Life Styles Inventory (LSI): Analyzing Personal Management Style
This paper presents a self-assessment using the Life Styles Inventory (LSI), a Human Synergistics International tool that measures twelve thinking and behavioral styles through a circumplex model. The writer's results reveal the highest percentile scores in Avoidance (83rd percentile) and Oppositional (81st percentile), both categorized under "Security Needs." The paper examines how these styles negatively affect management, organizational climate, and teamwork, while also identifying potential strengths such as careful decision-making and analytical questioning. The writer connects these behavioral patterns to early family dynamics and concludes that self-awareness is the essential first step toward meaningful improvement in management effectiveness.
- Overview of the Life Styles Inventory: Introduction to LSI tool and circumplex model
- Understanding the LSI Results: How raw and percentile scores are calculated
- Avoidance and Oppositional Styles: Implications for Management: Top-scoring styles and their organizational effects
- Turning Negative Styles Into Strengths: Reframing avoidance and opposition constructively
- Impact on Core Management Functions: Effects on planning, organizing, leading, controlling
- Personal Origins of These Behavioral Styles: Childhood family dynamics shaping adult behavior
- Moving Toward Meaningful Change: Self-awareness as first step toward improvement
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The writer effectively links quantitative LSI data (raw scores and percentile rankings) to qualitative behavioral interpretation, grounding self-reflection in measurable evidence.
- The paper honestly acknowledges negative tendencies without becoming defensive, modeling the kind of self-awareness it advocates for professional growth.
- Connecting childhood family dynamics to adult workplace behavior adds psychological depth and demonstrates an understanding of how personal history shapes professional style.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates reflective self-analysis anchored to a validated psychometric instrument. Rather than simply reporting scores, the writer interprets each result within its organizational context — explaining how Avoidance and Oppositional tendencies affect climate, teamwork, and decision-making — while also identifying constructive applications of these same traits. This dual lens (risk and opportunity) is a hallmark of mature professional reflection.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction to the LSI tool and its circumplex model, then explains how scores are calculated and compared. It proceeds through the writer's highest-scoring styles, analyzing their organizational implications and potential upsides before connecting them to core management functions. The paper closes with a personal narrative tracing behavioral roots to family experience and a brief forward-looking statement on self-improvement.
Overview of the Life Styles Inventory
The Life Styles Inventory (LSI) is a product developed by Human Synergistics International. The trademarked tool is designed to identify the underlying thoughts and motivations guiding an individual's behavior (Life Styles Inventory, 2010). The inventory's measurement model, the circumplex, was developed by psychologist Dr. J. Clayton Lafferty. It provides a visual framework for understanding human thinking, behavior, and performance at the individual, leadership, group, and organizational levels. According to the company's website, the circumplex breaks down the factors underlying performance into twelve styles of thinking, behaving, and interacting.
The circumplex has numerous uses. For the purpose of this paper, it was used to examine the writer's management style and identify both strengths and weaknesses. By clearly identifying areas of concern, the writer can make targeted improvements to his management approach.
Understanding the LSI Results
The results of the LSI are measured in both raw scores and percentile scores. The percentile scores represent an individual's results compared to those of 9,207 other people who previously completed the LSI. Therefore, a high raw score does not necessarily correlate with a high percentile score. For example, the writer's highest raw score was in the Humanistic-Encouraging sector; however, that translates to a percentile score of only 32, which is quite low compared to other LSI participants.
Avoidance and Oppositional Styles: Implications for Management
The writer's highest percentile score was in Avoidance, with a raw score of 13 and a percentile score of 83. The second highest style was Oppositional, with a raw score of 13 and a percentile score of 81. Both Avoidance and Oppositional styles fall under "Security Needs" on the circumplex. Avoidance "reflects apprehension, a strong need for self-protection and a propensity to withdraw from threatening situations" (Life Styles Inventory, 2010). Oppositional "reflects a need for security that manifests itself in a questioning, critical, and even cynical manner" (Life Styles Inventory, 2010).
Both styles generally carry negative associations. They reflect the individual's concern for self over the concerns of others and the organization. A manager who exhibits these thinking and behavioral styles can foster a negative climate within the organization, where other employees — and perhaps clients or customers — are influenced either consciously or subconsciously. When a manager has security needs such as those characterized by these two styles, others around that person may also feel apprehensive, perhaps without even understanding why. As a result, they may be less motivated to work cooperatively because they do not trust the ideas and actions of management and peers. Teamwork can suffer.
Turning Negative Styles Into Strengths
A manager with high scores in Avoidance and Oppositional can turn some of the characteristics of these styles into positive ones. For example, an individual with a high Avoidance score generally "plays it safe" and minimizes risk-taking. This can benefit both individuals and organizations when it means that decisions will not be made hurriedly. All aspects of a decision will be carefully considered before formulating and executing a course of action. When risk-taking yields positive results it is praised, but it can also carry negative consequences. A manager who plays it safe creates fewer opportunities for bad outcomes to occur.
The manager with a high Oppositional score often asks a great many questions. Tone of voice and body language become especially important in these situations, as responses depend on both the person asking the question and the person responding. The manager with a high Oppositional score must learn how to gather information in a way that does not make people feel threatened. Interestingly, the writer also scored high in Avoidance, indicating a reluctance to engage in confrontational situations. It is therefore likely that the writer does not intend to put people on the defensive.
The writer might benefit from workshops or readings on interpersonal relations to help build skills in this area. Gaining more experience in speaking with people from an authoritative position can also be helpful — it becomes easier to address employees in a professional yet congenial manner with repeated opportunities to do so.
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.