MAS Details

Management Appraisal Survey (MAS)

Purpose:

The Management Appraisal Survey (MAS) assesses an individual's style of management from his or her co-workers' point of view. Used for management training and development and as a basis for discussion.

Model:

Based on Robert Blake and Jane Mouton's Managerial Grid.

Scoring:

Self-scored

Format:

A 60-item paper/pencil inventory, employing the Williams-Hall 10-point equal-interval scale, for assessing co-workers' perceptions of their manager's practices. Analysis is based on the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid -- a model of management behavior that is an extension of Likert's Production-Morale Theory relating production concerns with people concerns. The inventory provides a total score for each of the five management styles described by the model, as well as scores for each style on four components: philosophy, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The survey may be administered in conjunction with the Styles of Management Inventory (SMI) to provide a comparison between co-worker ratings and manager self-ratings on the SMI.

Brief Description:

This survey is designed to evaluate managers' management practices as viewed by their co-workers. A wide range of management situations is covered within which the manager's practices may be evaluated. Some of these situations will be familiar to you and others will be less familiar. In the latter event, you are asked simply to indicate what you believe your manager would be inclined to do if faced with these situations. The results of this survey will be used to provide your manager with meaningful information about his or her impact on others.

The MAS shifts the focus of the grid model to assessment of managers by their co-workers. The MAS generates valuable feedback about the way the manager's practices are received. Co-worker ratings may be compared by the manager with self-ratings from the SMI on overall management style and four management components.

Sample Item:

Participants respond to each question by placing each of the given responses on a point on the scale which would represent how characteristic that response is of their manager.

1.	Most types of internal activity stem from organizational goals. Once these goals have been identified, plans and policies must be drafted which facilitate goal attainment. How does your manager handle the planning function in your organization? My manager:
		a.	After consulting with subordinates, interprets the requirements of organizational policy and develops the final plan.
		b.	Plans, develops and interprets policy with the major objective in mind of keeping the morale of subordinates high.
		c.	Jointly plans, develops, and interprets policies with subordinates in order to arrive at a common perception of the goals and ways of attaining them.
		d.	Plans and/or interprets the objectives of the organization for subordinates so that they fully understand what management requires of them.
		e.	Relies primarily on superiors for plans and interpretations of organizational policies and passes them on to subordinates as clearly as possible.

Companion Piece:

Styles of Management Inventory (SMI)

Video Support:

None

Languages:

English, Spanish, Swedish, French, German, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Dutch.

Authors:

Jay Hall, Ph.D., Jerry B. Harvey Ph.D., and Martha S. Williams, Ph.D.

Publication Date:

Revision Date:

Norms:

In this instrument norms provide a reference point in the form of standardized T-scores so that direct comparisons can be made with SMI data. The T-scores have been generated from a normative sample of 25,993 individuals who have completed the MAS.

Reliability
and
Validity:

The MAS has construct and concurrent validities similar to those of the SMI. Reliability is good; the median coefficient of stability is greater than .70 and the instrument discriminates between high, average, and low achieving managers, indicating good concurrent validity. The MAS is deemed suitable for both concept and diagnostic training, team discussion, and research purposes.