Reflection on the Significance of Personality in Group Work - Example

Reflective Essay Table of Contents Introduction 3 Theoretical Comprehension 4 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory 4 Person-Job Fit Theory 5 Reflectionon the Significance of Personality in Group Work 6 Reflection on the Clash/Alignment of the Personality of Client and the Team Members 8 Reflection on the Implications of Personality for the Fulfilment of the Project 11 References 14 Bibliography 16 Introduction The term ‘learning’ is defined as the change in theoretical perspectives of people, which is established with the implementation of greater level of knowledge, skills or practices derived from education. From an educator’s perspective, it has been noted that learning involves helping people throughout the process of individual development, allowing the application of the knowledge gained from theoretical underpinnings and real life experiences (Sims & Sims, 1995). Furthermore, it has been apparently observed that the process of learning includes various actions that people intend to perform for attaining individual development in the longer run. Comprehensively, it can be affirmed that the procedure of learning is a cyclical process, which instigates with the incorporation of the knowledge from academic processes or real life experiences and further aims at implementing the obtained knowledge for future developments of the individual (Hunt, 2000). Contextually, in this particular essay, I will analyse my personal learning from a particular project that my team and I had conducted. The project was conducted for the company i.e. 16 to 25s Growth Hub, which formed in the year 2001. The company has been engaged with providing academics for people amid the age group of 16 to 25 years in the domain of employability along with entrepreneurship among others. It will be vital to mention that the project was conducted with the aim of depicting certain significant aspects such as analysing whether products and services offered by the company will get the support of the teachers. The project was also aimed at depicting the probable price that the customers are willing to pay in order to acquire the products offered by the company. In this particular essay, I will depict my journey throughout the course of conducting the project for the company with providing special focus on the aspect of personality and its prevalence in the study. While revealing the learning experience, I will refer to the personality theories of ‘Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory’ and ‘Person-Job Fit theory’ that will be described in detail in the later section of the essay. Theoretical Comprehension As earlier mentioned, learning is one of the imperative aspects of life, as it ensures continuous development of one’s own personality and traits towards a favourable direction. With reference to this aspect, I will conduct this particular essay with the intention of depicting my experience in relation to the importance and the implication of personality in teamwork. In order to ensure theoretical depth in the essay, I will refer to the theories of “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator” and “Person-Job Fit theory”. These have been explained in detail hereunder. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) theory was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. There involved four dichotomies in the indicator test conducted as per the theory of Myers-Briggs (Prem, 2005). The first dichotomy, which includes Extraversion (E) - Introversion (I), is particular study that depicts the behaviour of people while they interact with others around them. The Extraversion (E) of this dichotomy means the outward-turning nature of the people where they tend to be more action oriented after spending a considerable time period, while the other i.e. Introversion (I) is inclined to act in opposite way. The second dichotomy of the indicator includes the integration of Sensing (S) - Intuition (N). Sensing reflects the behaviour of the people to gather information or comprehending others through closely analysing the person. While people with personality involving Intuition (N) will tend to judge people based on their intuition about others. The third dichotomy i.e. Thinking (T) - Feeling (F) is one of the most significant and integral indicators of the theory of Myers-Briggs. Thinking involves the process of decision making about people or any other aspect through which necessary and relevant information has been gathered via sensing. While people, who prefer feeling over that of thinking tends to decide based on emotions rather than facts. The fourth dichotomy of Myers-Briggs indicator is Judging (J) - Perceiving (P). People with the personality of judging prefer to take structured and firm decisions, while the latter is inclined to take flexible decisions (University of Kentucky, 2014; McCrae & Costa, 2007). Person-Job Fit Theory This particular theory depicts that the personality traits of an individual will depict his/her association, tenure and adaptability within a particular organisation. It can also be defined as the compatibility of an individual with that of the organisation wherein he/she is working. This compatibility can be in terms of the demands of the job or the work to be conducted, the policies of the organisation or the employment terms and the need of the employees among others. The term or the theory of Person-Job Fit (P-J fit) will be able to depict the fit of individual with his/her occupation. The aspect of P-J fit directly associates with the personality of an individual and the characteristics of his/her job and the supplies of the organisation in the workplace (Kristof-Brown, 2013). The criteria for judging as well as analysing P-J fit of an individual will include efficiency, motivation and approach towards the co-workers as well as influence among others. This will depict the personality traits of the individuals and ultimately determines his/her compatibility with the organisations (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Reflection on the Significance of Personality in Group Work Throughout the course of conducting this particular project, I was able to learn various aspects that was unexplored prior to conducting the same. The source of my learning involved various domains including the aspect of teamwork, practical exposure to work, encountering with customers during the study and various other aspects associated with business. However, one of the most sources of my learning emerged from the aspect of personality and its implications in the project that I have conducted. It is believed that personality is one of the most vital aspects of an individual throughout the period of lifetime. It plays a decisive role in depicting the way that people behave with others around them. While involved with this particular project, I had the privilege to work with various other members (i.e. 6 to be precise) with different roles and responsibilities in the team. However, it would be vital to mention that apart from being different in terms of roles as well as responsibilities we had, our personality traits also differed quite considerably. The project that was conducted by us for 16 to 25s Growth Hub was based on the aspect of acquiring data about the responses of the teachers towards the products and services offered by the company. The methodology implemented to acquire the data was qualitative in nature wherein relevant data has been collected from the teachers engaged with various schools in order to ascertain their perception towards the products offer by of 16 to 25s Growth Hub. Our team leader chose qualitative study for this particular study. However, he took decisions on various important matters with consultation of the other team members including myself. His attitude depicts that he has a personality of making decisions through proper analysis and sensing rather than influencing by his emotions or feelings about what is right for the project. This aspect depicts how the role of personality is prevalent in decision-making. This was an important aspect, which enhanced my learning with regard to personality. As an individual, the leader of our group was a person with sharp sensing ability, which he implemented effectively while allotting roles and responsibilities to other team members of the group. Here, he was cautious about the skills and the capabilities of the team members rather than making his decisions based on his personal relations with them. He allotted the responsibilities to the team based on the results of the Belbin test instead of trusting his perception towards the team members. This depicts that he is completer in personality and takes his decisions with utmost perfection further leaving no margin for error. This was also an aspect of learning for me where I was able to comprehend about how personality of a leader plays an intriguing role while determining his/her decisions. In this regard, I would also like to depict that the decisions of the mentor were quite influencing for the team members including myself. A few of them depicted that the team mentor was slightly unjust while allotting the work or the responsibility as they were being underestimated, while others believed that he was quite correct in his approach as his decision came in a procedural manner through compliance with the Belbin test (Gunduz, 2008). However, my personal feeling was that the mentor was quite just in his approach as he took decisions not based on his personal relation or perception, which could have aroused discrimination, rather focusing upon conducting a proper Beblin test. Through this test, he was able to comprehend about the skills and the capabilities of the teammates. This particular aspect depicts that I should make decisions based on sensing and analysing facts rather than deciding according to my perception and emotion. These aspects also align with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory. Again, while gathering information from the teachers (i.e. the respondents of the study) through questionnaire, it has been noted that they were quite keen and cautious with regard to the future growth of the students. Many of the respondents believed the products of the company such as academics and networking will be quite significant in the domain of business in the coming years. Hence, students must learn these aspects while they are in their respective academic periphery. This belief of the teachers depict that they have a personality of judging nature (as referred to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory) wherein they take their decisions based on the facts that are prevailing rather than thinking on the basis of feeling or intuition. This personality of some of the respondents depict that they are being job-fit as they remain much cautious about the future growth and wellbeing of the students that are also viewed as the primary job responsibilities of the teachers. Some of the respondents also depicted that apart from the values that generate by the courses of 16 to 25s Growth Hub, these also enhances the self-confidence of the students, which is again linked with the aspect of individual growth. This perception of the teachers or the respondents depicts that the personality of the students will become extroversion (as referred to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory) throughout the courses wherein they would be able to engage more with the people around them. Hence, throughout my involvement with the course, I was able to identify diverse sort of personalities and the influence of those on the procedure of decision-making. Thus, I was also able to comprehend about the role of personality has on the decision-making approach of my project leader, which also further signify the importance of personality in group work. Reflection on the Clash/Alignment of the Personality of Client and the Team Members Throughout the course of conducting the project, there were times when both the team members as well as the client organisation agreed on one particular aspect. While there were also certain scenarios wherein disagreement was seen amid the team members of the project and the client organisation. This conflict of interest was mainly seen with regard to the disparities prevailing in the personality amid both the parties involved i.e. the client organisation and the team members. Notably, while selecting the target population for the questionnaire survey, both the client organisation i.e. 16 to 25 Growth Hub and team members including me was agreed on the type of respondents to be evaluated in this particular study. Our team leader who takes his decisions based on the facts presented along with the alignment of the team members depicted that the teachers would be the appropriate choices for the respondents as they are ultimately responsible for motivating the students towards any particular developmental aspect. Correspondingly, the authorities of the client organisations who were with direct interaction with us depicted that their product i.e. several additional academic courses for students will need the support of the teachers as their recommendations will motivate the students towards joining the courses. This aspect of alignment amid the two parties involved represented that though both the patients have different personality traits and thinking process, they agreed on the most appreciate and suitable scenario for the research study. This aspect also portrays that all the members are job-fit in context to their individual roles and responsibilities and they act in the best interest of the project in-spite of the differences prevailing in their personalities. As mentioned earlier, there were also certain scenarios wherein the personality of the two groups witnessed raising conflicts in their self-interests. Observably, the client organisation depicted that considering the perception of the teachers only from colleges will be appropriate for the study, as the organisation intends to target the college students for their courses. However, our team disagreed on this aspect, as we believed that these courses would also have the potential or significance to attract the students from high schools and universities as well. In this particular scenario, our team leader intervenes into the matter and ensured a mutual agreement. He explained to the authorities of the client organisation about how their academic courses might get a wider exposure when they get the support of the teachers from universities and high school as well. In this particular scenario, the team leader, with the assistance of his sensing and thinking personality, presented the facts associated with the study with regard to divert their personality traits (i.e. Perceiving as per Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory) and their decisions towards a favourable direction (as per my view). Hence, I can state that personality of people has apparent influence on their decisions making, even if they are moving towards an unfavourable direction. This was also an aspect of learning for me when I was involved with conducting the research study on behalf of the client organisation. Reflection on the Implications of Personality for the Fulfilment of the Project With various challenges arising while conducting the research study, we were successfully able to accomplish the ultimate objectives of the research. However, in the course of attaining the objectives of the research study, I felt that personality had a considerable role to play in the same. The leader of our group with the assistance of all the other team members ensured the successful completion of the project or the research study with adhering to proper and systematic policies. Firstly, while deciding on the type of methodology for the research study, our leader who has the personality of ‘completer’ took the views of the entire group including me in order to reach into a particular conclusion. He was quite open and transparent with regard to the criteria for selecting the methodology of the research study. According to my viewpoint, this approach of the leader was owing to his personality trait of ‘Extraversion’, where he intended towards referring to the views of entire team without any hesitation. Furthermore, in the later section of the research project, our team developed a particular timeline with regard to the completion of the project. In this regard, the entire group though had certain differences in the initial phases owing to perception and personality differences, succeeded to form a mutual agreement. Here, it is apparent that all the team members are well aware of their respective roles along with responsibilities and were motivated in a positive direction to attain the goals of the project. Therefore, they acted in serving the best interests of the project further depicting their fitness for this particular job. Again, while gathering the data for the research from the respondents, since all of our members including me have different personality traits, our approach of interacting with the respondents were diverse. Hence, the data that has been acquired through the questionnaire interview method presented more firm and wider information that were further deemed to be quite beneficial towards gaining a wider depiction of the research topic. This further worked positively towards attaining the objectives of the research. However, there were also certain negative implications of personality on the completion of the research. Justifiably, there were times when conflicts were seen (though I was not involved) amid team members on grounds of the process of conducting the research. Some had the perception that data should be acquired from a huge group of respondents, while others believed that small group of respondents will ensure a more precise data. These differences mainly existed owing to the differences prevailed in their respective personality traits as some members were Introversion or had the Sensing dichotomy (as per Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), while some had a Feeling dichotomy, which influenced their decisions. However, the intervention of the team mentor in various occasions certainly diminished the prevailed differences and worked towards the attainment of the predetermined objectives of the research study. Hence, it can be affirmed that the implication of personality is quite apparent from the above discussion. Conclusion From the overall analysis of the paper, it can be comprehended that personality is one of the most important and intriguing aspects of people approaching towards any particular direction. In order to gain an in-depth understanding about personality traits, “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Theory” and “Person-Job Fit theory” were considered in the discussion. Furthermore, in this particular essay, I have depicted about my experience of being associated with a particular project. It is worth mentioning in this similar concern that this was the first time I formally involved in teamwork and at the end of the project, this aspect certainly enhanced my intelligence and ability of working at large. However, one of the most important learning experiences that I gained from this particular project includes the importance of personality amid human beings and their behaviours towards others. Hence, to conclude the essay, I must state that personality is one of most significant aspects in teamwork, which provided me a comprehensive understanding about its significance throughout the course of the project work. References Griffin, R. and Moorhead, G. (2011) Organizational behaviour. United States: Cengage Learning. Gunduz, H. B. (2008) An evaluation on Belbin’s team role theory. Home. [Online] [Accessed on 01st March 2014] http://www.idosi.org/wasj/wasj4(3)/20.pdf Hunt, K. (2000) Reflective learning: theory and practice. US: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. Kristof-Brown, A. L. (2013) Person–job fit. Sage Publication. [Online] [Accessed on 01st March 2014] http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/organizationalpsychology/n253.xml McCrae, R. R. and Costa, P. T. (20070. Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs type indicator from the perspective of the five-factor model of personality. Home. [Online] [Accessed on 01st March 2014]http://www.leadu-library.com/mj/2007/club/MBTI/MBTI-5factor.pdf Prem, K. (2005). ‘Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator – MBTI.’ University of Wisconsin-Madison, pp. 1-30. Sims, R. R. and Sims, S. J. (1995). The importance of learning styles: understanding the implications for learning, course design, and education. US: Greenwood Publishing Group. University of Kentucky. (2014). Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Home. 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