Can
Personality
Impact Productivity?
The way individuals
work together — or don’t — can either maximize productivity or sabotage it.
How you interact with others
depends on your personality type. In the book, Type Talk At Work, Otto Kroeger and Janet
Thuesen present the principles of "type-watching" in the workplace and explain
the impact of personality on successful team-building.
In his 1923 book, Psychological
Types, Carl Jung suggested that human behavior was predictable, not random. And if
behavior was predictable, it was also classifiable. Katherine Briggs, a student of
Jung’s, became dedicated to validating his theories of behavior and making them more
fathomable to the non-scientist. She and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, after years of
gathering empirical data, developed a psychological instrument to measure personality
preferences that, in turn, could be used to predict behavior. This instrument is known as
the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The results can be used to promote team building by
under-standing individual differences and using them constructively to maximize your
team’s potential.
There are four personality
preference pairs (extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling,
judging or perceiving) and 16 possible personality types based on combinations of one
element from each of the four pairs. The way an individual answers a series of questions
determines his four-trait personality type.
Extraverts tend to shoot from the
hip. They throw out ideas and see what sticks, while introverts will reflect and remain
aloof, keeping their ideas and thoughts to themselves.
Sensors deal in the here and now.
They rely on data, remain focused, and make no decision before its time. Their opposite,
intuitives, have a tendency to visualize endless possibilities. They experience the world
around them but do not attempt to interpret any specific meaning from it.
Thinkers are objective and make
their decisions based on the logical solution. They tend not to consider others in their
conclusions. Feelers on the other hand want everyone to live in harmony; they spend a lot
of time trying to satisfy everyone.
Judgers want organization and
clearly defined rules and objectives. They prefer schedules and tend not to be flexible,
while perceivers will have many things going at the same time. They don’t see the
importance of pursuing a specific direction but rather leave themselves open to new input.
You can see from this brief
explanation how different personality preferences could act upon your management
team’s ability to work together successfully. During a business meeting, for example,
your extraverts will have a tendency to dominate the discussion while your introverts will
remain quiet and process information internally. Your sensors will not make decisions
until they have sufficient data to support their positions. They will stick to the facts.
Your intuitives will travel down every unexplored path; they are your visionaries. You
need all types for balance.
By using the results of the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, you will be able develop your management team, complement
their differences, and maximize productivity.
For more information on the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, contact Otto Kroeger Associates at 3605-C Chain Bridge Road,
Department B, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, (703) 591-MBTI (6284).
Kathleen "Kelly" Bergeron is executive vice president and chief of staff of
Associated Industries of Florida and affiliated companies (e-mail: kbergeron @aif.com).
July/August 1999 -- Florida Business Insight, PO Box 784,
Tallahassee, Fla. 32302, (850)224-7173, insight@aif.com
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