Where does the personality model behind perStyles come from – and what is it based on?
Scientific foundations
The roots of perStyles reach back to the mid-20th century. In 1957, psychologists Charles E. Osgood, George J. Suci, and Percy H. Tannenbaum at the University of Illinois published their seminal work The Measurement of Meaning. In it, they described the semantic differential – a method for systematically measuring the meaning of concepts using scales between pairs of opposites.
As early as 1928, Harvard psychologist William Moulton Marston had introduced a behavioural model in Emotions of Normal People that maps human behaviour along four fundamental dimensions – known today as DISC.
Origins of the instrument
In 1973, Ron Bates and Ralph Colby in Minneapolis (USA) built on these foundations and developed a practice-oriented analytical instrument for organisations. With the involvement of V. Ralph Buzzotta, a psychologist and co-founder of Psychological Associates, they created a questionnaire based on the semantic differential.
The distinctive contribution of Bates and Colby: they systematically incorporated external perception. Not only how someone sees themselves, but how others experience that person became a central component of the evaluation.
From the USA to Switzerland
Under the name Interpersonal Growth Systems, Bates and Colby built an international network of partners from the USA – including Sweden, Finland, Australia, and Switzerland. In the USA itself, the system was later continued under the name Intégro and is active today as the Conscious Leadership Alliance.
Otto Belz was one of the early European partners. He brought the instrument to Switzerland, applied it in practice over many years, and refined it by removing inconsistencies.
perStyles today
Today, perStyles is used with a digitalised evaluation process. The style descriptions have been adapted to current contexts and the seminar methodology has been independently developed.
The core of the approach has remained: the model serves personal development, not judgement. It raises awareness of how we come across to others – and opens up concrete opportunities to make better use of our strengths.
- Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J. & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press.
- Marston, W. M. (1928). Emotions of Normal People. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.
- Lefton, R. E. & Buzzotta, V. R. (2004). Leadership Through People Skills. McGraw-Hill.
- Bates, R. & Colby, R. (1973). Interpersonal Growth Systems. Minneapolis, USA.