Optimized for psychometrics. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, also known as the TKI, was developed in the 1970s with a priority on psychometric validation.
The Thomas-Kilmann prioritizes psychometrics, reflected in its use of a question format that forces users to choose between only two possible options in responding. Some users find this format annoying. But authors Thomas and Kilmann say it yields more accurate data. For a description of my own experience with the TKI, see my blog post on it.
If psychometrics is your over-riding concern, and issues such as user friendliness, cultural flexibility, and cost have little bearing for you, the Thomas-Kilmann may be right for you.
Cost is $26-$40, depending on number of users. A trainer's guide is available for $250.
Optimized for cultural insight. The purpose of Mitch Hammer's Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory is building capacity to understand cultural differences and do conflict resolution across cultures. Its questions and interpretive frameworks all revolve around this. If that's your primary objective, there's no better tool. The ICSI ranges in price from $22 per user.
Optimized for Learning. As a trainer with academic background and deep commitment to building cross-cultural understanding, I care about psychometrics and cultural issues. But for me and, I believe, most trainers using Style Matters, those are not the key priorities in training.
I'm not interested in making definitive pronouncements about how people function in conflict and I discourage trainers from this. Rather, I want to provide a framework for evaluating dynamics of conflict, reviewing options, and making wise choices. For that purpose, user trust in rightness of the learning tool for them is a more important requirement than supreme psychometric reliability. It matters that users feel the questions fit them.
Nor am I interested in full-blown cultural comparison. I simply need a conflict resolution training tool that people from a variety of cultural backgrounds feel comfortable with.
In developing Style Matters, I prioritized teaching effectiveness. I needed a tool that I could rely on in all kinds of settings to give learners a high quality learning experience. I wanted a simple, powerful tool to help learners think through their options in conflict, that gave highest authority to self-reflection, discussion, and feedback from others rather than to "rock-solid metrics". And it needed to be cost affordable to all the groups I worked with.
Although I had used the Thomas-Kilmann for several years and experienced its usefulness, I was frustrated by the resistance I regularly encountered around the wording and format of questions. I was also troubled by the discomfort of many participants from backgrounds outside the white, educated North American backgrounds of its authors. You can read more about this in my essay here.
Durable training tools mature and improve as authors revise them based on experience. The themes we've worked relentlessly to improve with Style Matters are:
Independent researchers did psychometric evaluation of Style Matters in 2007 and helped us tweak it for psychometric validity and reliability. But we signal users throughout that their own self-assessment and the feedback of those who know them well are what really count in determining their patterns. Numbers on a test are the first stop on a journey of self-awareness; they should not be considered the final destination.
Buy Style Matters here.
