in ways that encourage closeness in your relationships. It reflects how warm and friendly you are with others.
• Wanted Connection: Shows how much warmth and openness you want from others in a work environment. Reflects how supportive and familiar you want others to be to you.

When examining scores on the FIRO Business Assessment, noting the significant scoring difference between the FIRO-B test and the FIRO Business test is important. The FIRO-B Assessment provides a raw score with your results. The FIRO Business test converts your raw score into a percentile ranging from 0-100%. For example, if you score 70% on a scale, it means you scored higher than 70% of participants of the international norm sample. At the same time, you score lower than 30% of the respondents.

As a reference, you can find information on the FIRO-B test by clicking HERE.

Similar to the FIRO-B test, the FIRO Business test score ranges fall into three categories:

• 0-35% LOW
• 36-64% MEDIUM
• 65-100% HIGH

In addition to scores and descriptors for the mentioned sections, the Firo Business Profile provides you with total scores, along with a descriptive test based off of your results for:

• Involvement
• Influence
• Connection
• Expressed
• Wanted
• Overall

Your FIRO Business results give you a snapshot of yourself based on your interpersonal needs. There are no good or bad FIRO Business results; what is important is how you respond to your needs and manage the appropriateness of your behavior, which will make your interpersonal behavior satisfying and effective for you.

It is important to note that, like with any other self-reporting tool, your results on the FIRO Business test can be affected by a number of factors:

• Stress, unusual personal circumstances, or mood at the time of taking the assessment
• Attempting to answer as you would like to be, rather than how you feel you truly are
• Trying to impress someone else with the results
• Fear of what the results may say about you
• Not understanding the questions

You can receive your FIRO Business Report by checking out its product page HERE.

[FIRO Business test-based information was taken from the following publication: (Judith A. Waterman, 2010, CPP Inc.)]

The Validity of The FIRO Business® Instrument

The Firo Business test is built off of the foundation developed by the Firo B assessment, which has over 60 years of development and testing to support its validity. Since the FIRO Business test is an extension of the FIRO-B assessment, extensive work has been done to show its convergent validity in numerous studies.  Adjustments have also been made to the instrument to make it valid across an international business market.

Why The FIRO Business® Instrument?

The FIRO Business test is a highly specialized instrument that focuses on the needs of the business sector. Its scope has been narrowed in order to focus on business-related topics and be viable across the broad business spectrum. It can be extremely useful when focusing on team building, staff communication efficiency, executive coaching, and professional development.

How is The FIRO Business® Instrument Used?

The FIRO Business assessment is primarily used in business settings for increasing team building, productivity in meetings, interpersonal skill development, communication, management and leadership development, and can also be used to find the job that fits you best. Your results can be used to show current patterns of interpersonal behavior and expectations, raise questions about how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with these patterns, and suggest alternative ways of behaving to increase your effectiveness if you are not satisfied with your current patterns.

Why Choose Career Assessment Site for The FIRO Business® Instrument

• Receive online access to The FIRO Business test at the lowest prices on the web.
• Complimentary email support for any assessment based questions.
• At Career Assessment Site we provide a free interpretation session with a licensed professional by telephone for domestic customers and SKYPE Audio for international customers with every purchase.   Careerassessmentsite.com provides psychological restricted assessments which require this interpretation session with each purchase as it is a very important part of your experience. For details please check our FAQ page.  Additional counseling sessions are available at a fee of $50.00 per 1/2 hour and $95.00 per hour.

White Glove Customer Service

Here at Career Assessment Site, whether you are a career counselor, a corporate CEO, a college student seeking a career change, or a personality assessment, we provide our unique “white glove” customer service to every customer. We provide complimentary email and telephone support while taking great care in managing your account, whether you have taken a single test, multiple tests, or multiple clients. We track your orders, keeping an organized database of your and/or your clients’ assessments and consultation progress, all of which are electronically filed in a secure, confidential server, which is backed up to a safe electronic environment in case of computer or server failure. Your records will be kept and can be accessed for several years after your purchase as a courtesy from Career Assessment Site with a free reprint service of your assessment(s) at any time if you misplace or lose your or your client’s original report(s) as another free-of-charge courtesy.

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References:

FIRO Business Technical Guide (Herk, Nicole A., et al. 2009, CPP Inc.)