About Hogan

Hogan has over 30 years of experience providing assessments solutions for employee selection and development. Hundreds of validation studies demonstrate the extent to which the assessments predict performance. Organizations using Hogan rely on the tools to improve quality of hire, facilitate individual development, and enhance team effectiveness. As the traits measured by the Hogan tools are particularly salient in leadership, the assessment suite is widely used for leadership development from middle management to the executive level.

The Hogan assessment tools are available in over 40 languages and used by organizations in more than 50 countries. We work with organizations of all sizes – from small firms to Fortune 500 global companies in diverse industries, such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, and consumer goods. One million personality assessments are processed every year and over 9 million people have completed our assessments.

Hogan has over 30 years of experience providing assessments solutions for employee selection and development. Hundreds of validation studies demonstrate the extent to which the assessments predict performance. Organizations using Hogan rely on the tools to improve quality of hire, facilitate individual development, and enhance team effectiveness. As the traits measured by the Hogan tools are particularly salient in leadership, the assessment suite is widely used for leadership development from middle management to the executive level.

The Hogan assessment tools are available in over 40 languages and used by organizations in more than 50 countries. We work with organizations of all sizes – from small firms to Fortune 500 global companies in diverse industries, such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, and consumer goods. One million personality assessments are processed every year and over 9 million people have completed our assessments.

At Hogan we use the iceberg analogy. Above the water-line and visible to all are:

• What You Do – the business and people results an individual achieves.
• How You Do It – the observed behaviors that lead to those results.

Below the water-line, what people cannot see but can infer is there, is

• Why You Do It – the personality characteristics that impact behavior.

The Hogan assessments help individuals by facilitating strategic self-awareness. Understanding the underlying work style traits, core values, and derailment risks that may impact behavior allows one to manage his/her behavior to increase workplace success. The Hogan assessments help organizations by identifying characteristics that may impact an individual’s job performance as well as his/her fit within a particular role, team, or organizational culture.

First, when people respond to questions on Hogan assessments, we do not believe they are reporting their actual behavior, but rather telling us how to think about them and how they want to be regarded — exactly as they would do in any conversation. Second, we aren’t concerned with how people respond to items; we care about what their responses predict. Consider the item, “I take a different way home from work every night.” People who answer “True” tend to be creative and adventurous, and that is the important point. We aren’t interested in whether they really take a different way home each night; we care about what it means to say that they do. We are not trying to measure behavior; we are trying to predict performance at work.

Whether or not “faking” actually occurs on personality instruments, and the extent to which it may impact the validity of results, is debated in personality research. Hogan consistently monitors response patterns to identify when respondents may attempt to provide disingenuous answers to assessment items and ensure that an individual’s responses do not match a “faking good” strategy.

Scores on the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) should be interpreted in light of the individual’s current job context and future goals. There is no such thing as an ideal score or personality profile. Each individual’s assessment scores are likely to reveal some strengths and some potential challenges or risk factors. To get the most out of the assessment results, each assessment participant should:

• Meet with a Hogan-certified coach to discuss the potential implications of his/her results.
• Reflect on the information gained through the assessment experience.
• Leverage that information to facilitate his/her ongoing development.

Hogan collects comprehensive normative data to ensure that our assessments accurately represent a cross-section of the current workforce. The HPI and HDS are normed on samples of over 100,000 working adults. The MVPI is normed on a sample of over 65,000 working adults.

Research shows that, within individuals, personality is relatively stable. Although an individual’s scores may fluctuate slightly over time, significant shifts in HPI and HDS scores are rare and may result from careless responding or increased self-awareness about Hogan scores. Because personality is stable, and because Hogan maintains norms to reflect current functioning, individuals need not re-take inventories.

Although retesting is generally unnecessary from the standpoint of accuracy of results, some organizations choose to implement a retest policy based on situational variables that are specific to their assessment application. Contact your Hogan representative for further information.

Collaborative research between Hogan and our partners examined differences in scale scores among different generations. To briefly summarize, researchers examined scale score differences between Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964), Generation X (born 1965 – 1977), and Generation Y (born 1978 – 1994). Although research revealed small generational differences in scale scores, these differences are not significant in practice. At an individual level, these results indicate that one cannot assume anything about a person’s personality or value set simply by knowing when they were born.

With the ever-increasing globalization of business, questions regarding cross-cultural similarities and differences are becoming more frequent. We find some small differences across languages. However, scores from multiple translations of a personality assessment can differ for reasons other than cultural sources (see Meyer & Foster, 2008 for a review). Consequently, Hogan avoids making strong assertions about cultural differences when comparing results across multiple translations of the assessments. Some recent research studying differences shows that minor differences may exist on certain personality and value scales. Hogan’s data suggests that the largest differences may be between Eastern and Western cultures. Overall, the research concludes that the effects of culture on personality are hard to define and while some differences may exist, it appears we are more alike than we are different.

Hogan works diligently with our global network of distributors and clients to gather local data in international contexts supporting the reliability and validity of Hogan assessments in predicting important work-related outcomes. For reliability, we provide evidence for the internal consistency of our assessments, as well as consistency of measurement over time, as sufficient data are available. To obtain local validation evidence for our assessments, we work with distributors and clients engaged in specific research initiatives to gather matched assessment and job performance data. These data allow Hogan to demonstrate the predictive validity of our assessments in local international contexts, and we do this on an ongoing basis.

Our products were developed with strict attention to proven psychological theory, are continuously tested to ensure validity, and have consistently received outstanding reviews from third party sources. 

The short answer is no. The long answer is in this blog entry.

At Hogan, every relationship starts with a conversation. We sell a variety of custom and off-the-shelf products fueled by the raw data we collect using our assessments, and we want to make sure that you find the best solution for your business needs. Email info@peterberryconsultancy.com to learn more about our products, and how to buy them.