Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B)

Introduction:
Interpersonal relationships are social associations, connections, or affiliations between two
or more people. This association may be based on love, solidarity, regular business interactions,
or some other type of social commitment. People in a relationship tend to influence each other,
share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together. Because of this
interdependence, most things that change or impact one member of the relationship will have some
level of impact on the other member.
Fundamental interpersonal relations orientation is a Three-Dimensional Theory of
Interpersonal Behaviour introduced by William Schutz in 1958. The theory is based on the belief
that when people get together in a group, there are three main interpersonal needs they are looking
to obtain in the form of “affection/openness”, “control” and “inclusion.”
“Inclusion” includes recognition, belonging and participation and assesses the degree to
which a person associates with others.
“Control” consists of influence, leading and responsibility and measures the extent to
which a person assumes responsibility, makes decisions, or dominates people.
“Affection” involves closeness, warmth, and sensitivity and reflects the degree to which a
person becomes emotionally involved with others.
The test assumes that these three areas are fundamental in understanding and predicting
interpersonal behaviour. Schutz developed a measuring instrument that contains six scales of nine
item questions that he called FIRO-B. The FIRO-B measures a person’s needs for:
• Expressed Behavior (e): It shows what a person prefers to do, and how much that person wants
to initiate action. It manifests the person’s expressed behaviour in the areas of inclusion,
control and affection.
• Wanted Behavior (w): It represents how much a person wants others to initiate action, and how
much that person wants to be the recipient. It represents what the person wants from other
people in the areas of inclusion, control and affection. Wanted behaviour is less directly
observable and is a valuable in understanding and predicting the person’s behaviour.
The FIRO-B instrument was designed for use with adults. The FIRO-B is an ideal tool to use
for interpersonal behavior measurement and assessment, including, management and supervisor
development, identifying leadership preferred operating styles, employee development, team
building and explaining team roles. Results of reliability coefficients for all measures are
satisfactory, ranging from .85 to .96. Test-retest reliability coefficients also demonstrate good
reliability, ranging from .71 to .85 (Hammer & Schnell, 2000).
 Method

Experimenter: Date:
Subject: Time:

Aim:
To assess a person’s characteristic behavior towards other people in the areas of inclusion, control
and affection.

Materials:
1. The Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B) test questionnaire
developed by William Schutz, which consists of 54 items.
2. Scoring Sheet
3. Norms
4. Writing Materials

Procedure:
The subject is seated comfortably in a well-lit room with sufficient ventilation. A good
rapport should be established with the subject. The FIRO-B questionnaire and answer sheet is
placed in front of the subject. The subject is given instructions and doubts are clarified. The
questionnaire is generally completed in 10-15 minutes. However, there is no time limit. After the
questionnaire is completed, the answer sheet is collected to score and interpret according to the
norms.

Instructions:
“This is a test to give you adequate feedback on the orientation of your behaviour which
will help you to improve yourself in the required direction. You should be sincere in answering.
Never look for an ideal answer and put it as your answer. There are 54 statements to which you
can agree or disagree on a scale from 1-6. Other numbers are gradation in between. Underline
the statement that best suits your response. You may experience a sense of repetitiveness of items,
but each item is different and is to be answered independently.”

Precautions:
1. It is ensured that the subject has understood the instructions clearly.
2. The subject is cautioned against the repetitive nature of the statements.
3. All statements should be answered and there should be only one answer per statement.
4. Inform the subject that he/she may experience a sense of repetitiveness of items, but each item
is different and is to be answered independently.”
5. Encourage the subject to give honest answer for each statement as there are no right or wrong
answers.
6. The subject should interpret the meaning of each statement. However, if the subject has
difficulty in understanding any particular statement, the experimenter may give the meaning
of difficult words or phrases in a particular statement.

Scoring:
1. Directions for scoring are printed on the scoring keys. The subject gets a score of 1 if his
answer corresponds to the alternatives given against each items serial number in the scoring
key. The highest possible score obtainable on any scale is 9.
2. Each variable has 2 scores, symbolized by the letter ‘e’ and ‘w’. The ‘E’ scores represent the
persons expressed or manifest behavior in the areas of inclusion, control and affection. The
‘W’ scores represent the persons wanted behavior. These scores refer to what the person wants
from other people.
3. Scores on the FIRO-B range from 0-9. The closer the score is to the extremes of the range, the
more applicable are the following behavioral descriptions for high and low scores for each area
- 0-2: Low, 3-6: Medium, and 7-9: High. The interpretation of the obtained score is mentioned
below:
a) Inclusion: (it reflects general social orientation) Low expressed score: subject is
uncomfortable around people and will move away from them. High expressed score: subject
is comfortable in social settings and will move towards people. Low wanted score: subject is
selective in his associations. High wanted score: subject has a strong need to belong and to be
accepted.
b) Control: (reflects leadership behavior) Low expressed score: subject avoids making decisions
and taking on responsibility. High expressed score: subject takes on leadership responsibility.
Low wanted score: subject does not want to be controlled by others. High wanted score: subject
accepts control from others (for some women high wanted score may be a measure of tolerance
rather than control desired)
c) Affection: (reflects need for deep relationships) Low expressed score: subject is cautious about
initiating relationships that are intimate. High expressed score: the subject can readily become
emotionally involved. Low wanted score: subject is cautious and selective in forming intimate
relationships. High wanted score: subject wants others to initiate intimate relationships.

Individual table showing the results of the subject for FIRO-B

Components / Component Scores and Interpretation

Areas
Expressed Behaviour Wanted Behaviour
Score Interpretation Score Interpretation
Inclusion
Control
Affection
Discussion:

Conclusions:

Applications:
The FIRO® assessments are ideal for a wide range of applications, including the following:
1. Team building—to accelerate the team formation process and allow members to overcome
barriers and progress to higher levels of performance
2. Leadership and executive development—to identify leadership styles and help leaders
unlock greater team performance by meeting the interpersonal needs of managers, peers, and
direct reports
3. Relationship building—to ensure that employees get the most out of working relationships
by helping them understand how to meet the interpersonal needs of customers and stakeholders
4. Professional development—to increase employees’ self-awareness for better understanding
of how their positive behavioural changes boost morale, productivity, and engagement
5. Conflict management—to improve skills for assessing different types of conflict and applying
emotionally intelligent strategies