Understanding Psychological Type to Improve Project Team Performance

Abstract

Individuals with different personalities approach an engineering project in different ways. These differences can cause tension and problems on projects by contributing to misunderstandings. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based on Jung's classic psychological theories, can provide valuable insight into individual preferences for taking in information, organizing and evaluating that information, reaching conclusions, and dealing with the outer world. These characteristics, all relevant to conducting project work, are described by the following four preference scales: extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving. Each of these preference scales is described. Example situations whereby these differences impact project performance are presented, as well as information on how to deal with these impacts. Understanding and accepting individual differences in these preferences can improve project performance. Data on the predominant preferences of project personnel in consulting engineering firms are presented and the ramifications are discussed.