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The Electronic
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
From the Electronic Discussion on Group
Facilitation
www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/
John-Paul
Morgante <JMORGANTE@wicsc.tdh.state.tx.us>
in response to the following post:
a
management and supervisor training program as it relates to team
building.
believes
that MBTI is THE WAY to build teams. Another portion believes
in the
principles of MBTI and that it can, or even should, be an integral
part of
team building but not SOLELY built on MBTI
principles.
building? If so, how? If
not, why? Is "type" important
in team
building?
From: clarep@ns.net (Clare Poe) Subject:
Communication
Skills and Understanding, Diversity Awareness, etc. in a
state
Government setting. The quick answer is
that MBTI is only a resource
and
tool (one of many to choose from), that can help in the facilitation of
effective
team building and other OD interventions. If an organization or
group
adopts it (the MBTI) as a common framework, model or reference point,
then it
can be more of a principle based tool? BUT
it is not a panacea, or
THE
only tool for effective team building.
Myers-Briggs
LO2100:
improving
communication, and problem solving processes in organizations.
The
MBTI provides for a model and common framework to relate leadership
style preferences
with preferences of teams and team members. IT is a
"positive" model that recognizes the gifts that each member of a
team or
organization
brings to that entity !!
that do
reserach and provide training and resources to apply MBTI in team
building
and organization development settings. The Association for
Psychological
Type publishes both the "Bulletin of Psychologocal Type"
and the
"Journal of Psychologocal Type". Consulting
Psychologists Press
in
California also has many resources and texts on the subject.
There are
several
certifying organizations that also provide materials and research
results
and other tools of the trade.
instrument
and resource that is a good as the way it is presented and used
in an
organization. When an organization and
the leaders and members of
that
organization embrace, believe in and live out the concepts and belief
systems
and thinking behind the models, it does make a big difference.
I
coach
managers in the use and applications of the MBTI toward continuous
learning
and growth of individuals and the organization.
organization
developemnt tool and model. It can be
very useful for
effective
work team development and performance.
From:
Inflow@eworld.comthroughout
ALL situations. A person may change 1,2
or 3 indicators
depending
upon the environment they find themselves in. Margaret
Wheatley
makes a good argument for the false readings of MBTIs.
solution
to a multi-dimensional issue. IMHO, MBTI
can be 1 of a
integrated
set of solutions... depending on it alone is grossly
oversimplifying
the issues at hand.
From:
Robert Bacal <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>another
"war" on this subject. It was discussed extensively in the
TRDEV-L
list a few months back.
the
MBTI concluded a number of things...all suggesting that the
instrument
was flawed and was not signficantly useful. Sorry don't
have
the reference right now.
stereotyping
based on type in teams as they are to create better
understanding.
behaviour
is influenced more by the situation than by any types.
sensible,
they are very seductive...which means that while people
will
claim that things are different, but the teams do not improve.
and
swear by the results.
certified
to do so. Even then you are not
guaranteed that the person will
be able
to explain the severe limitations of both the theory and the
instrument.
From:
"Heather J. Fox" <foxhj@a1.engg.umc.dupont.com>compare
how people operate in the given organizational environment.
It can
also be used as an "anchor" to which the team can return
in its
later stages for reflection/regrouping.
you're
never on time for our meetings..." These realizations come
about
through use of the various exercises Consulting Psychologists
Press
offers. The trick is to keep the team from using
the indicators
as a
label and essentially as an excuse for poor
behavior.
From:
"Stuart C. Leinenbach" <SCLeinen@LANMAIL.RMC.COM>used
today, should not be the sole criteria for team building, if fact, I
would
not even consider it a factor. The MBTI is a snapshot of what the
individual
is a the time the MBTI was administered, and should only be
used
for personal reflection and growth. Those who try to predict team
outcome
by stacking the deck with certain types also try to turn lead into
gold in
their spare time. Develop a team using small group dynamics
techniques,
don't try to "stack the deck"
From:
"ANSON SEERS" <ASEERS@alston.cba.ua.edu>find
helpful responses from members of TEAMNET-L. It is a closed list,
but you
can easily join by e-mailing a request to Kevin Roquemore at
ROQUEMOR@TERRILL.UNT.EDU.
primarily
interested in working relationships, is two-fold. One, the
research
evidence indicates no special importance to effective teamwork
for
MBTI-type variables. In a practical
sense, this is quite comforting--
imagine
breaking the news to a member that his/her score on a personality
questionnaire
made more effective teamwork impossible. Instead,
effective
teamwork
is developed through the negotiation of
interdependent roles.
What's
really important is to improve
communication among the members
such
that some form of consensus can emerge about how the members will be
able to
rely on each other. Then members will be
able to have confident
expectations
in themselves as team members and in the team as a unit. The
second
point is important precisely because the expectations held by people
matter
greatly in the efforts they put forth and in how they act to
coordinate
their efforts with those of other people. If there are already
entrenched
expectations that MBTI attributes are important, you should
include
such in your teambuilding efforts. With
it, the believers have
more
"ownership" and, expecting their approach
to improve teamwork, will
then
act to improve teamwork. Without
it, the believers will expect the
teambuilding
to fail, prompting the opposite
self-fulfilling prophecy. A
comprehensive
approach to team-building should incorporate any other
strongly
held implicit theories of teamwork as well. Keep in mind that the
effects
of most team-building efforts are usually quite ephemeral.
You'll
need a good bit of follow-on effort.
From:
JosephR353@aol.comdoomed
to failure. I have been using the MBTI since the early 1970's and
found
it useful as a tool for team building, ITP communications, spiritual
development
when combined with its base of Jung, and personal and
professional
development. One must remember that people are more than the
sixteen
types that this instrument measures and of course adding more
people into
the mix means that it becomes more complicated. Teams are made
up of
more than type and you need to look at other variables such as
goals,
roles, responsibilities, norms, cultures, procedures, communication
processes,
group dynamics, etc. etc. In other words teams are mini-
organizations
within the larger and need to be looked at in this manner.
Just as
organizations are to be viewed as open and constantly changing,
so are
teams. My advice is use the MBTI and any
other instrumentation
for its
purpose if it fits, but be prepared for the other elements that
make up
a team.
From:
Bill Kahnweiler <epswmk@gsusgi2.gsu.edu>deeper
understanding of variations among people--their motivations,
communication
styles, how they are and aren't persuaded, work styles,
etc. I
use MBTI as a tool; as such, I find it helpful in TB but, like any
single
tool, insufficient for true TB to take place.
tool to
help people understand (and eventually, hopefully APPRECIATE)
each
other is, to me, an inherent part of TB.
From:
Vicki Siegel <vsiegel@MINDSPRING.COM>building
and performance improvement issues.
become
more aware of differences in the way people think, communicate
relate
to others etc. It also helps people value
and appreciate
differences
and use them constructively. This is a pivotal part of team
development
and team building. However, the MBTI, in my opinion, should
only be
used as one of the pieces necessary to develop successful work
relationships
and effective performance. It is, indeed, a very valuable
piece.
And it must only be used by someone who is very experienced with
the
MBTI and understands its application and limitations.
the
rest of my teambuilding, leadership and management development
programs
with clients.
From:
Susan Heathfield <s.heathfield@tsc.techsmith.com>teambuilding. It is a useful and fun tool that gives people a way
to
begin thinking about peoples' differences. For
example, I never
use the
instrument without follow-up exercises in which I ask the
group
to identify similar characteristics of people who share type,
how
they might work more effectively with people who have different
types,
etc. I would never build a whole training
or teambuilding
effort
around this tool. It is a tool for
discussion and growth.
Other
topics need more of our time. Sometimes,
I even use it as an
opening
exercies following introductions of participants, participant
expectations
and needs, and session objectives and goals.
From:
JT81743@aol.comsee how
differences are both normal and helpful to the overall
performance
of a team. I don't believe it is the only
way to do
teambuilding.
years
ago. I was working with a corporate staff
organization that had
a lot
of dissention between the team members. We
used the MBTI and
completed
an exercise where each person places themselves on a matrix
reflecting
their type. When completed, the
distribution of people
across
the 16 types is readily apparent. We then
explored the strengths
and
weaknesses of the team because of the "holes" in the type matrix.
This
produced some good dialog.
took
what they had learned about strengths and weaknesses of both the
individuals
and the team as a whole to help in assigning people and
roles
to the project. This seemed to really
bring the point home about
how to
take advantage of the differences among people on the same team.
From:
Duane Tway <DUANETWAY@AOL.COM>_Review
of Educational Research_, Vol 63, No 4, Pp 467-488, Winter 1993.
that
requires that validity be considered from an approach requiring many
sources
of corroboration. A review of available
literature suggest
insufficient
evidence to support the tenets and claims about the utility
of the
MBTI." And further, "There is
insufficient evidence to justify
the
specific claims made about the MBTI. Although
the test does appear
to
measure several common personality traits, the patterns of data do not
suggest
that there is reason to believe that there are 16 unique types of
personality....[T]here
is no convincing eveidence to justify that knowledge
of type
is a reliable or valid predictor of important behavioral
conditions. Taken as a whole, the MBTI makes few unique practical
or
theoretical
contributions
to the understanding of behavior."
become
aligned around a shared sense of purpose to which they are all
committed
in spirit will be more than momentarily successful. Other
approaches
may make people feel good for a while, but they do not
address
the essence of what it is to be a team.
helpful. Be a shame to waste the opportunity to do something
"real."
From:
"Watson, Martha" <Martha.Watson@state.mn.us>techniques. MBTI can be a useful teambuilding tool with a
good
facilitator. But the same thing is true of lots of tools. One
disadvantage
to using the MBTI is that some people really resent it.
For
some, it's a fear that somehow they're
being psychoanalyzed for
public
display. For others, it's a fear of being
labeled & stuck into
one of
only 16 boxes & that they'll always be viewed as limited to that
1 box. Those fears are counterproductive to teambuilding, so
that's
one
reason for using something other than the MBTI, something that is
not as
threatening.
From:
Gerry Roberts <groberts@swmail.sw.org> SMy
initial reaction to your question would be that never build a program
using
only one source. I am passionate about
the MBTI, but it cannot
solve
everything nor does it have all the answers.
institution
(6,000 employees) for 4 years. All
re-engineering teams go
through
6 hours of MBTI team building with me. Of
all the teams that
have
done this, the only "dysfunctional" team was the one where I did
not
facilitate. My conclusions, (as well as
others), from this is that
if you
have people who have solid knowledge about the MBTI and how to
use it
for team building, you can use the MBTI for a very strong
foundation
for team building. It's beautiful and
works like a charm.
But any program is only as good as the knowledge level and
expertise
of the
presenter.
phenomenal
success with its use. It lends itself to
dealing with team
issues
such as decision-making, conflict resolution, etc. I have used
the
MBTI to resolve seemingly insurmountable barriers between diverse
groups
of people and individuals.
From:
Gayle Porter <gporter@CRAB.RUTGERS.EDU>one
answer to teambuilding -- be it MBTI or anything else. Many things
can be
used as a starting point, but as the teambuilding evolves and needs
change,
many more aspects will become important.
how
people are different and how that affects the way the do things,
explain
things to others, and filter the information they receive.
The
result of staying open minded enough to deal effectively with many
different
types of people is great. This can be
aided by MBTI or other
things,
or a combination of several approaches. It's not "type" that's
important. It's the greater understanding of differences that
important.
MBTI is
one format for helping people see themselves and others as people
with
different ways of getting to a similar result.
skills
to work with those differences through goal setting, problem
solving,
conflict resolution, and building a combined identity. I don't
think
any of these things follow automatically from MBTI, although it
can be
one useful component to build from.
it
becomes just one more way to slot people. For
example, your just
struggling
with our suggestion because you're an INTJ . .. or, what
we need
on this team is another ENTJ to balance our approach. The
qualities
of a high-performing team go way beyond that kind of talk.
want to
also consider that the MBTI approach will not be equally useful
to all
people. If you expand to use other things
along with the MBTI,
you
have a better chance that each individual will find some grains of
wisdom
to fit his or her personal needs/syle/type/knowledge level.
Now
that I
think about it, it sounds a little strange that an MBTI advocate
an
claim that one approach is all that's needed for a group of different
individuals
to learn to be good team members.
From:
frank.bell@nonamebbs.com (FRANK BELL)a lot
of information and just leaves it there. Furthermore, it's
difficult
to administer and complex--even esoteric--to score. I do
believe
it's an excellent vehicle for career counseling and therapeutic
applications.
(DiSC)
family of instruments for team building applications in the
workplace. The are easy to administer and score, thoroughly researched
and
validated, and behavior-oriented, rather than personality-type
oriented
(in other words, they focus on what people do
and on how they
interact,
rather than on what they are). They are also prescriptive,
in that
they make suggestions for alternative actions
and approaches in
dealing
with others.
From:
"William D. Lovett" <wlovett@brainiac.com>and
many times with teams. The results of
this usage with teams has
been
mixed.
positive
participant response at the end of the seminar that the MBTI
gets.
Participants overwhelmingly think that the MBTI is extremely useful.
evaluation,
the results are quite different. The
majority of the
participants
(estimated to be over 80%) think it is a useful tool,
but
really don't use it. The balance use it
to some degree.
incorporate
it into their team meetings on a regular basis. Many teams
use
placecards in front of team members as a reminder of the participant's
preferences. Also, if one member champions the use of type it
becomes
incorporated
into the team culture and helps members relate to each other
more
effectively. It also helps to reduce
conflict based on opposing type
preferences
(e.g., S vs. N - details vs. big picture emphasis).
personally
must concentrate on the use of type in team meetings, I had an
understanding
of how others must feel about mastering type.
is
learned, if we practice it on a daily basis, we become more proficient on
its use. But if we don't practice the new skill, we will tend
to lose it.
Of
course, we all learned this intellectually in Adult Learning 101.
From:
JMALLORY@pstcc.cc.tn.usmisunderstood,
some people who have no business using it do so anyway,
and it
is NOT the be-all to end-all. What's
important is that the person
administering
it be qualified to do so; ideally they
should have been
through
a qualifying seminar just for this purpose. Secondly, time and care
need to
be spent in its explanation - it is not a personality test; it is
not a
predictor of anything; it is not meant to be pejorative or demeaning;
it is
not intended to be a tool for deciding what job someone should
have,
etc. If used for its intended purpose,
the MBTI can be a wonderful
teambuilding
tool - but it should not be the ONLY teambuilding tool. First
of all,
look at your reason for doing teambuilding in the first place - is
it
being done because it's a "good" thing to do, because the group is
new,
or
because of problems? It's okay to use the
MBTI in any of these cases,
but
supplemental training which addresses other issues present in the team
only
helps to assist in the MBTI's effectiveness.
reports
back to you what you just told it. If
good directions were given,
and the
group is in a non-threatening atmosphere, the MBTI can be a fun way
to get
started on the teambuilding process. I introduce it as a tool for
self-discovery
- the more we under- stand ourselves, the better we can be at
beginning
to understand others, and we'd better be able to do this if we
are
going to work together. There are people out there who have had bad
experiences
with these types of measures - I have encountered some of
these
and that is why I make such a big deal about how the process takes
place. I try my best to establish comfort among my trainees,
because they
will
learn more this way.
From:
JEF46@aol.comMBTI
and its 16 "types," we have found that type is not a factor in one's
ability
to be a contributing member of a true team. However, we have found
that
lack of diversity of "type;" i.e., too many introverts or too many
people
focused on closure at all costs, can lead a team to distructive
groupthink
or belief that consensus exists when it does not. Also, lack of
awareness
of individual differences, and their value to a team, can hamper
team
progress.
group's
needs. Once one is trained and proficient
in MBTI, it becomes
relatively
easy to predict "type" based on observed behaviors, which helps
us put
together balanced teams, but doesn't necessarily help individual
members. We find introduction of the MBTI, through a series of
experiential
exercises, to be a great icebreaker and the start of awareness
that
many
points
of view, and even "rulebooks," vary among individuals, and that
recognizing
and capitalizing on differences can strengthen a team and
enhance
results.
run by
Otto Kroeger (Otto Kroeger Associates,703-591-6284), through NTL
Institute
(1-800-777-5257 or 703-548-1500).