The system was initially developed through forty-five years of research in the Department of Psychology and Social Relations at Harvard University. One purpose for the in-depth studies was to better understand effective leadership, group dynamics, and superior team performance.
The results of the investigation include a comprehensive theory of social interaction; a highly refined measurement system; and a set of precise tools for analyzing and improving effectiveness for people who live and work in groups of all sizes. The system is currently in use worldwide.
The instruments contain 26 descriptive items which probe and assess key factors known to directly influence effectiveness. One form of the instrument (Individual and Organizational Values) probes current and optimal values while another form (Interpersonal Behaviors) identifies current and most effective behaviors for the specific situation. All assessment and custom feedback is tied to a research base made up of over 1,000,000 profiles acquired in 17 languages in over sixty countries.
Once a baseline has been established, the system can be used over and over to assess changes and highlight improvements. Repeated measures and feedback help to guide and sustain development efforts. When SYMLOG is applied properly, increasing effectiveness becomes the goal. Improvement becomes the standard. Higher performance is the outcome.
The theory and methods have been subject to many years of careful research and various applications inside demanding corporations such as Microsoft, Toyota, IBM, Citibank, and Mercedes Benz in places as diverse as Japan, South Africa, Iran, Brunei, and Argentina. Over fifty universities have contributed to SYMLOG’s exceptional results for improving leadership, teamwork, and organizational effectiveness.
SYMLOG has been used in over sixty countries in 17 languages to provide integrated solutions to complex problems of social interaction.
The SYMLOG research data bank contains
profiles acquired
languages
countries
SYMLOG Consulting Group (SCG) was founded in 1983 by Robert J. Koenigs, Ph.D. and Margaret A. Cowen, Ph.D., with the support and assistance of Robert F. Bales, Ph.D.
More professionals use SYMLOG-based products to assess and guide value-based change than any other measurement system in the world.
The SYMLOG Consulting Group approach is worldwide as well as interactive. It created a data bank that made possible a search for general laws of social interaction far beyond anything thus far known. Since its inception, SCG’s research base contains over 1,000,000 profiles drawn from applications in seventeen languages, in sixty countries, on six continents.
Its corporate office is located in San Diego, California. SCG has a network of over 1,000 professional consultants to coordinate and provide support services internationally.
Robert Freed Bales, Ph.D. (1916-2004), Harvard University, is the author and inventor of the SYMLOG® (a SYstem for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups) system. In his search for universal features, Bales redefined the fundamental boundaries of social interaction, and established criteria for the behavior and values of leaders and followers. Bales offered a new "field theory," an appreciation of the multiple contexts in which people live.
Widely published and one of the most often quoted social psychologists, Bales worked closely with SYMLOG Consulting Group until his death in 2004. His last book, Social interaction systems: Theory and measurement (1999), is the culmination of a half century of work in the field of social psychology. He was a pioneer at the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University and a seminal member of the Harvard Project.
Led by Talcott Parsons, Gordon W. Allport, Henry A. Murray, and Clyde M. Kluckhohn, the Harvard Project was intended to establish an integrative framework for social psychology. That framework would take into consideration the interaction, the context and content of communication, and the value-orientation of the participants.
Bales devoted his life’s work to developing this integrative framework, and saw this as a personal involvement that went far behavior the classical experimental approach to the study of groups. His work and findings allowed for an understanding of polarizations as they actually exist in interaction -- between conservative and liberal, individualistic and authoritarian, and libertarian and communitarian orientations.
Bales repeatedly emphasized that the mental processes of individuals and their social interactions take place in systematic contexts that can be measured. Hence, they permit explanation and prediction of behavior in a more exact way than in past traditions.
The significance of his work has been repeatedly recognized by scholars and practitioners alike. He received awards from the American Psychological Foundation (1983), the American Sociological Association Cooley-Meal Award (1983), and the California Psychological Association Award (1999) from the Division of Industrial and Organizational Psychology for his fifty years of work.
He maintained an active collaboration with the SYMLOG Consulting Group (SCG) until his death in 2004.
Robert J. Koenigs is Co-founder of the SYMLOG Consulting Group (SCG) and served as its President until his death in 2020. He designed and implemented planned change programs for individuals, teams, and organizations since the early 1970's in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia.
He worked closely with a broad range of organizations in the public, private, governmental, and religious sectors. Dr. Koenigs, a Board Certified and Licensed Psychologist, earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from St. Louis University in 1973 and continued his post-doctoral studies as a Research Fellow at Harvard. He subsequently directed international research with colleagues in over sixty countries in seventeen languages.
He was a member of the faculties of Harvard University, Boston College, and UCLA. He had extensive teaching experience in psychology, group dynamics, and organizational behavior.
Dr. Koenigs worked closely with Professor Bales as a faculty member at Harvard during the development of SYMLOG, and continued their collaboration until Bales’ death in 2004. Dr. Koenigs was among the first professionals to use SYMLOG in applied settings outside of the laboratory where it was developed, and SCG continues to develop and refine the system to this day.
Margaret Cowen is Co-founder and President of the SYMLOG Consulting Group (SCG). She has a B.A. in Sociology from Northwestern University, professional credentials in secondary education, an M.B.A. from Boston University, and received a Ph.D. in Psychology from United States International University in 1998.
Dr. Cowen began her organizational career managing marketing services of the supply division of a large hotel chain. She has been active in the formation of several volunteer organizations and has worked both as an internal and external consultant to firms in the public and private sectors.
Dr. Cowen has trained numerous management development programs on six continents and concentrates her consulting efforts on value-based intervention strategies. Her research work focuses on the relationship between an individual’s behavior and the values they are perceived to show in behavior. She is the senior author of the Interaction Effectiveness Assessment™ (iea).
Dr. Cowen has been an integral part of the transition from use of SYMLOG in the laboratory to practical applications and is responsible for many of the foundation pieces that make up the SYMLOG system today. In addition, during the last thirty years she has personally trained over 1,000 Certified SYMLOG Consultants worldwide.
President Emeritus and Co-founder
In Memoriam
President and Co-founder
Author / Inventor
In Memoriam
In honor of him, we are posting his answers to questions from this interview. It is our hope that by watching you will get to know his work better, his wonderful wit and intellect, and the significance of his contribution to the study and advancement in the field of social interaction.