1. Personality
Type
as
predictor
of
Team
Roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
An
overview
of
a
Masters
Disserta0on
research
findings
presented
to
the
Industrial
Psychology
Conference
(incorpora0ng
the
Psychometric
Conference)
in
June
2000
organized
by
the
Society
for
Industrial
Psychology
(SIP)
-­‐
a
division
of
the
Psychological
Society
of
South
Africa
(PsySA).
University of South Africa
Masters
Disserta0on
Supervisor:
Dirk
Geldenhuys
Department
of
Industrial
Psychology,
University
of
South
Africa
By
Malcolm
Gabriel
MBA;
MA
(Org.
Psychology)
A
copy
of
the
publica0on
can
be
found
the
University
of
South
Africa
Public
Library
About
Malcolm
Gabriel
Profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgabriel
Blog:
www.malcolmprestongabriel.wordpress.com
1

2. Previous
research
focused
on
the
effects
of
personality
type
on:
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Area
of
art
study
of
senior
Teaching
styles
(Cunningham,
art
students
1962)
(Stephens,
1973)
Speciali0es
of
medical
students
Job
sa0sfac0on
University of South Africa
twelve
years
(Williams,
1975)
later
(Myers,
1976)
Management
level
and
job
foci
(Church
&
Allie,
1986)
Management
styles
Career
Paerns
(Coetzee,
1996)
(Hartston,
1975)
career
success
in
the
accoun0ng
Career
choices
profession
(Hanson,
1980)
(Jacoby,
1981).
Management
level
and
job
foci
(Church
&
Allie,
1986
Student
survival
in
law
school
(Miller,
1967)
Role
foci
of
leaders
2
(Church,
1982)

3. Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
University of South Africa
Very
lile
research
on
personality
types
as
predictors
of
team
roles
3

4. The
ideal
team
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• A
tradi0onal
team
composi0on
• An
ideal
team
requires
a
balance
of
team
roles
University of South Africa
where
certain
roles
would
be
accentuated
at
certain
stages
of
the
team’s
development
• Tradi0onal
approaches
to
selec0on
and
assessment
do
not
have
a
provision
for
fit
within
a
team
• A
new
emphasis
should
therefore
be
placed
on
predic0ng
an
applicant’s
fit
and
contribu0on
within
a
team
as
well
as
maintain
a
balance
of
team
roles
within
a
team.
4

5. Purpose
&
Aims
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Purpose
1. Expand
our
understanding
of
human
behaviour
in
teams
by
University of South Africa
focusing
specifically
on
personality
types
as
predictors
of
team
roles.
2. Leverage
findings
to
advance
the
effec0veness
of
teams
by
assessing
an
applicant’s
fit
to
a
team
Specific
Aims
1. to
determine
whether
personality
types
predict
team
roles
2. to
formulate
recommenda0ons
for
the
use
of
personality
types
in
future
selec0on
and
teambuilding
5

6. Research
Questions
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
1. what
is
personality
type
as
a
concept
and
what
constructs
are
involved?
2. what
is
a
team
role
as
a
concept,
and
what
constructs
are
involved?
3. is
there
a
theore0cal
rela0onship
between
personality
types
and
University of South Africa
team
roles?
4. can
personality
types
act
as
predictors
of
team
roles?
5. what
conclusions
and
recommenda0ons
can
be
made
with
regard
to
the
use
of
personality
types
to
predict
team
roles
for
selec0on
and
teambuilding?
6

7. Relevant
Paradigms
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• the
literature
review
on
personality
was
presented
from
the
psychodynamic
paradigm
• personality
types
was
categorised
according
to
Jung’s
four
scales
of
eight
personality
types
University of South Africa
• the
literature
review
on
team
roles
was
presented
from
the
behaviouris0c
paradigm
• teams
are
extracted
from
the
TeamBuilder
model
developed
by
Peter
Milburn
(Murphy,
1998).
7

8. Steps
in
empirical
investigation
Step
1:
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
A
random
sample
of
80
par0cipants
comprising
corporate
managers
and
professionals
in
commercial
and
government
sectors
will
be
selected
to
par0cipate
in
the
research
project.
Step
2:
University of South Africa
The
Myers
Briggs
Personality
Type
Indicator
Ques0onnaire
and
the
TeamBuilder
Ques0onnaire
will
be
discussed
and
mo0vated
as
a
test
baery
to
assess
personality
types
and
team
roles,
respec0vely.
Step
3:
The
Myers
Briggs
Personality
Type
Indicator
Ques0onnaire
and
the
Team
Builder
Ques0onnaire
will
be
administered
to
the
sample
of
80
par0cipants
Step
4:
Formula0on
of
the
research
hypothesis.
Step
5:
8
The
psychometric
data
will
be
analysed
using
a
correla0on
and
regression
analysis,
and
the
results
will
then
be
reported
and
interpreted

9. Steps
in
empirical
investigation
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Step
6:
Integra0on
of
research
findings.
University of South Africa
Step
7:
Limita0ons
and
conclusions
of
the
research.
Step
8:
Recommenda0ons
for
future
selec0on
and
teambuilding.
9

10. Jung’s
Personality
Types
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Extraversion
(E)
or
Sensing
(S)
or
Introversion
(I)
Intui0ve
(I)
University of South Africa
Thinking
(T)
or
Judging
(J)
or
Feeling
(F)
Perceiving
(P)
Extension
of
Jung’s
Personality
Type
theory
Combina0ons
of
aitudes
and
func0ons
10
16
Personality
Types

11. Organizational
Relevance
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• Organiza0onal
Type
impacts
organiza0onal
culture
• collated
types
of
employees
University of South Africa
• collated
types
of
managers
• new
employee
type
• effects
of
personality
types
in
work
situa0ons
11

12. Team
Roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• team
roles
can
be
defined
as
the
tendencies
to
behave,
contribute
and
interrelate
with
others
in
certain
dis0nc0ve
ways
within
a
team
University of South Africa
• an
effec0ve
team
depends
on
each
member’s
understanding
of
his
or
her
role
and
the
rela0onships
between
that
role
and
other
roles
held
by
team
members
(Francis
&
Young,
1992).
12

13. Characteristics
of
effective
teams
• Weiss
(1990)
defines
an
effec0ve
team
as
mee0ng
a
specific
set
of
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
goals
or
objec0ves,
and
is
organised
around
a
predetermined
set
of
iden0fiable
roles
related
to
ac0vi0es
that
accomplish
the
team’s
goals
and
objec0ves
University of South Africa
• An
effec0ve
team
requires
a
balance
of
team
roles
and
that
certain
roles
would
be
accentuated
at
certain
stages
of
the
team’s
development,
depending
on
the
situa0on
• a
balanced
team
is
more
likely
to
be
effec0ve
than
one
that
is
homogeneous
in
terms
of
individual
roles
• in
order
to
achieve
a
balance,
it
may
be
necessary
to
ask
some
members
to
adopt
secondary
roles,
and
the
appropriate
behaviours
can
be
learned
and
developed
• an
individual’s
preferred
team
role
will
be
valued
at
certain
stages,
and
their
effec0veness
in
their
role
will
be
determined
by
13
the
fit
between
the
individual
and
their
role.

14. Belbin’s
research
on
teams
• several
highly
significant
experiments
on
team
roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• subjects
par0cipated
in
a
lengthy
management
course
and
then
formed
into
teams
to
complete
a
management
task
• Belbin,
using
a
range
of
psychometric
tests,
studied
the
personali0es
and
mental
capabili0es
of
team
members
and
University of South Africa
• discovered
that
each
person
had
a
strong
tendency
to
play
a
dis0nct
but
limited
set
of
roles
• paern
of
role
balance
had
a
crucial
effect
on
the
outcome
• poor
balance
produced
a
poor
outcome,
and
• teams
with
competent
members
would
not
necessarily
produce
favourable
results
since
the
balance
might
be
wrong
• Belbin
iden0fied
nine
basic
team
roles
• successful
teams’
membership
was
broad
enough
so
that
all
the
necessary
roles
were
filled
14

15. Nature
of
Team
Roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• Team
Role
and
Func0onal
Role
• Role
Versa0lity
and
Role
Priority
• Coherent
and
Incoherent
Role
Profiles
University of South Africa
• Role
Suppression
• Eligibility
and
Suitability
Suitability
Suitable Unsuitable
Eligibility Eligible Ideal fit Poor fit
Ineligible Surprise fit Total misfit
15

16. Belbin’s
model
of
team
roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Coordinat
or
Specialist
Shaper
University of South Africa
Completer
Plant
Resource
Monitor
Navigator
Evaluator
Team
Implemen
Worker
ter
16

17. Critique
of
Belbin’s
model
• team
roles
outlined
by
Belbin
are
represented
as
requiring
varying
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
degrees
of
intellect
• eg:
the
“plant”
requiring
a
higher
intellect,
and
co-­‐worker
lower
levels
of
intellect
University of South Africa
• language
used
by
Belbin
is
male
oriented
and
presented
in
a
prescrip0ve
way
• eg:
“you
are
a….”,
thereby
labelling
and
categorising
team
members
as
a
Plant
or
a
Monitor
Evaluator
• implies
that
individuals
are
restricted
to
these
roles
without
the
possibility
of
extending
beyond
them.
• Belbin’s
(1982)
model
iden0fies
an
apparent
link
between
a
Shaper
and
a
Company
Worker,
but
refers
to
it
as
a
boss
/
subordinate
style
of
rela0onship
and
not
colleagues
applying
a
process
together.
• Belbin’s
(1982)
model
does
not
regard
each
team
role
as
sequen0al
and
interrelated
with
each
other.
17

18. TeamBuilder
as
an
extension
of
Belbin
• TeamBuilder
as
an
alterna0ve
model
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• draws
on
the
original
work
done
by
Belbin
• outlines
a
team
process
for
geing
things
done
which
is
non-­‐judgmental,
not
hierarchical,
non-­‐threatening,
makes
no
prejudicial
assump0ons
of
intelligence,
and
no
assump0ons
about
management
skills
(Murphy,
University of South Africa
1998).
• 5
team
roles
of
equal
value
compared
with
Belbin’s
9
team
roles
that
are
dis0nguishable
by
status,
importance,
and
intelligence
• Further
outlines
an
individual’s
preference
for
contribu0ng
within
a
certain
role,
rather
than
labelling
and
categorising
them
as
their
preferred
role
(Murphy,
1998)
• assump0on
that
an
individual
develops
a
primary
preference
for
a
team
role
within
the
model
• an
individual’s
sustainable
contribu0on
to
a
team
is
primarily
determined
by
the
team
member’s
sa0sfactory
fulfilment
of
his
preferred
team
role
18
and
the
team’s
need
for
that
specific
team
role

19. Components
of
TeamBuilder
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Projected
or
communicated
team
role
preferences
University of South Africa
Awareness
of
Preference
for
preferred
team
team
roles
role
Team
role
Preference
for
TeamBuilder
preference
under
team
work
pressure
19

20. TeamBuilder
model
of
Team
Roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Driving
Onward
Developing
concepts,
direc0ng
ac0on,
innova0ng
ideas
University of South Africa
Controlling
Quality
Planning
Ahead
Monitoring
progress,
audi0ng
Strategic
planning,
es0ma0ng
methods,
evalua0ng
results
feasibility,
scheduling
tasks
Delivering
Plans
Enabling
Ac0on
Producing
output,
coordina0ng
the
team,
maintaining
team
Resourcing
and
promo0ng
the
morale
team,
nego0a0ng
for
support
20

21. Organizational
Relevance
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• the
paern
of
role
balance
within
the
team
has
a
crucial
effect
on
the
team’s
effec0veness
• a
poor
balance
would
produce
a
poor
outcome
University of South Africa
• the
concept
and
roles
outlined
in
the
TeamBuilder
model
is
therefore
of
cri0cal
importance
to
the
evolving
significance
of
a
team’s
contribu0on
to
organisa0onal
success.
• compa0bility
with
Project
Management
Phases
21

22. Theoretical
relationship
between
personality
types
and
team
roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• People
demonstra0ng
a
preference
for
the
Driving
Onward
team
role
Intui0on
exhibit
preferences
for
seeing
“big
picture”
opportuni0es,
University of South Africa
• ins0nc0vely
reaching
conclusions
rather
than
making
a
detailed
analysis
of
a
situa0on,
and
open
making
decisions
intui0vely.
• Driving
Onward
exhibits
preferences
for
developing
concepts,
direc0ng
Driving
ac0on
and
providing
the
team
with
innova0ve
ideas
(Murphy,
1998).
• corresponds
with
Jung’s
descrip0on
of
people
who
prefer
Intui0on,
and
is
Onward
described
as
seeing
the
big
picture,
new
possibili0es
and
different
ways
of
doing
things
(Hirsh,
1993).
The corresponding similarity between the behavioural descriptions of Intuition and
Driving Onward allows for a tentative postulation that people who fall into the
Intuition personality type are more likely to display a preference for the Driving 22
Onward team role.

23. Theoretical
relationship
between
personality
types
and
team
roles
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Personality Type Team Roles
Extraversion (E) Enabling Action
University of South Africa
Introversion (I)
Sensing (S) Controlling Quality
Delivering Plans
Intuition (N) Driving Onward
Thinking (T) Planning Ahead; Driving Onward
Feeling (F) Enabling Action
Judging (J) Planning Ahead
23
Perceiving (P)

24. Sample
description
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
n %
Gender Male 30 60
Female 20 40
University of South Africa
Age 20-29 years 15 30
30-39 years 18 36
40-49 years 10 20
50 years + 7 14
Length of service with the Organisation Less than one year 6 12
1-5 years 22 44
5-10 years 13 26
10-15 years 6 12
More than 15 years 3 6
24

25. Sample
occupational
group
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
University of South Africa
10%
38%
28%
24%
T echnical Professional
Non-technical professional
Manager (technical)
Manager (non-technical)
25

26. Psychometric
Battery
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• Biographical
ques0onnaire
• cover
leer
• Myers-­‐Briggs
Type
Indicator
(MBTI)
University of South Africa
• Form
G
• paper
and
pencil
ques0onnaire
• no
0me
limit
• TeamBuilder
Ques0onnaire
• self-­‐administering
computer-­‐based
ques0onnaire
in
form
of
“s0ffy-­‐
disk”
• no
0me
limit
26

27. Distribution
of
participants’
team
role
preference
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
University of South Africa
14%
20% 46%
10% 10%
Driving Onw ard Planning Ahead Enabling Action
Delivering Plans Controlling Quality
27

28. Distribution
of
participants’
personality
types
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Sensing (S) Intuitives (N)
Thinking (T) Feeling (F) Feeling (F) Thinking (T)
- ST - - SF - - NF - - NT -
University of South Africa
I -- J ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ
Introvert 22% (n: 11) n: 0 n: 0 6% (n: 3)
I -- P ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
2% (n: 1) n: 0 n: 0 12% (n: 6)
E -- P ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
Extravert 4% (n: 2) 2% (n: 1) 4% (n: 2) 12% (n: 6)
E -- J ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ
20% (n: 10) 2% (n: 1) n: 0 14% (n: 7)
Total % 48% (n: 24) 4% (n: 2) 4% (n: 2) 44% (n: 22)
28

29. Correlation
Analysis
Personality Type (X variable) Positive/Negative Correlation Team Role (Y variable)
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Extraversion Positive Driving Onward
Extraversion Negative Delivering Plans
Sensing Negative Driving Onward
University of South Africa
Sensing Positive Delivering Plans
Intuition Positive Driving Onward
Intuition Negative Delivering Plans
Thinking Positive Controlling Quality
Judging Negative Driving Onward
Judging Positive Planning Ahead
Perceiving Positive Driving Onward
Perceiving Negative Planning Ahead
29

30. Multiple
Regression
Analysis
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Personality Type (X Positive / Negative Team Role (Y
variable) Predictor variable)
Extraversion Positive Driving Onward
University of South Africa
Extraversion Negative Delivering Plans
Sensing Negative Driving Onward
Sensing Positive Delivering Plans
Intuition Positive Driving Onward
Intuition Negative Delivering Plans
Thinking Positive Controlling Quality
Judging Positive Planning Ahead
Perceiving Negative Planning Ahead
30

31. Lack
of
supporting
evidence
for
theoretical
postulations
for:
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Personality Type Team Roles
Extraversion (E) Enabling Action
Introversion (I)
University of South Africa
Sensing (S) Controlling Quality
Delivering Plans
Intuition (N) Driving Onward
Thinking (T) Planning Ahead; Driving Onward
Feeling (F) Enabling Action
Judging (J) Planning Ahead
Perceiving (P) 31

32. No
theoretical
postulations
for:
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
Personality Type (X Positive / Negative Team Role (Y
variable) Predictor variable)
Extraversion Positive Driving Onward
University of South Africa
Extraversion Negative Delivering Plans
Sensing Negative Driving Onward
Sensing Positive Delivering Plans
Intuition Positive Driving Onward
Intuition Negative Delivering Plans
Thinking Positive Controlling Quality
Judging Positive Planning Ahead
Perceiving Negative Planning Ahead
32

33. Limitations
of
Research
• a
limited
amount
of
literature
with
reference
to
team
roles
exists;
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
• research
on
the
linkages
between
team
roles
in
work
seings
are
limited
and
s0ll
need
further
explora0on;
• a
limited
amount
of
literature
exists
on
the
rela0onship
between
University of South Africa
personality
types
and
team
roles;
• a
limited
amount
of
research
exists
for
the
reliability
of
the
TeamBuilder
instrument
• the
sample
size
was
too
small
to
draw
significant
conclusions
and
therefore
limited
the
poten0al
for
generalisa0ons
of
the
results;
• the
sample
represented
a
only
a
limited
work
seing;
• the
MBTI
requires
an
individual
frame
of
reference
of
repor0ng
one’s
natural
preference,
and
not
one’s
“work
self”
or
“ideal
self”.
• difficult
to
monitor
par0cipants’
frame
of
mind
when
answering
the
MBTI,
and
could
have
influenced
the
results;
33

34. Limitations
of
Research
• Only
the
raw
scores
of
the
MBTI
preferences
were
u0lised
for
the
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
purposes
of
this
research;
• the
research
focused
on
Jung’s
personality
type
groupings,
and
not
on
the
16
personality
types.
University of South Africa
• The
dynamic
interrela0onship
between
team
roles
and
the
16
personality
types
might
have
provided
more
meaningful
insight;
• strength
of
the
preferences
for
each
team
role
was
also
not
taken
into
considera0on
in
the
data
analysis
• only
the
raw
score
of
the
preferences
was
u0lised
for
the
purposes
of
this
research.
34

35. Recommendations
• both
the
Personality
Type
theory
and
the
Team
Role
model
can
be
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
used
as
a
process
of
self-­‐enlightenment
towards
more
effec0vely
being
able
to
contribute
to
a
team.
• personality
type
profiles
can
assist
in
predic0ng
a
team
member’s
preferred
team
role.
University of South Africa
• prac00oners
must
take
cognisance
of
the
impact
of
personality
types
and
team
roles
in
the
overall
effec0veness
of
teambuilding
interven0ons
and
ini0a0ves.
• focus
on
enhancing
self-­‐awareness
of
team
members’
by
iden0fying
their
true
personality
type,
thereby
enabling
them
to
predict
their
preference
for
a
team
role;
• Tradi0onal
selec0on
and
assessment
methodologies
does
not
make
provision
for
assessing
whether
job
applicants
are
an
appropriate
fit
within
a
team.
• The
outcome
of
this
research
makes
it
possible
to
predict
team
roles
35
from
the
assessments
of
personality
types

36. Recommendations
• prac00oners
can
simultaneously
assess
and
select
a
balance
of
team
Malcolm Gabriel, MA (Industrial & Organizational Psychology),
roles
to
a
project
team;
thereby
reducing
reliance
on
team
role
measurement;
• Each
team
role
descrip0on
in
the
TeamBuilder
model
can
incorporate
addi0onal
relevant
behavioural
descrip0ons
of
the
personality
type
University of South Africa
that
is
a
significant
predictor
of
the
team
role.
• Similarly,
each
personality
type
descrip0on
can
incorporate
addi0onal
literature
on
a
personality
type’s
probable
preference
of
a
team
role
in
team
seings.
36