Relationships are about behavior. If you are interested in knowing the type of relationship you have with an organization or person you need to observe the behavior of your counterpart towards you. So this assessment asks you to make judgments about the type of behavior that is present in the relationship. The relationship assessment assists in defining the current type of relationship that exists between a buyer and seller. It also can be used to define what the relationship needs to be. To enhance the value of this assessment it is recommended that both parties assess the relationship from their point of view.

Buyers and sellers are engaged in competitive struggle. Both parties are attempting to capture the maximum value for their side. They conditionally accept each other as long as they believe they have the opportunity to gain more then their counterpart.

Buyers and sellers relate as team. Mutual problem solving is achieved through communication of problems, needs, and feelings. They accept each other unconditionally (within boundaries; i.e., lying, cheating, stealing). Mistakes are tolerated and expected because human beings are imperfect.

In creative relating one party in the relationship is focusing their energy in assisting the other party to exceed the goals and objectives. This is a special relationship and is not normal in business relationships. The only exception would be government set-aside programs or a countertrade obligation where the objective is to find a supplier that is capable of supplying and the task is to assist them in reaching this goal.

Rigid organizations' tend to behave as closed systems i.e., they know that they know and reject new or different concepts.

Flexible organizations' tend to behave as open systems i.e., they don't know how much they know and are therefore open to new or different concepts. This assessment always rewards more flexible behavior. It has been proven that as flexibility increases productivity increases, to a point. After a certain point productivity decreases as flexibility increases because the organization become nonfunctional as it attempts to be all things to all people. Therefore, one could say that this assessment has a bias (it always favors behaviors that characterize open system behavior). However, SDS feels that there is little risk in organizations being too flexible.

Borderline organizations are difficult to work with because they may exhibit one type of behavior consistently and then without warning change for no apparent reasons. To enhance the value of this assessment it is recommended that both parties assess their counterpart.

A Pseudo Team or Dysfunctinal Team (if long standing)

A High Performance Team