Footnote:
In: International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 40-55, March 2007
Description:
Despite keen interest, questions remain about defining and measuring the behavioral flexibility of managers. This paper reports a conceptual and empirical comparison of three alternative methods of assessing this construct. Results suggest that the way managerial flexibility is typically assessed in practice - as a trait-like characteristic with coworker ratings that describe a general tendency to vary behavior across situations - is deficient. However, more complex models that represent flexibility as a higher-order construct reflecting mastery of specific and opposing behaviors in both the social/interpersonal domain and the functional/organizational domain show promise. They demonstrate construct validity evidence, predict as much as 42% of the variance in overall effectiveness, and provide more specific diagnostic information to guide behavior change