Teamwork and the MBTI® Step II Results: Who Likes to be on a Team

Most people who take the Myers-Briggs start off by taking the Step I, which is the 93-question version of the test. As people learn more about psychological type and personality, they often become curious about the Step II. The Step II breaks down the four basic scales into 20 subscales or facets. This gives us a far more precise picture of the individual and his or her preferences. It frequently clears up those cases when a person cannot decide if he or she is really an introvert or an extravert, for example. In many such instances, the person has two or three facets towards one pole and two towards another. This doesn't mean the person is well-rounded or has a split personality. It shows how the individual responded to the questions.

Organizational development experts have used the Step II to help determine who likes being part of a work team and why. The findings make a lot of sense as you consider what each of the facets or subscales on the Step II describe.

Researchers found significant differences on 15 of the 20 facet scales. The greatest differences showed up on the Extraversion-Introversion facets. Those who disliked teamwork tended to score towards the Introversion pole, or the facets Receiving, Contained, Intimate, Reflective, and Quiet. Those who liked teamwork scored towards the middle of the poles, indicating a wide variety of responses. However, there was a slight trend towards the Extraversion facets: Initiating, Expressive, Gregarious, Active, and Enthusiastic.

On the second scale of Sensing-Intuition there were differences on three facet scales. Those who liked teamwork tended to score towards the Concrete and Traditional poles, which are on the Sensing side. The other poles (Abstract and Theoretical) are on the Intuition side of the scales.

The Thinking-Feeling scale showed great differences in preferences, with a clear trend towards Feeling for liking teamwork and towards Thinking for disliking it.

On the final scale, there was a tendency towards Early Starting (Judging) and Open-Ended and Spontaneous, which are both Perceiving facets. Like the S-N scale, there was a mixture here of which preferences dominated in those who liked teamwork.

If we try to sum this information up to form a picture of who is more likely to enjoy working as part of a team, we would come up with four of the basic types: ENFJ, ESFJ, ENFP, and ESFP. From the information in this report, what is most important is not the basic four-letter type, but rather how the 20 facets scales on the Step II come out. This is another reason why the Step gives a far more accurate picture of the individual. The basic scales simply cannot show such fine discrimination in personality types.