THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PROJECT WRITEUP

FIRO- B AND TEAM LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Term III
March 2022

Prepared by

Babiya Moirangthem (PGP/25/ 383)

Isha Goyal (PGP/25/387)
Kaustav Ritwik (PGP/25/392)
Logesh Raja (PGP/25/396)
Prasoon Agrawal (PGP/25/406)
Rahul Malhotra (PGP/25/410)

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, KOZHIKODE

Kerala, 673 570

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 FIRO -B and Team Leadership
The Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Behaviour™ (FIRO-B®) assessment
helps answer questions relating to teamwork and leadership potential. The FIRO-B®
assessment can be used to cultivate highly effective teams by helping team members discover
how their needs for inclusion, control, and affection form their team’s success. The FIRO-B
tool is a 54 item self-report assessment, generating scores on 6 scales in three areas:
Inclusion, Control and Affection (Involvement, Influence and Connection in the newer FIRO
Business). It is unusual in the world of personality questionnaires because it directly assesses
not only the degree to which a person likes to express the three behaviours, but also the
degree to which he or she wants to receive those behaviours from others. This assessment of
'expressed' and 'wanted' behaviour allows direct exploration of core areas of compatibility
between people: does what one person tends to give satisfy what the other wants to receive?
This lens is tremendously powerful when one wants to improve key working relationships,
and is also invaluable in understanding team dynamics. The FIRO assessments are ideal for a
wide range of applications, including the following:
Team building—to accelerate the team formation process and allow members to overcome
barriers and progress to higher levels of performance
Leadership and executive development—to identify leadership styles and help leaders
unlock greater team performance by meeting the interpersonal needs of managers, peers, and
direct reports
Relationship building—to ensure that employees get the most out of working relationships
by helping them understand how to meet the interpersonal needs of customers and
stakeholders
Professional development—to increase employees’ self-awareness for better understanding
of how their positive behavioural changes boost morale, productivity, and engagement
Conflict management—to improve skills for assessing different types of conflict and
applying emotionally intelligent strategies
The FIRO assessments are trusted tools because of they:
 Facilitate behavioural change by providing specific insights into people’s
interpersonal needs
 Identify existing communication and interpersonal dynamics—helping people
overcome issues and sometimes prevent them from forming
 Detail strengths and development recommendations
Scores and Interpretations
FIRO- B assessment consist of 54 questions, that can be self-administered and taken within
10 minutes. The scores for total wanted and expressed in each parameter: control, affection
and inclusion can be in the range of 0 to 9.
 0,1,2 - Low - You are pretty selective and display these behaviours on rare occasions
to a few people

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  3,4,5,6 – Medium - You are pretty situational in these behaviours, displaying them
with some people
 7,8,9 – High -You express these behaviours with many people, much of the time
What happens when its too much or too little, of the behaviours?
Low Expressed High Expressed
Inclusion People might perceive you as cold or Slow progress or get stuck in work
abrupt
Control Your agenda goes by the wayside Other’s feel left out and refrain from
sharing ideas
Affection People feel their contribution in People are uncomfortable, at the
unappreciated extreme – sexual harassment
lawsuits

Low Wanted High Wanted

Inclusion For you, most invitations are obligatory, You perceive rejections as
you see group time as wasteful devastating and lack of
acknowledgement as negative
Control You see plans and structures as pressure You perceive any structuring as
and competitive behaviour as annoying inadequate, standard procedures are
comforting
Affection Reassurances are superficial and you For you, infrequent feedback and
perceive personal questions as intrusive appreciation is frustrating and lack
and tiring in nature of expressed concern is insensitive

The FIRO assessments are trusted tools because of they:

 Facilitate behavioural change by providing specific insights into people’s
interpersonal needs
 Identify existing communication and interpersonal dynamics—helping people
overcome issues and sometimes prevent them from forming
 Detail strengths and development recommendations
Utility in the workplace
In the workplace, FIRO- B is ideally suited for –
Team building and team development
Identifying likely sources of compatibility or tension; identifying leadership style; aiding
effective decision making; improving communication, openness, and trust; and resolving
conflicts.
Selection and placement
The FIRO-B tool can help to structure interviews and assess likely team roles or interpersonal
behaviour, but only in combination with other assessment techniques.
Relationship Counselling

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Identifying and resolving possible sources of incompatibility and dissatisfaction.
Individual development
Increasing self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness as part of the coaching process,
career development or personal growth.
Relation with MBTI scores
FIRO B when complemented with MBTI scores are used to give the overall picture of the
team leadership. While MBTI scores are used to determine personality type, FIRO B is used
to understand the interpersonal needs of the individual. Communication, problem solving,
decision making, and interpersonal relations are all areas where both instruments tap into
significant components of personality and behaviour to evaluate effectiveness of leadership.
After multiple regressive analysis studies, it is found out that both of these scores are
correlated to each other. For example, according to the studies, there is a strong link between
Extraversion and both Expressed and Wanted Inclusion. Expressed Affection, Wanted
Affection, and (to a lesser extent) Expressed Control all have substantial associations with
extraversion.
Presentation Structure
First, we will have a presentation on the topic ‘FIRO- B and team leadership’, wherein we
will look at the scores and their interpretations, utility of the assessment and influence on
organizational culture. Then, we will present a short skit to better understand the significance
and impact of FIRO- B scores in a day-to-day work setting. Finally, we will show a short clip
so that the class can relate FIRO- B assessment with popular TV series characters. We would
also be posing questions to the class at some intervals so as to understand the concept clarity
and maximize engagement.

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