Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

What is MBTI all about?

MBTI test is all about YOU and Your Personality.
MBTI, a short form of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, is actually a
psychological test designed to assist a person in identifying their
personality preferences.

History
C.G.Jung, one of the pioneers of psychology, observed the different
types of people and developed his theory of types on the basis of his
observation. Later on, his work was studied by Briggs and Myers who
produced, the MBTI. The MBTI was developed by Katherine Briggs and
her daughter Isabel Myers during World War II. Isabel Myers worked on
the MBTI for nearly 40 years, until her death in 1980. The MBTI has
been continually researched and enhanced.
The MBTI is an extremely reliable personality questionnaire. On
average, 75% who take the MBTI report the same result on retake. It
also goes up to 95% sometimes.
The test is frequently used in the areas of recruitment, group
dynamics, employee training, leadership training, marriage counseling,
and personal development, although it has been subjected to a
considerable criticism by academic psychologists and scientific
skeptics.

The Test
The types the MBTI tests for, known as dichotomies are extraversion,
introversion, sensing, intuition, thinking, feeling, judging and
perceiving. Participants are given one of 16 four-letter acronyms, such
as ESTJ or INFP, indicating what they prefer.
However, a word of caution here: This test is not always the translation
of the exact behavior of a person. It only describes your core
preferences what you prefer and dont prefer. This may also happen
that one prefers to plan things ahead but never follows a schedule in
actual life. Thus, ones own nature is unique and this is what makes us
humans.

The preferences
A dichotomy is a division of two mutually exclusive groups, or in this
case, type preferences.
These types are based on the following behaviors/natures of an
individual:
Extraversion and Introversion:
These terms refer to how a person orients and receives energy.
Extrovert is a person who is more of a social type. He enjoys
interaction with people, expresses his feelings openly and freely,
speaks out his mind and loves to party. He is adventurous,
spontaneous, flexible and quick in reaction. He speaks before thinking.
Introvert is an opposite of an extrovert. An introvert doesnt express his
feelings openly, likes to keep his life a closed book, and keeps true
feelings locked inside his heart. He is imaginative and more
spontaneous in his ideas and thinking; however, can sometimes lose
contact with the world around him because of diving deep into
feelings.
In short, an extrovert prefers to focus more on outside world and on
other people; whereas, in an introvert, it is on ones own inside
thoughts and ideas.
Sensing and Intuition
These are the perceiving functions. They indicate how a person prefers
to receive data. Sensing prefers to receive data primarily from the five
senses, and intuition prefers to receive data from the unconscious, or
seeing relationships via insights. In sensing, people gather information
through what they directly see, hear, or touch etc; whereas, in
intuition, they do it through ideas, visualization and abstraction.
Sensing people are focused more towards the present while intuitive
towards the future.
Thinking and Feeling
These are the judging functions. The Thinking type makes decision on
objective analysis. These people, when taking a decision, dont involve
personal analysis to come in between and are more impersonal and
logical.
Feeling type, on the other hand, take decisions based on subjective
values and are generally concerned with the impact of decisions on
people.
Judging and Perceiving
This refers to ones action orientation towards outside world.

A Judging style approaches the outside world with a plan and prefers
order in the world; whereas a Perceiving style takes the outside world
as it comes and is adopting and adapting, flexible, open-ended and
receptive to new opportunities and changing game plans.

MBTI and Organizations

MBTI was first used in an organization in 1942, by co-author Isabel
Briggs Myers and Edward Hay, the job analyst, who was then a
personnel manager in an insurance company.
There are various applications of MBTI in an organization: teamwork,
communication, counseling, leadership, conflict management, stress
management, careers, performance appraisal, etc.
Along with people, organizations themselves also have a type. This is
sometimes referred as organizational culture. For example, a bank
that is procedures driven hierarchical bottom line operation can be
described as ISTJ; an entrepreneurial, flexible actively changing
organization like a merchant bank can be seen as ENTP.

Study of Types W.R.T Organizations

Before we move on to the discussion of team building, a few
characteristics about each time should be highlighted first:
INTJ and INFJ
These types are intuitive and have broad visions. Thus, they forecast
the future long before others and predict things that are too vague for
others to even comprehend at that time. They are good at finding
solutions in large context and picking up symbols and signs where
others fail to do so.
ISTJ and ISFJ
These types are responsible and reliable and feel useful when their
tasks are well-defined and well-established. When given a project, they
see to it till the end. They manage their time well and are realistic
about how much time and resources will be needed. They rely on their
experiences to make decisions and have good memory for facts and
details.
INTP and ISTP
They have a fine ability to analyze situations, find root causes and
foresee consequences. They have a habit of pondering over several
options before taking a decision and dislike actions take in a hurry.

They are usually levelheaded, objective, impersonal yet intensely

involved in problem solving. They are fiercely independent, seeking
input and comments from a chosen few. They lose interest and
motivation if their analysis is ignored or dismissed.
INFP and ISFP
They have their own principles and beliefs and strive to adhere to their
own high personal moral standards. They dont tolerate empty
promises and see that what should be done must be done.
ENTP and ENFP
They are the initiators: they initiate change and are challenging,
ingenious and innovative. However, their greatest difficulty is not in
initiating projects but in choosing among so many possibilities, setting
realistic boundaries, establishing priorities and correctly assessing
resources.
ESTP and ESFP
Extraverted sensing types have a way with dealing with people on a
very equal platform and are not easily star struck. On the job, they
appreciate having the right tools and are quite creative at finding ways
to fix and repair things efficiently.
ENTJ and ESTJ
They are excellent at implementing ideas and are often on the lookout
for good ideas worthy of their attention. They are quick to organize,
coordinate, find resources, and follow through to the end of a project.
They enjoy solving problems that test their competence and expect
others to have the same attitude as well.
ENFJ and ESFJ
As team players and project leaders, they have a gift for rallying their
players, focusing on what is being done right. They are loyal and they
expect loyalty. They carry conversations well, finding common ground
with their speaker. They tend to find the correct and gracious way to
respond in any given situation, no matter how tense or uncomfortable
it is.

Implementation of MBTI in Teamwork

People of different types have different ways of working and behaving
at the workplace. They have different skills and abilities. For example,
the SJ types have high ethics at workplace, are orderly and timely and
greatly emphasize deadlines.

The learning styles of every type are different. Some like and learn
through group work, others dont. Some like to apply whatever theyve
learnt practically but this may not be the case with others. Some learn
through discussions but others prefer reading. Some are interested in
theory but others are in practice. Hence, how should one team up such
contrasting people, having diverse attitudes and habits?
In order to reply to that question, one must first know the basic
characteristics of a team. A team must stand on the pillars of trust and
free communication. Team members must rely on one another and
interdependence must exist.
In a team, there must be some elements of coordination and everyone
must have a similar goal, irrespective of what their personality or
attitude is. For this purpose, a manager must be capable of identifying
and recognizing different personality types of people and assign them
their roles accordingly.
Lets suppose in an organization, there are several departments such
as sales department, marketing department, HRM department and IT
department. In sales department, the type of people needed will be
social, good at negotiating and dealing with people, quick to respond,
spontaneous and creative. It is obvious then that an extrovert is
required for this kind of job but which type of extrovert? As we saw
above that ESTP, ESFP, ENFP and ESFJ excel at starting a conversation
which would lead to the desired topic. They have the skill to respond
instantly to any kind of question bombarded, no matter how tensed the
situation would be.
Now, well focus on the affect of MBTI on marketing department in
detail.
Suppose in the marketing department of an organization, a team is
required to conduct a research on the buying trends of consumers. For
this, the team must analyze the market, study the consumers
behavior, their demographic factors, and conduct questionnaires and
surveys in a limited time period. This team needs a leader or a team
coordinator, an accountant who can keep the team informed about the
budget and finance, a planner etc. The leader must have the qualities
of defining tasks vividly to each member; assigning them effectively;
leading the team to a specific direction and keeping everyone updated
about any new change occurred. The planner should have the ability to
foresee several options, forecast events, plan things in advance and
take the best decision.

Then, one person is required who can form a questionnaire which

should be precise and to the point. Then a person is needed to actually
survey the market, locate the right people needed to conduct
questionnaires. Thus, he should have the ability of a good observer and
communicator.
Keeping these things in mind, we can say that a leader must be an
ENFJ and ESFJ who are born leaders and know how to keep their team
members motivated and interested. Since the planner doesnt need to
have a direct contact with consumers; thus, an introvert person can be
utilized in this place. Thus, they can be an INTP and ISTP.
A person writing the questionnaire should be intuitive and creative,
having broad vision. Hence, he should have the skills of a writer. In
other word, the preferable type for this task is that of ENFP. He should
have the element of Feeling in order to place himself in consumers
shoes and identify and communicate accordingly. He should also be
accompanied with an ISFJ type having good observing skills.
In this way, people having diverse and contrasting types can
effectively coordinate within a team and in turn, conflict between team
members can be prevented. So we can say that MBTI facilitates in
eliminating team conflicts if capably used.

Drawbacks of MBTI
There are some shortcomings in MBTI:
No matter what ones preferences are, behavior will sometimes
indicate contrasting behavior.
Terminology of MBTI is vague and complicated
It is not accurate as everyone rates themselves positively and
according to what they want to be instead of what they truly are.