Dear Laurie,
As a prefatory note, you don’t look very punk rocker-ish which, for my money, is a much more satisfactory state of affairs.
I’m writing to solicit your opinion on the use of the Briggs-Myer and FIRO-B in a OD-team building day and half session for my employer which is a state special district. We’re a small group and I would be fairly described as low in rank and have little or no influence on operations or strategy; however, the session was mandatory for all 22 of us including a couple who are ranked even lower then I am. I am not in Human Resources.
Staff and board members (the latter did not participate in the team building session) took both tests via the internet and I am almost sure that an explanatory section assured us that individual results would not be identified as such. In other words, there would be no way that my results would be public knowledge or discussed. However, that’s exactly what happened. Everybody’s personal results were made public and something of synanon-like session was tacked on to the part of the Briggs-Myer fest. We are expected to do the FIRO-B part today and some of it has already taken place where small teams were asked to evaluate several anonymous FIRO-B profiles which turned out to be our own!
Would you consider this an ethical use of these tests? What legal obligation am I under to participate in this process, especially when I strenuously object to the public display of the test results, even if I thought they were accurate? The psychologist leading this exercise is a well-respected individual and has apparently written a couple of books on team building.
Thanks for any insight you might offer.
Regards.
- Anonymous
**
Dear Anonymous,
Oh boy, I feel your pain. I believe that personality tests in the workforce are bullshit. Plain & simple. Here are other things that I believe –
- I believe that it’s important to understand your strengths & weaknesses as a human being.
- I believe that it’s important for you to understand how your behaviors & actions impact your team.
- I believe in self-improvement.
- I believe that you can learn to be more self-aware and conscious of your behaviors through activities other than pseudo-Jungian psychology.
I haven’t found anyone who can clearly articulate the true difference between Myers-Briggs (which is rooted in a subjective, post-Freudian psychology) and astrology. You can cast my astrological chart as a Capricorn or you can call me an INFJ. There’s not much difference in the pseudo-scientific results from the MBTI exercise (in my humble and non-PhD opinion).
- For a discussion on the MBTI/Myers-Briggs test and its conflict with science and reason, you can visit the discussion board on the Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe.
Back to your questions:
- Your team building activity seems poorly executed, confusing & vague. (Go figure.) Generally, personal MBTI results are complied and presented to you in a private manner so you can review the data. The data of your team is aggregated and rolled up into a larger report that is used in a session to discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
As to the legality of being compelled to participate, I always defer to common sense. This is America and you are not required to participate in an activity and/or keep a job that you find objectionable or unethical. Unfortunately, your organization is not compelled to employ you as a low-ranking colleague (as you described yourself) if you’re not meeting performance expectations. Most companies link performance, funny enough, to the act of responding to the feedback from faux-scientific personality tests based on a flawed, oppressive, and subjective Jungian psychology.
For my money, the issues of team building and personality tests are smokescreens for a bigger discussion you should have with yourself. Is it time to look for a new job when time & effort at your current job is spent dissecting MBTI and FIRO-B results instead of focusing on activities that are linked to performance, your team’s abilities, and the financial results of the company?
I’d be curious to read comments from other HR bloggers & professionals. Evil HR Lady and HR Wench also provide excellent legal & technical HR advice.
Best of luck,
Laurie
PS – I’m age-appropriate punk rock, which really means that I’m lame and I wear comfortable shoes.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree – I don’t think there’s anything illegal about what was done. It was just stupid, that’s all. And there’s nothing illegal about being stupid (unfortunately) or a lack of common sense.
The company does not seem to have its priorities in order… unless one of their priorities is “Demoralizing their Staff.” Then they’re ACES!
Laurie, you do know that you rock, right?
This brings back bad memories for me as we had to have a ‘team building’ day of MBTI tests & analysis once, too.
I agree that these are spookily similar to astrology – If you put enough faith into learning all about ‘your type’, you might just find that you wind up acting the way that your type are supposed to. It scares me that so many otherwise sensible people place absolute confidence in them.
The thing is, results from these tests are exceptionally dependant upon context, which includes your present role. If you filled in the test while thinking about your home life, you’d probably get a different result to if you filled it in thinking about your position at work… And a different result again to if you filled it in 5 years ago.
If I’m being unusually optimistic, I *can* see that it’s useful to know your current rating & how you fit into the current team that you’re in. I don’t think, however, that anybody should make any long term career choices based on this stuff, and I even doubt its usefulness for picking people for new roles, personally…
Would there be any use in quietly registering your discomfort with your supervisor?
I mean I know everyone’s boss is different but if yours is reasonable quietly going to him/her and saying “I’m really uncomfortable with having the results of this test shared with my co-workers is there any way that we can avoid that?” might do something.
Or maybe it’ll just make your boss think you’re a big whiny baby… dunno.
Oh boy, comment spam!
I started having serious doubts about the MBTI when I took different versions of the test and got different results. Either these tests are less than precise, or I’m harboring multiple personalities.
@jensmack Thanks so much for the comment. You’re absolutely right about priorities. The company doesn’t seem to have them!
@Neil A friend of mine argues that it’s helpful to have lots of information about yourself. I think that’s true, yes, if the information is valid and reliable. It doesn’t hurt to be self-reflective, but I’m still not a fan of MBTI.
@Lexy I love the optimism inherent in your original question. Some supervisors are awesome and will say, “I know this is bullshit. Just do it and let’s go have a beer.”
@Perrik [Comment spam slipped past me. ("JOIN MY CULT.")] Practitioners of MBTI will have rationalizations for why you are expressing different preferences at different points in your career. I think they are full of it — although, as a side note, you MIGHT have multiple personalities. It could be the secret to your success.
Well, I’m a former, recovering, DiSC facilitator. That be said, DiSC, MBTI and all other diagnostic instruments that proudly proclaim your weaknesses are irrelevant. Now that I have recovered, I am joining and rejoining the cult of strengths.
Even old school Peter Drucker said, “Know your strengths. Apply them to areas in your organisation where you can make a contribution. Make sure your values and the values of the organisation are compatible.”
Along with my buddy Albert Einstien, “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”
That being said, it’s time to get over our assitude pessimistic focus on what’s wrong with ourselves, and focus on what is right and best with ourself.
@RMS I’m glad you are on the road to recovery. These tests seem to measure the obvious. I wish someone would come up with a test that tells me when, precisely, I will win the Mega Millions. That’s a test I could endorse. PS – I totally agree with focusing on what’s right about ourselves. This is exactly why feedback, especially the kind that’s negative and really depressing, totally sucks.
“…my employer which is a state special district” Our tax dollars at work. Yay.
I’m going to develop a new team building exercise that goes like so: “Look: we are all wonderfully simple and complex at the same time. Be nice to each other. Do the right thing. Now let’s all eat some really tastey nachos and then take the rest of the day off.”
If you’re springing for nachos, Wenchie, we might as well get some pizza.
I have to ask, why does the reader even care? Of all the things to complain about at work this would be at the very bottom of my list.
Why is the sky blue? Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near, Rachel? There are no answers. People just love asking questions. It’s like the guy in IT who asked me the same question every year at the holiday party. “If I fall down and break a leg right now, this is covered by work comp, right?”
The answer is no, it’s not a mandatory party, and you’re not on company property. But fine, whatevs, we’ll play this game.
Personality and style assessments do have some useful purposes, but the key is,
Dan, I’m not sure I agree. It’s one thing if the assessments are valid (are they?), but much of the work done in the OE/OD space is built upon faith-based psychology and hermeneutics of human behavior that are skewed towards a certain agenda (pro-employer, pro-increased-productivity, squashing any sense of individualism, creativity, and personal entrepreneurialism).
Any instrument that leads to greater understanding of oneself is great, but that’s why people have therapists. Work is work. Team building exercises with a Jungian bias don’t seem very useful to me, but maybe I’m in denial and I’m transferring my anxiety onto the test instead of dealing with my inability to relate to my inner-mother-figure.
I just feel that many of these instruments are pseudo-psychological tool kits, created by savvy (& bored) psychologists with awesome marketing skills.
I am sad that you seem to have such a negative view of the MBTI (or valid personality assessments as a whole).
First off, as a Qualified MBTI practitioner, I can advise that a company should not (by MBTI’s ethical practices) force you to participate in the feedback of the MBTI, and the same goes for the FIRO-B. Additionally, the facilitator should let you know that your results should remain confidential, unless you choose to discuss your results with others. Your manager should not receive a copy of the results unless you approve it.
Now, onto the topic of assessments in general. I am FASCINATED when people associate the MBTI with astrology. Has Astrology ever been validated and deemed reliable by vigorous psychometric tests? More often than not, people are simply afraid of personality assessments because there are many out there that give the good ones a bad name. The MBTI is based on solid psychological theory that has been tested over time and validated in thousands of studies. In addition, brain chemicals have been shown to be connected with various preferences defined by the MBTI. Does that sound like a horoscope to you? Is it interesting to you that the vast majority of executives are ESTJ’s or ENTJ’s? What does that say? Does it say something about how those individuals view the world, organize their lives, and make decisions or is it just a random occurance? Are most CEO’s Capricorns? Doubtful.
Why would self-insight ever be a bad thing? The MBTI is all about learning about your preferences, and furthering your development as an individual by strengthening the areas that are not your natural preferences. Again, how is that a bad thing? Should you instead spend your time on the “Fish Program” and learn that throwing things in the office makes real conflict and issues dissappear?
The MBTI is not the result…the MBTI is the process by which we all examine ourselves. The MBTI opens the dialogue about individual differences and poor communucation. Most importantly, the MBTI gives everyone a common language for discovering differences and working through ways to build common ground and compromise.
Again, how is that a bad thing?
The FIRO-B addresses the occasional mis-match between our interpersonal needs and the signals we give others. Do we take on management roles, but despise having control? Do we wish people would include us more, but never show up to the event? These mis-matches create conflict on an interpersonal level. The best way to discuss these conflicts is in action….but how do you start the conversation without understanding ourselves, our preferences, and the preferences of others.
Again, the assessment is not the enemy. The enemy can be the way the assessments are used. I am equally against companies who simply administer the MBTI and don’t explain why it would be beneficial for everyone. I am VERY against companies giving a 2 hour debrief session of an MBTI assessment, and then never discussing it again or building individual development plans around them.
Finally, to the poster who mentioned that her MBTI type changes, I am curious whether or not you took the AUTHENTIC MBTI assessment. There are literally thousands of knock-offs that are neither reliable or valid. For all I know, high schoolers who are bored and have a computer are making these up for funsies. Take the official MBTI online with a full debrief session at http://www.mbticomplete.com. Your true internal preferences never change. The same way if you are right-handed you will ALWAYS be right-handed. Now, if you break your right hand you will adapt and begin using your left hand. It will be akward, take longer, and your work will be messy….but you will do it. Over time, your skills will develop using your left hand and you can function using it very well. However, given a choice, you will automatically use your right hand.
If you really understand what the MBTI is about, you will view it as more than a “pseudo science.”
Breanne, this is awesome.
1. Thanks for coming to my site. I really love this response because it’s thoughtful & engaging.
2. It sounds like you’re a believer in the MBTI program, and I’m not going to change your mind. (I won’t try!
)
3. I’m not sure that MBTI has been deemed ‘reliable’ by a scientific body. Just because it correlates with brainwaves & chemicals doesn’t mean that MBTI is accurate. That being said, I’m sure there are universal qualities and preferences (archetypes) that are consistent with roles (i.e., CEOs are ENFJs) — but is that the condition of a ‘natural preference’ or a condition of the way the test is constructed?
3. AOL astrology tells me that, as a Capricorn, I should go into Banking, manufacturing and building. Those choices sound more appropriate than the INFJ career choices that are given to me here. Also, I don’t feel like an INFJ but the MBTI certified consultant told me, yes, I am an INFJ. My I is a preference and by E tendencies are more stylistic. I’m not sure that rings true with me, either.
4. Self-insight is never a bad thing, but I’m always skeptical of the mechanisms that are sold to companies to solicit the aforementioned insight. Furthermore, I don’t believe that your true internal preferences never change. Since when are internal preferences so absolute? Is that a fact?
I’m really glad you came by, Breanne. If you have a blog or contact information where people can reach you for more information on your services (or to continue the discussion), feel free to leave that information in the comments.
Laurie, thank you for the compliment! I have been reading your blog and while I’m aure we’d disagree on some issues related to personality assessments, we certainly do have many opinions in common. I would be thrilled to be linked to your blog. I have enjoyed a full night of reading the other linked blogs and have been highly entertained.
Sadly, I believe that you received a poor feedback session from an MBTI practitioner. The MBTI assessment report is not the final result. A true MBTI feedback session allows you to decide what your final preferences are. The assessment itself can only be as effective as an individual is honest. In addition, sometimes people are mis-guided by “playing a part” when answering or answering as they believe others want them to. This is why I always walk through the preferences and have a person talk through what they really believe is their “shoes off self.”
Partially because there is no way to control the performance of MBTI practitioners, CPP (the publisher of the MBTI) released the MBTI Complete which includes the MBTI form M assessment and an online e-learning platform for verifying your type. I highly suggest it!
I will send you my contact information, and would love to be a resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the MBTI, and I love a good healthy debate! I’m energized by your critical thinking and questioning and appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts here!