Revision as of 01:14, 26 November 2014

Introduction

The number and variety of systems and their relationship and dependencies have increase and hereby increased the complexity of projects, for instance in construction, business development, production or technology development. This development entails the need of a brought knowledge, which has increased the focus on project groups with interdisciplinary expertise. These modern working processes of temporary project groups have renewed the attention of group dynamics and methods of group formation, in order to assign successful project group with high performance.

To manage or work within a temporary project group effectively, is it important to understand the group members and their behavior of perception and judging; how the different group members are taking in information and making decisions. Every person has a certain way of behavior utilizing their brain and it is important to understand how to make use of these skills or how to interact with different team members. Furthermore is it inevitable of managers to how groups are developing and how the members are interacting with each other in the different phases. With this knowledge it is possible to form good teams and assigning them to the right tasks, not just on behalf of their expertise, but on behalf of the individual profiles and behavior.

This article will explain the definition of a group and the group’s processes and stages it is running through in the development. Furthermore will this it explain the different personality types based on the theory from Carl Jung and Myers Briggs.

Groups and Group Processes

Groups are systems that create, organize, and sustain interaction among the members. The main purpose of teams is to make decisions; there will be a discussion of decision-making and then an examination of the process within teams when they are making decision. This group process is the interaction of individual members of a team different than the sum of the individuals that make up the team. It is crucial to know how to set up and manage a project group so the contribution to the organisation of the team is greater than the sum of the individual input.^[1]

According to the Business Dictionary is a working group defined as following;

“A collection of individuals that come together to achieve a stated objective. In a business context, a working group might involve people from different divisions or even companies that are collaborating on a project that requires their particular expertise or time. ^[2]

Different definition of a group is referring to a group of people with collective fate or a group of people with a face-to-face interaction. Furthermore is the evolvement of the group is very essential part of the group definition. Sets of relationships are developing in the group process and people begin to adopt certain roles within the group, for example the chair, the secretary and a social worker who looks after the pattern of relating in order to prevent or resolve interpersonal conflicts.^[3] A group will have more information when the information of its individuals is pooled and we may usually expect that groups will solve more problems or produce better solution. ^[4]

Marjorie E. Shaw’s article “A Comparison of Individuals and Small Groups in the Rational Solution of Complex Problems” (1932) was a highly influential social psychological empirical study on small group performance and has shown that more intellectual problems will be solve by a group than if individuals is set to solve the problem. Though will the group process take longer time in order to achieve a solution, which is caused by social loafing in the group development and the complexity of the communication between the group members, as they interact in seeking to find a solution. As the cost and the time taken is higher than the individual working process, the organisation should only use groups when the decision does not have to be taken very quickly and where the benefits to the organisation of good decisions outweighs the extra cost.^[4]

Group Dynamics

Group Dynamics is a system of behaviours and psychological processes occurring within or between groups, referring to the intragroup and intergroup dynamics. The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies.[WIKIPEDIA, 1] Furthermore is these studies very important and useful in order to manage a project groups.

Kurt Lewin was the first one who used the phrase group dynamics to describe the powerful processes that take place in groups. Group dynamics describes the way groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances and the influential interpersonal processes that take place in groups. The underlying processes give rise to a set of norms, roles, relations, and common goals that characterize a particular social group. (LEWIN)

There are many models used to describe team dynamics. Many of them describe the psychological aspects of group dynamics such as:

• Group dynamics (Lewin) which considers how people interact and the common perceptions that arise within a group.

• Psychoanalysis (Freud and Bion) which is concerned with the (natural) defensive behaviours of team members.
• FIRO/Human Elements (Schutz) which considers the compatibility between people using behaviours of inclusion, control, openness, and how those behaviours relate to inner feelings of significance, competence, and likeability.
• The Tuckman model considers four stages of development for a team - forming, storming, norming, and performing.
• Team Roles such as MTR-i or Belbin examine how team performance is related to nine psychological roles taken by different team members.
• Personality type theories, such as Myers Briggs, Disc, Herrmann Brain Dominance, consider how the different preferences of team members affect their interactions and team performance.
• Team Islands and In/Out groups, showing how sub-teams can form as a result of members having different characteristics or being separated by a geographical boundary

Problems occurring from bad group dynamics can come from weak leadership, too much deference to authority, blocking, groupthink and free riding, among others. To tackle these obstacles and to strengthen your team's dynamics it is important to know your team, define roles and responsibilities, break down barriers and focus on communication. [ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/improving-group-dynamics.htm] To do so it is important to understand some of the fundamental models mentioned above. This article is therefore explaining the development of a group on behalf Tuckmans theory, and clarify what type of persons the team is consisting of by utilizing Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Group Development

Groups are living system and under constant development, which are patterns of growth and change that emerge across the group´s life span. A holistic perspective on groups prompted researchers to examine how a group, as a unit, changes over time. Bruce W. Tuckman’s theory of group development, for example, assumes that most groups move through the five stages summarized in FigureXX (Tuckman, 1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977).

The first stage of the group development is the forming stage, where the group members become oriented toward one another. In next stage, storming, conflicts surface in the group as members vie for status and the group sets its goals. These conflicts subside when the group becomes more structured and standards emerge in the norming stage. In the performing stage, the group moves beyond disagreement and organizational matters to concentrate on the work to be done. The group continues to function at this level until a change in the group occurs, which can lead to a new storming and norming phase. The adjourning stage is describing the behaviour when a group member is close to leaving the project or when the project group is disbanding. Groups also tend to cycle repeatedly through some of these stages, as group members strive to maintain a balance between task-oriented actions and emotionally expressive behaviours (Bales, 1965). A group, in a real sense, is alive: It acquires energy and resources from its environment, maintains its structure, and evolves over time.

In order to ease the storming phase and increase the performance and effectiveness of the team it is important to understand the behaviours and types of the different individual group members. There different methods to verify the different personality types, which mostly are based on the theory of Carl Jung and Meyers-Briggs.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - MBTI

The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire in order to identify the different personality types of people. The MBTI provides a framework to measure the preferences in how people are perceive the world and make decisions. The results identify valuable differences of human behavior, which can be the source of much misunderstanding and miscommunication. The questionnaire is created by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, which is based on Carl Jung’s complex theory of psychological types. [1] The MBTI is based on four principal psychological functions by which we experience the world. According to Carl G. Jung's theory of psychological types [Jung, 1971], people can be characterized by their preference of the general attitude and the four function of perception and the function of judging (Sensing, Intuition, Thinking and Feeling)

• Attitude: Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I)

• Perception: Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N),
• Judging: Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)

The three areas of preferences introduced by Jung are dichotomies (i.e. bipolar dimensions where each pole represents a different preference). Isabel Briggs Myers proposed to see the judging-perceiving relationship as a fourth dichotomy influencing personality type [Briggs Myers, 1980]:

• J-P relationship: Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

The eight mental functions-in-attitude

Figure X are illustrating the different way of basic mental processes of information and decisions, which Myers-Briggs and Jung´s theory is explaining.

Extraversion People who prefer extraversion focus their energy and attention outwards and are interested in world of people, things and events. These type of persons are aware of who and what is around them, enjoy meetings and talking with new people. They are friendly, often verbally skilled and easy to know. Extrovert people tend to speak out easily and often at meetings, and may not be aware of what is going on inside themselves.

Introversion People who prefer introversion focus their energy and attention inward and are interested in the inner world of thoughts, feelings and reflections. They are usually very aware of their inner reactions and prefer to interact with people they know. These persons are often quiet in meetings and seem uninvolved and are often reserved and harder to get to know. Introvert people may not be aware of the outer world around them.

Sensing People who prefer sensing prefer to take in information using their five senses – sight, sound, feel, smell and taste. They see and collect facts and details, and are practical and realistic. People with the preference of sensing take one step at a time and are specific and literal when speaking, writing and listening. They live in the present, dealing with the here and now.

Intuition People who prefer intuition go beyond what is real or concrete and focus on meaning, association and relationships. They see patterns, possibilities, connestions and meaning in information. People who prefer intuition are conceptual and abstract. They speak and write in general metaphorical terms and live in the future with possibilities.

Thinking People who prefer thinking make their decisions based on impersonal, objective logic. They use logic to solve the problem, assess pros and cons. Thinking people focus on problems, tasks, facts and the principles, and are good at analysing a situation. They may overlook the personal impact of decisions their emotions or those of others

Feeling People who prefer feeling make their decisions with a person-centered, value-based process. They use their personal values to understand the situation and focus on the values of the group or organisation. Feeling people are good in understanding people and their viewpoint, and concentrate on relationships and harmony. They may overlook logical consequences of individual decisions.

Judging People who prefer judging want to be organised and orderly, and look at the world and see decisions that need to be made. Judging people like to make plans, follow them and get things settled and finished. Their environments have to be structured and with clear limits. They enjoy being decisive and organising others. People who prefer judging handle deadlines and time limits comfortably and plan ahead to avoid last minute rushes.

Perceiving People who prefer Perceiving seek to experience the world and not to organise it. They look at the world and see options that need to be explored. Perceiving people like tp respond resourcefully to changing situations and like to leave things open, gather more information and be flexible towards their environment, why they don´t like to make decisions. They dislike rules and limits and tend to think that there is plenty of time to do things, which leads that they often have to rush to complete their task at the last minute. All possible variations of preferences in the 4 dichotomies above contain 16 different combinations, or personality types. These personality types are representing which of the two poles in each of the four dichotomies dominates in a person. Each personality type can be assigned a 4 letter acronym of corresponding combination of preferences.

The 16 MBTI types

The Myers-Briggs Foundation are presenting a detailed description of the behaviour of the 16 different personalities types. The table below are reflecting the key elements of different types and their role, which is conducted of the description and tables of the types.

table continues for all 16 types

Benefits of MBTI

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most popular and respected personality type tools in the world. The tool, helps people easily understand why differences arise at home and in the workplace. It is an easy to understand framework which helps to build relationships and teams”

As a leader, manager or HR Professional, one of your foundational strengths is the depth of your own self-awareness and awareness of how other’s tick. You know the key to motivating people is being completely open and transparent and being able to be yourself, which in turn allows your team to follow suit.

The MBIT assessment has been utilized in Education, Career conseling, Personal and spiritual growth, family relationships and health care delivery. But this method had also a great impact in organizational development through building high performing teams, developing leaders, managing professional development and performance improvement, boosting retention, implementing change, developing sales forces and improving customer service. [ http://mbtitoday.org/about-the-mbti-indicator/#sthash.6PZsXl6A.dpuf] Being a professional implies to know oneself and to be able to deal with differences. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator leads to understand your type, to use differences as an asset and to help better work together.

The tool was engineered in the US after the second World War and has been studied ever since in order to validate its efficiency. The use of MBTI is recommended for any team or individually to better understand your strengths. [2]

• Helps reading people easily
• Better understanding and use of differences
• Dissociation from certain conflicts
• Better collaboration
• Use of a common language

Diskussion of Usebility

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References

1. ↑ P.D. Kitchin (2010).An Introduction to Organisational Behaviour for Managers and Engineers (UK:Elsevier)
2. ↑ BusinessDictionary.com,http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/working-group.html#ixzz3JtrozC9d]
3. ↑ Forsynth, D.R.(2006).Group Dynamics, Fourth Edition, Chapter 1 (USA:Thomson Wadsworth)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} M.E. Shaw (1932).A Comparison of Individuals and Small Groups in the Rational Solution of Complex Problems. American Journal of Psychology 44,419-504