Compendium of Questionnaires and Inventories

Citation

Morris, A. (2000), "Compendium of Questionnaires and Inventories", The Electronic Library, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 448-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2000.18.6.448.3

This compendium, according to the author, is “intended to provide trainers, HR professionals, line managers and team leaders responsible for training and development with a pot‐pourri of inventories, checklists and surveys”. The author developed them while acting as a management development consultant to provoke self‐awareness and discussion during training sessions at a number of organisations.

The inventories, checklists and questionnaires are arranged in alphabetical order, according to topic heading, some 49 in total. The first five topics are, for example: action planning, assertiveness, change management – individuals, change management – organizations, and coaching skills. The topics are also indexed into ten categories: coaching/counselling, communication, customer care, leadership skills, organisational awareness, performance measurement, personal effectiveness, recruitment and selection, teamworking, and training and development. Most of the topics are indexed under several headings. For example, “conflict management” is indexed under coaching/counselling, communication, customer care, personal effectiveness, and teamworking.

Many of the inventories, checklists and questionnaires are followed by tips on the key learning points relating to the topic and a recommended reading list, although the latter is very minimal; in most cases only one or two books are mentioned. It is suggested that the materials provided are best used as part of a training and development programme. However, the author also suggests that they can be used as preparatory material before a training session, as part of a group or individual coaching session or used to gauge improvement after training has taken place.

Many of the inventories, checklists and questionnaires use a scoring system rather like the short questionnaires found in popular magazines to see if, for example, you are ideally suited to your partner or are happy in your job. In the case of this compendium, the scores will determine, for example, what type of management style you have, whether you are an effective facilitator, whether you delegate tasks well, whether you are good at time management, work well in teams and so on. Some of the material contained within the compendium could be very useful for trainers and managers. However, because the compendium is not focused on library and information centres, rather organisations in general, many of the inventories, checklists and questionnaires would need to be adapted to be really effective. It is a pity that an electronic version was not provided to enable this to be done more easily.