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Session 1706

A Study of the Effect of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator on Team Effectiveness

Tricia Varvel, M.S., Stephanie G. Adams, Ph.D. and Shelby J. Pridie, B.S. University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

Competitiveness in the business world has led to a great need for increased productivity. One way that companies, as well as academic institutions, have tried to meet this need is by using teams. However, many of the promised gains of using teams have not yet been fulfilled. This research sought to find a way to make teams more effective by considering and utilizing each team member’s psychological type information.

Specifically, students in engineering senior design classes were given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test (MBTI) in the first week of their teaming experience. Half of the students then received the Myers-Briggs psychological type training. The training discusses various strengths and weaknesses of each type, as well as how each type might function in a teaming environment. At the end of the semester, team effectiveness was rated in two ways. The first measure was the grade the team received in their senior design class, while the second measure involved the Team Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ). The TEQ allows a team to rate its own effectiveness by answering a number of questions regarding different team related issues.

This research study sought to test whether psychological type training had an effect on the effectiveness of a team.

Introduction

A team in the workforce is often formed according to the technical knowledge of its members. Little is known, however, regarding the non-technical factors that determine team performance above and beyond individual competency1. When a team fails, “problems are often blamed on ‘poor communications,’ an overly broad label for a range of personality differences that can create tensions and misunderstandings2.” Most managers agree that people rarely fail due to a lack of knowledge, skills, or intelligence, but invariably fail because they are unsuitable in terms of temperament and motivation3.

The recent proliferation of teams in the work environment has led researchers to examine the relationships between various team characteristics and different measures of effectiveness. The goal of many researchers in this area is to develop recommendations for the design of work teams to enhance the likelihood that they will be effective4. Unfortunately, there has been little

Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education

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Varvel, T., & Adams, S. (2003, June), A Study Of The Effect Of The Myers Briggs Type Indicator Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11800