Conflict management using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
"It is up to each person to recognize his or her true preferences." Isabel Briggs Myers
Conducting projects might tend to conflicts between managers and team members due to basic differences in the ways people prefer to use their perception and judgement. While one individual might be positive about a decision made within a team, another one might perceive the action as terrifying. From a study stating the importance of conflict management by Thomas K.W. and Schmidt W.H. at the University of California, Los Angeles [1], it is shown that managers spend around 20 percent of their time dealing with conflicts. Another part of the survey worth pointing out is the sources of conflict which in this survey tended to be psychological factors such as misunderstanding (communication failure), personality clashes and value differences. Becoming aware of peoples personal preferences can be a key to build strong communication patterns that meets the needs for both the managers and the team members. This article will address the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a four-factor model within personality typology with a purpose to help indicate personal communication preferences by four letters. It is a useful tool when managing a project as the indicator helps to build communication patterns and ideally analyze and prevent sources of conflict within a team. [2] [3]
To start, this article will introduce some history on how the indicator was developed followed by the structure. Section 3 will describe how the MBTI can be applied and section 4 will discuss... not done
Contents |
History
The development of the MBTI began already in 1915 when Katharine Cook Briggs noticed how different her future son-in-law Clarence Myers was from her daughter Isabel. It inspired her to develop her own typology based on Jung's personality Theory of psychological types [4]
https://web.archive.org/web/20110628131304/https://www.cpp.com/pr/Fall03TYPEwriter.pdf
Structure
According to Myers and Briggs, the indicator are able to describe people's random behavior with four letters. The four letters are decided based on four different preferences which describes methods in which people chose to make decisions and interact with each other: Introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving. In each of the four pairs, every individual has a higher preference towards one of the options.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator.html https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/B9780128022191000109?token=AAC361BC8A8B05DC8C5A9AB522F3A154ADA3A288E5C4567E1D51C20214F3FA0BE596C27BEEEA2D69BD4EA13132C8CCA9&originRegion=eu-west-1&originCreation=20230215152033
The four letters
The 16 types
Application
This section will consist of a precise instruction on how to apply the tool
Outcomes of the tool
This section will discuss around the scientific results of the tools within project management. I will include some examples.
Discussion
There might be some limitations worth being noted and critically discussed. Examples will be included.
against: https://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5881947/myers-briggs-personality-test-meaningless
Alternative tools
- ↑ "A survey of Managerial Interest with Respect to Conflict", Thomas, K. W. and Schmidt, W. H.,Academy of Management Journal, (1976),19(2),315-318, https://doi-org.proxy.findit.cvt.dk/10.2307/255781
- ↑ Costello K., "The Myers-Briggs type indicator--a management tool", Nurs Manage, 1993 May;24(5):46-7, 50-1. PMID: 8265080.
- ↑ The Myers & Briggs Foundation, MBTI Basics, https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ (accessed 16.02.2023)
- ↑ "How the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Works", Cherry, K., URL: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583, (Accessed 15.02.2023)
