Is Personality Typing Used In IT?

Hades- writes: "I'm a dual major at Penn State in a dual major consisting of Computer Engineering and the IST. In one of the entry-level courses of the IST program we have been discussing the Meyers Briggs Personality Indicator and its usefulness. I've written a brief paper on the subject over the past week and now I wanted to see what you, the Slashdot community thinks of this test. The test judges your personality type by answering quite a few questions. The result is a 4-letter personality type. These results can give you some sort of guidance towards a career. However, in this class we've been concentrating on group work. These tests can show who the leader, and what parts other people should be fitting to in the model. My real question is, are any of the technology companies actually using these tests? Are they optional or required? It also brings up a good point in how it would work on different kinds of open source projects by placing some people into positions and the like." Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators ^[?] have been around for quite a while, however I'm not aware of anyone using the results of these tests in any form of project management. Do you think these tests have any value and should they have any impact on the direction of one's career?

Comments

Meyers Briggs weaknesses

[jordang]

I'm a sysadmin with a degree in Psychology. The Meyers Briggs personality inventory, while fun to play with, is about as accurate and incisive as a horoscope. It is an overly simplified and extremely large grained multiple choice personality inventory that can place the subject into one of 16 personality 'types' based on 4 broad categories (introverted / extroverted, thinking / feeling etc) and is prone to subject induced biases as well.

If you are looking for a comprensive personality inventory, this is not it. Try an MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) as well as TIT and TAT (thematic inventories that do not rely on multiple choice answers, rather a psychologist grades respsonses to set images to deduce one's personality traits)

Would I use the results of an MB inventory in a hiring decision? No way. It may be more useful in finding an intial 'place' for someone, but I would be very cautious so as not to pigeonhole them based on what a personality inventory thinks they would do best in.

Jordan

professional use vs. self-understanding

[OblongPlatypus]

I took a Meyers-Briggs test on the web a while ago, just out of curiosity, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of the result. I read a couple of pages long description of my personality type, and I definitely recognized myself in it. It really helped me in some ways, since I've always thought of my own personality as very different from most others. I'm an INTJ, and although they say that's a rare type, I take comfort in knowing that 1% of the population is at least somewhat similar to myself.

Of course, it may not be quite so accurate for everyone. Either way, I personally wouldn't condone using it in any professional situation, for the simple reason that it would create an unnatural work environment. If all employees know that they've been selected for their task based on a supposedly accurate test, they might (consciously or subconsciously) end up with a way too optimistic attitude, in a way trusting their personalities to do the work for them. (Frankly, I'm in danger of becoming too cocky myself, with a personality type dubbed 'Mastermind' by the Keirsey personality sorter.)

Binary and dangerous

[ErfC]

The biggest problem with the MB test is that the results are presentes as a set of four letters, with no indication of your score. I took the test twice, a few years apart, and three of the letters completely reversed. (These were two different tests, but I think I might have changed a bit in the interim as well, hard to say.) The thing is, on those three indices I scored pretty much in the middle of the scale. On one I was exactly even -- I forget which one, but it's as if I was as much I as E or something -- and it just labelled me as the default. And on many questions whether I picked A or B was a arbitrary -- either would apply (or neither, at times). This is completely hidden in the way the scores are presented.

If the test is going to be used for anything serious, I hope (a) the test is a long one (many questions, better stats), and (b) the *scores* are presented for each scale, not just the final set of four numbers.

-Erf C.

Personality tests...

[abernathy]

About ten years ago, I and the rest of my coworkers took one of these at the urging of my boss. It seemed to help the boss out immensely in coming to understand that she was a really truly helpful and thoughtful and caring manager. I have no idea how much money the thing cost, but the tester seemed preternaturally elated to help administer the test and to counsel us later, so she must have been a few grand into us.

You can take the Meyers-Briggs online at: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm and a bunch of other places. This is just the first one I could find.

The Meyers-Briggs is based on self-reporting of mental dispositions, which makes it immediately dubious psychometry. It can only be safely said that the Meyers-Briggs describes what people THINK they are like, rather than being a good indicator of any true nature. (This being said, while people are frequently unreliable self-reporters, they often get it right.) Likewise, the simple fact that it's based on the work of Carl Jung causes a hail of red flags as well.

The Meyers-Briggs gives you four attributes with polar axes. If your boss is keen to discriminate against you because you're an ESTJ or an INFP, you have bigger problems than personality tests. Take the test for the sole purpose of humoring your boss. If you don't like the process, wrench the data. If you think you're going to be reassigned based on the results of the test, do yourself a favor and reassign yourself to another employer.