What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the typological theories of Carl Jung. It describes an individual’s personality profile by using their preferences to 4 areas.
In a similar way to left or right-handedness, the principle is that individuals also find certain ways of thinking and acting easier than others. The MBTI endeavours to sort some of these psychological opposites into four opposite pairs, or dichotomies, with a resulting 16 possible combinations. None of these combinations is 'better' or 'worse', everyone has an overall combination that is most comfortable for them: in the same way as writing with the left hand is hard work for a right-hander. Therefore people tend to find using their opposite psychological preference more difficult, even if they can become more proficient (and therefore behaviourally flexible) with practice and development.
What are the uses of Myers Briggs Type Indicator?
After more than 50 years, the MBTI instrument continues to be one of the most trusted and widely used assessments for understanding individual differences and uncovering new ways to work and interact with others. One of the practical applications of the MBTI and understanding these preferences is in supporting better Teamwork. Differences in these mental preferences lead to quite different value structures and communication styles, which can hamper mutual understanding and cooperation. MBTI can be introduced into an organization to support many different functions and situations including managing others, development of leadership skills, organising tasks, creation and management of teams, training for management and staff, conflict resolution, motivation, executive coaching, diversity, recognition and rewards, and change management.
MBTI’s value comes from understanding the behavior of individuals and why we are what we are.
It is useful in supporting Belbin because it describes people’s behaviors in how they prefer to do things, where as Belbin describes their preference as to what role they would prefer to be in, not necessarily how they would do that role.
