16 PF Personality Test - Definition, Importance, Factors & Example

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is 16 PF Personality Test?

16 PF personality test is a self-check personality test done on the basis of the Big Five personality model. 16 PF Personality Test is was found by Raymond B. Cattell. All the individuals have the 16 personality factors which help in understanding the personality of a person.


Importance of 16 PF Personality Factor Test

Manpower planning is one of the most important part of an organization. Employees are the soul of an organization. Work and plans are driven by them. 16 PF Personality Test is a report which speaks about the personality of an employee.

In business organizations, recruitment and selection process is a very vital process. Every organization has its own organizational culture and work atmosphere. Culture fit candidates is an essential criterion while selecting a candidate. If a personality test is already done for a candidate, his career planning and development can be done accordingly. He can be allotted projects under departments which suit his personality and where he can excel well in his career and as well as bring laurels to the organization too. In this way an organization can also reduce attrition rates by properly allocating people where their interest lies. Even before that, while conducting interviews to test whether the person has correctly reported about his personality or not or whether he is just faking it to become a culture fit, what can be done is a structured questionnaire interview can be taken which tests him on his reported personality. If he answers them confidently with life experiences or situations, this means he is a true fit for the organization.

Factors of 16 PF Personality Test

16 PF Personality Test

According to big five personality model, five broad categories of personality are defined as:

1. Extraversion

2. Agreeableness

3. Conscientiousness

4. Neuroticism

5. Openness to Experience

On the basis of these broad five personality criteria the other personality factors are developed. These type of personality tests are mainly used by organizations and companies to get an insight about the personality of their employees which helps them a lot in decision making process. 16 Personality Factor Test is an in-depth test of personality which can be used to know the competency of an individual. This test has its applicability in many areas which includes health cares, career selection programs etc.


Advantages & Disadvantages of 16 PF Personality Test

Some advantages of the 16 PF Personality Test are:

1. A very useful test for conducting performance appraisal process.

2. In a way, helps in employee engagement.

3. Can be used to set long term goals for the organization

Certain disadvantages of the 16 PF Personality Test are:

1. A candidate should at first be ready to give such a test.

2. A person may nicely fake out the test and interview too, but later not found as culture fit.


Example of 16 PF Personality Test

For example, a person who is open to experiences, is not very sensitive or emotional in nature, is very much extrovert, free with everyone should be allotted with a project that needs out works, interaction with people. Such type of persons are usually a fit for sales team or can be in the marketing team. If such a person is kept in the administration team, they may not be able to do that well as they do not like seating at particular place and doing official work. They like interacting, communicating, convincing and negotiating. Similarly, a person’s performance appraisal is fully based on this, a person allotted at the right place will drive his/her own performance in the right way and also that of the organizations.

Hence, this concludes the definition of 16 PF Personality Test along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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