Replying to LO1985 --
[Host's Note: LO1985... Now that was quite a while ago. We have had other
threads on MBTI in the meantime. ..Rick]
I could not help but notice the comments about MBTI.
While I am sure that the inventors of MBTI thought that they were doing a
service to academia and the world of business they have simply produced a
tool which has and will continue to be mis-used by managers and bosses who
are desperate to analyse and understand something which is a field in its
own right (human behaviour and psychology).
While MBTI has its merits (in terms of enabling a general understanding) it
also has many downfalls:
The suggestion from the research indicates that personality types do not
change. This simply is not true, people can change from introvert to
extrovert for example if they have the tools to do so (NLP for example is
a tool which can be used to help people emulate personal attributes of
others) The 16 personality types are both too specific to allow for any
overlap or in between behaviour, and too general to be of much practical
use to managers. The LAB profile (Charvet and also Bailey) is a much more
practical and helpful tool to measure individuals.
MBTI is highly depended on the examples the user is thinking of when
completing the form. A person with close freinds who uses personal social
examples may come out as an extrovert, although in a working situation
they may find that their lack of confidence makes them an introvert.
I think MBTI has had its day and is now an obsolete technology. Much like
Freudian psychoanalysis, it had something to offer at the time, but time
has moved on and it has been superceded by more practical tools.
David.
--"DMR consultants" <dmr_consultancy@hotmail.com>
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