IDENTIFYING AND APPRECIATING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: THE MBTI APPROACH

Obviously, teams are collections of individuals. To communicate effectively, it is crucial for the project manager to develop the ability to perceive the different personal styles on the team. The project manager will then be able to tailor communication approaches to the styles of the individual team members.

There are many ways to assess the style and personality of project team members. One conceptual framework that can be useful when considering individual differences is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Based on the work of Carl Jung (1971), the MBTI describes various components of personal styles. Jung believed that individuals vary in how they approach and perceive the world. In today’s world of work, the MBTI is used extensively with teams, both as a team-building instrument and as a method for discovering the different communication styles present on a team (Hammer 1996).

The MBTI may be administered in a number of formats by certified practitioners. Some teams prefer to take the instrument via various online assessment forms; other teams prefer to take it in a shortened, hard copy form during team meetings.

In essence, the MBTI measures an individual’s preferences among four pairs of qualities or preferences:

• Extravert or Introvert. The extraverted focus applies to individuals who get energized by a significant amount of interaction with the outside world. This type of individual enjoys an action orientation in life and becomes bored if things move too slowly.

In contrast, the introverted individual is energized by reflective activities away from lots of outside stimulation. This type of person enjoys being involved in tasks where they can really immerse themselves in the depth and the details of the issue.

• Sensing or Intuition. The person with a sensing preference looks at the world from a pragmatic, concrete, and immediate frame of reference. The sensing person prefers to use the five senses to attend to the world with a present-tense focus aimed at solving problems that can be scored, measured, or quantified.

The intuitive person, on the other hand, prefers to look at a problem with more of a big-picture focus, eyeing future possibilities and trends. This person enjoys insights and abstract-based activities and has less interest in the concrete present than the sensing person does.

• Thinking or Feeling. The individual with a thinking-based decision-making style likes to look at the logical and rational components of the issue and make a decision that is supported by facts, analysis, and numbers.

The feeling-based decision maker, in contrast, makes decisions “with the heart.” The feeling person prefers to consider values, beliefs, and personal feelings—types of “information” that are much more subjective in nature.

• Judging or Perceiving. The person with a judging approach prefers to use an orderly approach to plan and structure activities and events. The judging person seeks to achieve closure on tasks and is generally quite goal-oriented.

The perceiving person, conversely, wants to approach the world in a less structured manner, leaving things more to chance while displaying comfort with flexibility and responding to whatever comes up in the moment. Perceivers are often viewed as curious and willing to engage in many activities simultaneously.