Question

What are the various methods for assessing personality types? What are the pros/cons of these methods?
What is their value to the development, formation, and management of project teams and how does it help a project manager and motivate the project team?
Finally, what are the shortcomings of these tools in business?

Answer 1

• Personality assessment makes use of various methods ranging from self report inventories to projective measures.
• 1.An objective test is a psychological test that measures an individual’s characteristics in a way that isn’t influenced by the examiner’s own beliefs; in this way, they are said to be independent of rater bias. They usually involve the administration of a bank of questions that are marked and compared against standardized scoring mechanisms, in much the same way that school exams are administered.
• The most common form of objective test in personality psychology is the self-report measure. Self-report measures rely on information provided directly by participants about themselves or their beliefs through a question-and-answer format.
• There are a number of test formats, but each one requires respondents to provide information about their own personality. They typically use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, which represent a range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)
• Some of the more widely used personality self-report measures are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Neo Pi-R, MMPI/MMPI-2, 16 PF, and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the name of a personality test designed to measure psychological preferences for how people perceive the world and make decisions.
• This 16-type indicator test uses two opposing behavioral divisions along four scales which, when combined, yield a “personality type;” the four scales include extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving.
• Because studies using the MBTI show clusters of different personality types in different professions, the test has become popular with recruiters and managers.
• The Revised Neo Pi (personality inventory) is designed to measure personality traits using the five factor model. According to the five factor model, the five dimensions of personality lies along a continuum of opposing poles and include Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion , Agreeableness, and Neuroticism .
• The Eysench Personality Questionnaire is based on Eysenck’s model of personality, and was developed from a large body of research and laboratory experiments. Eysenck’s inventory focuses on three dimensions: psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism.
  
• Objective tests are thought to be relatively free from rater bias, or the influence of the examiner’s own beliefs. Because of this, objective tests are said to have more validity than projective tests.
• The challenge of objective tests, however, is that they are subject to the willingness and ability of the respondents to be open, honest, and self-reflective enough to represent and report their true personality; this limits their reliability.
  
• 2.Projective measures, unlike objective tests, are sensitive to the rater’s or examiner’s beliefs. Projective tests are based on Freudian psychology (psychoanalysis) and seek to expose people’s unconscious perceptions by using ambiguous stimuli to reveal the inner aspects of an individual’s personality.
• Two of the most popular projective measures are the Thematic Apperception Measure and the Rorschach test.
  
• The Rorchach test consists of ten inkblots, which were created by Herman Rorschach dribbling ink on paper and then folding over the paper to create a symmetrical design. During the test, participants are shown the inkblots and asked what each one looks like.
• The test administrator then asks questions about the responses, such as which part of the inkblot was linked to each response. This test can be used to examine a person’s personality charactersitics and emotional functioning, and is thought to measure unconscious attitudes and motivations.
• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of 30 cards (including one blank card) depicting ambiguous drawings. Test-takers are asked to tell a story about each picture, including the background that led up to the story and the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Like the Rorschach test, the results are thought to indicate a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning.
  
• The advantage of projective measures is that they purportedly expose certain aspects of personality that are impossible to measure by means of an objective test; for instance, they are more reliable at uncovering unconscious personality traits or features. However, they are criticized for having poor reliability and validity, lacking scientific evidence, and relying too much on the subjective judgment of a clinician.
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