Jack R. Gibb
The 1977 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators
© 1974 University Associates
(This material is used by permission of Jossey-Bass, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

TORI theory focuses on trust level as a primary determiner of the effectiveness and productivity of groups. Research indicates that trust level is correlated with productivity, creativity, personal growth, and other positive system outcomes. The theory has been applied to group and team training in industrial, educational, and religious systems.

The four primary aspects of trust are considered: Trust, Openness, Realization, and Interdependence (TORI). When the trust level is high, the behavior of members of the group is more personal, more open, more self-determining, and more interdependent. When the trust level is low, members' behavior becomes more impersonal, closed, "ought"-determined, and more dependent or counterdependent. The scale given here is an experimental attempt to measure these four aspects of trust.

Any group will find the scale relevant: work teams, families, personal growth groups, encounter groups, management teams, classrooms, therapy groups, athletic teams, or any group of from five to two hundred members who see themselves as working, playing, or learning together. Some of the particular ways the scale may be used:

• Any leader, facilitator, consultant, convener, teacher, or other group leader might use the instrument prior to the life of the group or early in the group's life to get an indication of group development on the aspects tested.
• Any member of such a group might take the instrument independently to get an idea of his own trust of the group or feelings about the group climate.
• Someone doing action research on a series of comparable groups (work teams in the same company; personal growth groups in a learning laboratory; athletic teams in the same league; classrooms in the same school, etc.) might use the scale as a pre- and posttest to see the relative changes that occur in comparable groups.
• The instrument is probably best used as a self-diagnostic instrument for individuals to study their own responses: how they see themselves and how they see the group in terms of trust, openness, self-determination, and interdependence.
• This and other measures have been used successfully in large business organizations to track the progress of trust and productivity and other variables in doing "consultant-less team building"–using the resources of line management without internal or external OD consultants.
• The instrument may be used as a guide and focus point for exploring an individual's own experiences as a member of a personal growth group or a work group. It provides a useful frame of reference for looking at a person's own trust/fear level and the effects of this level on his (a) personal growth and his (b) effectiveness as a team or community leader. The theory states that when a person is trusting, knows who he is, is able to show himself to others, is aware of his own wants, is able to express those wants and to realize them, and is able to live interdependently with others in productive and fulfilling ways, he is to that degree able to live effectively in all life situations.
• A group or team can look at specific responses of team members to selected items, using these data to examine group processes in focused, specific, and relevant ways. The facilitator can have members suggest particular items on which there will be a "show of hands" for each response.

Gibb, J. R. TORI theory and practice. In J. W. Pfeiffer & J. E. Jones (Eds.), The 1972 annual handbook for group facilitators. La Jolla, Calif.: University Associates, 1972.

Jack R. Gibb, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist in private practice in La Jolla, California, and is president of TORI Associates. He is currently consulting with organizations that are testing TORI theory models in action, constructing theory, and joining with others in creating TORI Associates as an experimental organizational form. Dr. Gibb's background is in theory construction, experimental design, therapy, consulting, university teaching, and research.

Jack R. Gibb

Instructions: In front of each of the following items, place the letter that corresponds to your degree of agreement or disagreement with that statement.

SD = strongly disagree - D = disagree - A = agree - SA = strongly agree

1. I feel that no matter what I might do, this group would understand and accept me.

2. I feel that there are large areas of me that I don't share with this group.

3. I assert myself in this group.

4. I seldom seek help from this group.

5. Members of this group trust each other very much.

6. Members of this group are not really interested in what others have to say.

7. The group exerts no pressures on the group members to do what they should be doing.

8. Everyone in this group does his own thing with little thought for others.

9. I feel that I have been very cautious in this group.

10. I feel little need to cover up things when I am in this group.

11. I do only what I am supposed to do in this group.

12. I find that everyone in this group is willing to help me when I want help or ask for it.

13. The members of the group are more interested in getting something done than in caring for each other as individuals.

14. Members of this group tell it like it is.

15. Members do what they ought to do in this group, out of a sense of responsibility to the group.

16. This group really "has it together" at a deep level.

17. I trust the members of this group.

18. I am afraid that if I showed my real innermost thoughts in this group, people would be shocked.

19. In this group, I feel free to do what I want to do.

20. I often feel that I am a minority in this group.

21. People in this group seem to know who they are; they have a real sense of being individuals.

22. Group members are very careful to express only relevant ideas about the group's task or goal.

23. The goals of this group are clear to everyone in the group.

24. The group finds it difficult to get together and do something it has decided to do.

25. If I left this group, the members would miss me very little.

26. I can trust this group with my most private and significant feelings and opinions.

27. I find that my goals are different from the goals of this group.

28. I look forward to getting together with this group.

29. People are playing roles in this group and not being themselves.

30. In this group we really know each other well.

31. This group puts pressure on each member to work toward group goals.

32. This group would be able to handle an emergency very well.

33. When I am in this group I feel very good about myself as a person.

34. If I have negative feelings in this group, I do not express them easily.

35. It is easy for me to take risks in this group.

36. I often go along with the group simply because I feel a sense of obligation to it.

37. Members seem to care very much for each other as individuals.

38. Members often express different feelings and opinions outside the group than they express inside.

39. This group really lets people be where they are and who they are.

40. Members of this group like either to lead or to be led, rather than to work together with others as equals.

41. My relationship to this group is a very impersonal one.

42. Whenever I feel strongly about something in this group I feel easy about expressing it.

43. I feel that I have to keep myself under wraps in here.

44. I enjoy working with members of this group.

45. Each member of the group seems to play a definite and clear role and is respected on the basis of how well he performs that role.

46. Whenever there are negative feelings in this group, they are likely to be expressed at some point.

47. At times the members seem very apathetic and passive.

48. As a group we are well integrated at many levels.

49. I feel like a unique person in this group.

50. I would feel very vulnerable if I told this group my most secret and private feelings and opinions.

51. The group feels that my personal growth is important.

52. I don't often feel like cooperating with others in this group.

53. Group members have a high opinion of my contributions to the group.

54. Members of the group are afraid to be open and honest with the group.

55. When decisions are being made, members quickly express what they want.

56. People in this group are individuals and do not work together as members of a team.

57. I don't feel very good about myself in here.

58. In this group I feel free to be exactly who I am and never have to pretend I am something else.

59. It is very important that I meet others' expectations in this group.

60. I would miss anyone who left the group because each of the members is important to the group in what it is trying to do.

61. It is easy to tell who the "in" people are in this group.

62. Group members listen to other members with understanding and empathy.

63. The group spends a lot of energy trying to get members to do things they don't really want to do.

64. Group members enjoy being with each other.

65. I am an important member of this group.

66. My ideas and opinions are distorted by the group.

67. My goals are similar to the goals of the total group.

68. Group members seldom give me help on the things that really matter to me.

69. Members listen to the things I say in this group.

70. In here, if people feel negative they keep it to themselves.

71. This group has a lot of energy that gets directed into whatever we do.

72. You really have to have some power if you want to get anything done in this group.

73. I don't feel very genuine and real in this group.

74. There is hardly-anything I don't know about the members of this group.

75. If I did what I wanted to do in this group, I would be doing different things from what I am now doing.

76. I am aware of the ways that the group members help me in what I am trying to do.

77. Some members are afraid of the group.

78. The members of this group are very spontaneous and uninhibited when they are around each other.

79. The goals of this group are often not really clear.

80. This group works together as a smoothly functioning team.

81. I care very much for the people in this group.

82. The group misunderstands me and how I feel.

83. When we reach a decision about a goal I am usually in complete agreement with the goal.

84. I have no real sense of belonging to this group.

85. The group treats each person in the group as an important member.

86. It is easy to express feelings in here if they are positive, but not if they are negative.

87. Members of this group are growing and changing all the time.

88. We need a lot of controls in here to keep the group on track.

89. I often feel defensive in here.

90. I keep very few secrets from this group.

91. It is not OK to be myself in this group.

92. I feel a strong sense of belonging to this group.

93. It is easy to tell who the important members of this group are.

94. We don't keep secrets in here.

95. A lot of our energy goes into irrelevant and unimportant things.

96. There is little destructive competition in this group.

Instructions: The TORI Group Self-Diagnosis Scale yields eight scores: four depicting how you see yourself in this group in terms of the four core growth processes (Trust, Openness, Realization, and Interdependence) and four capturing your sense of the group itself. The scoring is simple and easy, even though it looks complicated. Look back at the items for one of the eight scales on the instrument to see how you responded. On the Score Sheet, circle your response for each item according to whether you marked "Strongly Disagree," "Disagree," etc. Then sum the item scores for that scale. Do the same for each scale.

Self: "As a member of this group, I trust myself, have a well-formed sense of being and uniqueness, and feel good about myself as a person."

Group: "I trust the group, see the group climate as trusting and as a good environment for me and other members."

Self: "As a member I feel distrustful, have a low sense of being, and don't feel very good about myself as a person."

Group: "I distrust the group, see members as being impersonal and staying in roles, and see the group as a threatening and defense-producing environment for me and for other members."

Self: "As a member I feel free to be myself in this group, show who I am, and express my feelings and attitudes with little pretense or cover-up."

Group: "I see the group as open and spontaneous and the members as willing to show themselves to each other."

Self: "As a member I feel vulnerable and unsafe in here, and I think that it is necessary to keep large areas of myself private and unshared."

Group: "I see the group as fearful, cautious, and unwilling to show feelings and opinions, particularly those feelings, and opinions that are negative or nonsupportive."

Self: "As a member I feel free to take risks, assert myself, do anything I really want to do, and follow my intrinsic motivations. I have a sense of self-realization in this group."

Group: "I see the group as allowing freedom for being and as creating a good environment for the directing of energies toward emergent and intrinsic goals."

Self: "I am aware of the pressure of extrinsic motivations. I feel that I must try to do what I

am supposed to do and that I must attempt to meet the expectations of other members of the group."

Group: "I see the group exerting pressures on members to conform, to do things they may not wish to do, and to work toward group goals regardless of the perceived relevance or significance of these goals."

Self: "As a member I feel free, have a strong sense of belonging to the group, and enjoy working with, helping, or meeting with the other group members."

Group: "I see the group as a smoothly functioning unit, well integrated on several levels, and working effectively and cooperatively."

Self: "I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to the group and do not enjoy working with others in a `team' way; I have competitive, dependent, aggressive, or other feelings that get in the way of team effort."

Group: "I see the group as unintegrated, unable to work well as a team, and missing significant ingredients necessary for truly effective functioning on task or maintenance levels."