Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)

 

 

What is the MBTI®?

 

The MBTI is a self-report questionnaire designed to make Carl G. Jung’s theory of psychological types understandable and useful in everyday life. MBTI results identify valuable differences between normal, healthy people, differences that can be the source of much misunderstanding and miscommunication.

 

 

How would taking the MBTI® inventory be useful to me?

 

Taking the MBTI inventory and receiving feedback will help you identify your unique gifts. The information enhances understanding of yourself, your motivations, your natural strengths, and your potential areas for growth. It will also help you appreciate people who differ from you. Understanding your MBTI type is self-affirming and encourages cooperation with others.

 

 

How is MBTI® useful in the organizational context?

 

MBTI has been used for individual career development. It has also been used as a basic tool in a wide variety of development and training programs focused on organizational effectiveness.

 

In short, MBTI when appropriately used in the organizational context can potentially enhance the organization’s level of productivity. Practical benefits of MBTI include enhanced teamwork, project management, communication and time-management. These in turn can translate to greater productivity and greater profitability.

 

A number of qualities account for the MBTI usefulness as a basic tool in employee development:

• MBTI results and interpretation focus on how people take in information (perception) and how they prioritize that information to make decisions (judgment) – basic personality facets that underlie most work tasks and training.
• MBTI type enhances people’s clarity and comfort with their own work-styles while constructively identifying possible blind spots and areas of vulnerability.
• Type theory and the MBTI give a logical, coherent structure for understanding normal differences among people in a host of other work-related activities: communication styles, teamwork, project management, time management, preferred supervision style and work environment responses, responses and needs during organizational change, preferred learning styles, and many more.
• Type theory presents a dynamic picture of individual functioning, including recognition of the dominant functioning as the basis of motivation and identification of customary responses to stress.
• Type theory outlines a model of lifelong individual development, and the MBTI identifies likely paths for development, useful with work groups and in coaching individual leaders and managers.
• The MBTI provides a perspective and data for analyzing organizational culture, management structures, and other organizational systems.
• The MBTI and supporting type resources demonstrate the value added by diversity within the organization or work group. This ethic – the constructive use of differences – is particularly applicable in today’s global and diverse organizations.

These powerful potentials of the MBTI and psychological type results when practitioners administer the instruments appropriately, interpret results correctly, lead clients through a process of verifying their type, and add the depth inherent in the dynamic Jungian theory of personality.

 

 

What purposes have the MBTI been used for?

 

After more than 50 years of research and development, the current MBTI is the most widely used instrument for understanding normal personality differences. Because it explains basic patterns in human functioning, the MBTI is used for a wide variety of purposes including the following:

• Self-understanding and development
• Career development and exploration
• Organizational development
• Team building
• Management and leadership training
• Problem solving
• Relationship counseling
• Education and curriculum development
• Academic counseling
• Diversity and multicultural training

 

 

Which are some of the organizations that have used MBTI® to improve organizational effectiveness?

 

These are some of the organizations that have used MBTI® to improve organizational effectiveness: Aviva Asia Pte Ltd, The Boston Consulting Group, Centre for Effective Leadership, DDI Asia/ Pacific International Ltd, Ministry of Defence (Singapore), United Overseas Bank Group, INSEAD, Qantas Australia, Telstra, Australian Taxation Office, Australia Post, etc.

 

 

I wish to take a MBTI® inventory, how do I do so?

 

You may approach an administrator who is MBTI® Accredited to take a MBTI® inventory. The accredited administrator is qualified to administer the MBTI inventory and interpret the MBTI results.

Ms Cheng Pei Yun is an accredited administrator of MBTI®. For more information, please contact her at [email protected]

 

How long does it take to have a MBTI Inventory taken?

It takes approximately 2 – 2.5 hours to administer a MBTI Inventory and to interpret the results.

All participants who take the MBTI inventory will be given a personal copy of Introduction to type®, or an alternative set of descriptions of all 16 types.

Introduction to Type® serves as an interpretation and verification tool. It provides additional information that can be useful in helping a client verify his or her type. The following areas are covered:

 

·        The mutual usefulness of opposite types

·        The effects of preferences in work situations

·        The effects of different pairings of the preferences

·        Type and career choice

·        Type and problem solving

·        Type and relationships

 

Introduction to Type® also contains full-page type descriptions of all the 16 types. Each full-page type description describes one type at its best, gives the characteristics of people of that type, describes how others see people of this type, and discusses potential areas for growth within the type. All 16 describe type as exemplified by normal, well-balanced, effective people.

 

In theoretical terms, the descriptions assume adequate development of two processes, the dominant and the auxiliary. However, the section of the type descriptions that discusses potential areas for growth includes information about the possible effects of lack of development of the auxiliary function and the dominant function, as well as a brief description of the natural consequences of devoting less energy to the tertiary and inferior function.

                                              

 

For more information:

 

For more information, please contact Ms Cheng Pei Yun at [email protected]

 

 

References

Myers, I. B., with Kirby, L. K. & Myers, K. D. (1998). Introduction to type® (6^th ed.). Palo, CA: CPP Inc.

Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, Hammer (2003). MBTI Manual. Palo Alto, CA: CPP, Inc.