A Study of Leadership Personality Factors with the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator

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1 A Study of Leadership Personality Factors with the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator Ms. Indu Aneja 1, Dr. Aarti Deveshwar 2 1 Research scholar, Department of Management Studies, DCRUST, Murthal, Sonepat 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, DCRUST, Murthal, Sonepat Abstract- Purpose- The purpose is to study the concept of MBTI (Myers-Brigg type of indicator) and also determine the personality factors of the leaders on the basis of MBIT preferences such as E/I, S/N, T/F, P/J that motivate and encourage the subordinates and create wholesome environment at workplace. Design/Methodology- The approach taken was quantitative analyses. The data collected from the 314 employees through the online Questionnaire from the Delhi and NCR area. Finding- The major finding of the study is that extroversion, sensing and openness parameters are highly recommended by employees than judging. This implies that the personality difference strongly influence the self-assessment and assessment of others. The study resulted that the personality s preferences are most important for the leader. Research Limitations/ Implications- Even if the sample size is large to represent the mainly middle- level employees. More data would be required to represent the whole picture. It s a web- based survey, rather than actual observation at the workplace. Practical Implication- The result of the study helpful for in the training and development of the leaders to represent the realistic picture while working with the subordinates rather than a imagination. Keywords- Personality Factors, MBTI, Leadership Paper Type- Research Paper Introduction A leader may be refer to the person how can direct and control the other members of the group with his/ her skills and traits. Leadership concept is started with the trait theory. Trait psychology has emerged over the last 35 years back of understanding the core definers of the individual in term of thoughts, feeling and patterns of action (McCare, 2000).This trait theory started on the basic military thinking so that a successful leadership can communicate, direct and command the other members (Jomin, 1867). This kind of leadership concept adopted to commit the faults and gain the victory. This theory believed in the personality traits of leaders which lead to the success or attainment of goal. The success or failure depends on the leadership qualities. This list of personality qualities associated with the leadership styles in various areas are abundance and continue to be produced. These qualities of the leader discuss as ambitious, assertive, energetic, selfconfidence, dominant and willing to control the other people. This is also supported by a Magazine TIME published in New York City in December (2001) stated Osama Bin Laden as a Man of The Year on the personality based Characteristics of a Charismatic Leader. The publication stated that Osama Bin Laden having some specific and attractive qualities, due to these factors he has many followers. Those followers follow him without considering the action, whether it s ethical or unethical. These personality factors or Charisma make him a good leader. The article described that the Charismatic leadership qualities may be refers to the extra ordinary qualities of the person. After several decades the concept of such traits turned the other side such as stimulated interest (Austin & Murray, 1993, Bass 1985, Peterson 2003). Some of the studies focused on the Leader s or subordinate s appraisal and some studies highlighted the military thinking. Personality traits of the leaders either it is the psychological area which is closely associated with the organization success or failure. It became the 481

2 interested concept for the upcoming researchers any ample of studies have been done on this concept. Numerous empirical studies of the FFM show the solid evidence for consistency in the personality terminology by subjects to describe themselves and other. One strongly supported theoretical basis for trait psychology is the five factor model (FFM), which provides the taxonomy of five personality traits, proven on the basis of independent research teams to have validity at a broad level such: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (Digman, 1990, Goldberg, 1992, McCare and Costa, 2003, Norman, 1963). In the further researchers (Laura Ann Migliore, 2011) these personality traits correlated with the Hofstede s cultural dimensions: Individualism- Collectivism, Power distance, Masculinity- Femininity, Uncertainty avoidance and Time orientation for selection of the appropriate leadership style. In the contrast (Lian Shao and Sheila Webber, 2006) confirmed that the Chinese culture is different from North American culture so Judge and Bono s (2000) model could not be established in China although certain personality factor positively associated with the transformational leadership behavior. A study supported that the personality factor of the leaders help them to adjust the leadership behavior while changing in the culture (Vesa Suutari, Kusdi Raharjo, Timo Riikkila, 2002) The study used the four leadership style on basis of the personality factors such as Active, Moderate, Selective and Limited Integrators on the bases of flexibility toward change. It study also revealed that the extension of integration depend on the personality factors of the leader. In the further studies added the (Hilde Hetland and Gro M Sandal, 2003) correlate the relationship with subordinates and superiors rating of satisfaction effectiveness work motivation and personality factors such as warmth, reasoning, openness to change and tension. Leadership traits were strongly associated with the outcome measures in both subordinates and superior rating. Numerous of studies are based on the personality parameters of the leaders. Further research added one more parameter Emotional Intelligence with the cross cultural context (Reilly & Tony J. Karounos, 2009). The study used the GLOBE program as the base to choose the cultural cluster: Anglo Cluster, Latin Europe, Eastern European cluster and Southern Asia Cluster on the geographic and cultural division. Emotional intelligence also plays an important part in the leader s personality. It also revealed that variation of Emotional Intelligence influence by the cultural dimensions. MBTI indicate (Van Eron & e,1992) the leader s self rating, intuit and percei ving preferences that represent the belief system of the leaders but its not concerned introversion, sensing and judging so that further researches have been done where both the leaders and subordinates rating indicate the clear picture with the parameters such as extroversion, intuition and perceiving. Extroversion is later added to this. Some of the researches have been done with the context of MBTI but have different point of view from each other such as Roush (1992) study supported to the feeling, per ceiving, intuition and extroversion parameter where result of the study show most positive rating to introversion preference to lead and least positive rating to sensing and judging. On the other side Roush& Atwater (1992) strongly supported to the sensin g and feeling preference and Atwater & Yammarino (1993) concluded the study with feeling preference. Tiina M. Hautala (2006), revealed in the study the rating by leaders depended on the feeling preference and intuitive behavior of the leader toward the followers. The result of the research showed that the transformational leadership behavior affected by leader s personality while measuring their own behavior and as well as subordinates appraisal. Study also highlighted the importance of self awareness quality and also showed that rating by leaders and followers were not similar. Overall we can say that the result of MBTI indicate quite contradictory response. Myers- Briggs type indicator MBTI is the self assessment instrument, which was founded by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs (1921) by the 20year period of behavioural observation. MBTI is a dynamic and positive approach to determine the personality traits. In a very short period of time it become one of the world s most widely used tool to determine the personality traits. MBTI is based on the Jung s psychological test. Jung (1921) developed three dimension to explore an individual s psychological type namely orientation of energy, 482

3 process of perception and process of judging. Myers and Briggs added a fourth dimension: attitude dealing with the outside world. MBTI is a personality instrument, where the respondent selects one of the two options for every item. It s concludes on the basis of the scores four bipolar dimensions: orientation of energy-extraversion/introversion (E/I), process of perception - sensing/intuition (S/N), process of judging-thinking/feeling (T/F), attitude dealing with the outside world-judging/perceiving (J/P). Each item is two alternatives the respondent has to select one between them. This instrument stresses the eight preferences. Extraversion/Introversion (E/I)- A person gain personal energy from outer world, things and actions or gain the energy from the inner world of the thoughts, ideas and reflections. Extraversion tends to enjoy with the large friends group or having large social circle. While Introversion tends to enjoys with internal activities or own self. Sensing/Intuition (S/N)- A person pay attention on the five senses for seeing the world or pay attention on the facts and figures. A person is more interesting in interpreting or applying meaning to what they see before they less adapted on the senses. Sensing can be seen practical and down to earth on the past experience. Intuition can be seen visionaries or idealist more interested on future. Thinking/Feeling (T/F) - This term prefer to make decision on the basis on objective non-personal assessment or based on the subjective personal values. This both processes are considered rational process. Thinking judgement based on intellect or intelligence while feeling judgment based on the emotion, both may be uncorrected if not ordered properly. The person openness trait to accept the suggestions and advise from others or relay upon their own intelligence. Judging/Perceiving (J/P) - These term prefers to way of living life or how matter settled. A person prefer judging to make a decision on the basis on scheduled or ordered or driven by lists and timeframes and expecting the same from other. On the other side perceiving prefer to not make a decision until the last possible moment or preferring spontaneous approach to the life. Judging prefer more rational than perceiving. Methodology The approach taken was quantitative analyses. The data collected from the 314 employees through the online Questionnaire from the Delhi and NCR area. The employees are Data Analysis and Interpretation In order to meet the objectives, a questionnaire as data collection instrument is drafted and data is collected with respect to categorical variables such as, Martial status, education, age, and gender. Once the instrument is tested and reliability is checked, calculation of sample size is done for the instrument and 314 responses are recorded for measuring the statements in questionnaire instrument. the demographic distribution as follows: Demographic distribution Marital Status Age Total Total

4 Figure-1 Figure-2 Education Team Members 150 2_5 78 Post _ _15 54 Total 314 Total 314 Post- 2_5 6_10 10_15 Figure-3 Gender Total 314 Figure-4 Figure-5 484

5 Validity and Reliability of Data After establishing the demographics, the responses are recorded on well-established five point Likert scale of agreement. The description of scale is as follows; Strongly Agree Moderately Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree After a well-established scale of measuring the agreement level is used. The data is checked for validity with Cronbach s alpha. The value of Cronbach s alpha is That shows a high reliability and show that respondents have 92% accuracy in responses. The data is normal for application of parametric tests as the skewness level =0.02 remain below the significant level. In order to determine the Leader's Openness Thinking characteristics with others we again defined four statements in order to cater the main item. Following radar diagram shows the descriptive statistics with mean scores of all four statements. Leader's personality openness characteristics with others Leader usually discuss new ideas with others Leader generally invites suggestions from employees and colleagues Leader takes interest to selecting the new alternate options Leader always welcome new ideas and new technology Figure -6 We can see there is a variation on the level of agreement in all four statements. Now we perform analysis for all statements individually. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be performed as per need for all four statements. 485

6 Leader generally invites suggestions from employees and colleagues Post Figure -7 As per the expected the level of agreement on the statement is higher regardless demographics. Overall the mean score stays close to level of agreement. Leader takes interest to selecting the new alternate options Post Figure -8 There is a difference of opinion on the statement leader takes interest to selecting the new alternate options. Leader always welcome new ideas and new technology Post 486 Figure -9

7 On the statement Leader always welcome new ideas and new technology have a higher level of agreement. Leader usually discuss new ideas with others Post Figure -10 When it comes to Leader usually discuss new ideas with others married respondents have a higher agreement. Youngsters, people working with team groups have a higher agreement and females also have a higher agreement on the statements. Now we consider that all four factors measuring the Leader's personality openness characteristics with others are equally important. In order to test this assumption at a 5% level of significance following hypothesis is formulated and tested. : All factors defining the Leader's personality openness characteristics with others are equally important : is not true Following analysis of variance tables test the hypothesis Table -1 Anova: Single Factor SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Leader generally invites suggestions from employees and colleagues Leader takes interest to selecting the new alternate options Leader always welcome new ideas and new technology Leader usually discuss new ideas with others The table above shows that, there is a difference of means amongst all four statements. Statement Leader generally invites suggestions from employees and colleagues have the highest level of agreement. While 487

8 variation is also different for all four statements. Now we consider that all four statements have equal importance for Leader's personality openness characteristics with others. Table -2 ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P- value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total We can observe from the table that, p-value is above level of significance hence we do not reject null hypothesis. Hence all factors of personality openness are equally important. Next we determine the level of Sensing Personality factor of Leader. Sensing personality factor are a very important characteristics of a leader and leadership. We analyze this item of leadership with four important sub-statements. The statements with their mean scores are represented in following radar diagram. To determine the level of Sensing personality factor of Leader Leader keeps eye on the changing behavior of others Leader keeps supervision on the work Leader take cares of any abnormal activity at workplace Leader rethinks on my decision and its consequences before taking action Figure -11 A variation in means is observed that is the four statements are perceived differently by the respondents. Respondents are of different opinion and form different level of agreement with respect to all four statements. Now we analyze all the statements individually, 488

9 Leader keeps supervision on the work Post Figure -12 As expected the level of agreement on the statement is high regardless demographics. All have a high agreement with supervision of the leader, which is obvious so as a leader s job is also to supervise work. Leader take cares of any abnormal activity at workplace Post Figure -13 On leaders ability to take care of any abnormal activity at workplace the responses vary. 489

10 Leader rethinks on my decision and its consequences before taking action Post Figure -14 When it comes to rethinking of leader on decisions and its consequences before taking action. Reponses are somewhat same for all demographics. The variation in level of agreement is little comparatively. Leader keeps eye on the changing behavior of others Post Figure -15 The variation in level of agreement is high when it comes to leader keeping a watch on changing behavior of others. The statement is somewhat connected to supervision characteristics and likewise has a high agreement of respondents. Now we consider that all four factors measuring the level of Sensing personality factor of Leader are equally important. In order to test this assumption at a 5% level of significance following hypothesis is formulated and tested. : All factors defining the level of Sensing personality factor of Leader are equally important : is not true 490

11 Following analysis of variance tables test the hypothesis Table -3 Anova: Single Factor SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Leader keeps supervision on the work Leader take cares of any abnormal activity at workplace Leader rethinks on my decision and its consequences before taking action Leader keeps eye on the changing behavior of others It is clear from the table that there is a variation in level of agreement of the respondents on all four statements. Means scores and variance scores are different. Now we wish to measure the statistical significance of these statements. In order to do that we use single factor one way ANOVA. Following table explains the results. Table -4 ANOVA P- Source of Variation SS df MS F value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total It is clear from the table that p-value is above level of significance hence we do not reject null hypothesis. Therefore the difference of mean scores is not statistically significant and all four constructs measuring the level of Sensing personality factor of Leader are equally important. Now we analyze the Extroversion behavior of Leader. In order to do that we formulated four statements. Following radar diagram represents the descriptive mean analysis of all our statements. Leader organizes discussion section for problems Extroversion behavior of Leader. Leader likes to discuss my new ideas and ways of doing things Leader helps the employees to teach them new and different ways Leader appreciates others ideas 491 Figure -16

12 From the figure above it is clear that level of agreement is different for different statements. Leader organizes discussion section for the problems in comparison to all other. Now we analyze all statements individually. Leader likes to discuss my new ideas and ways of doing things Post Figure -17 It is evident from the figure above that the statement Leader likes to discuss my new ideas and ways of doing things. Leader helps the employees to teach them new and different ways Post Figure

13 When respondents are asked to mark their level of agreement on, Leader helps the employees to teach them new and different ways. Leader appreciates others ideas Post Figure -19 Overall a high agreement is observed on the statement leader appreciate other ideas. Level of agreement varies with respect to variation in demographics but high agreement is observed overall. Leader organizes discussion section for problems Post Figure -20 When respondents are asked whether a leader organizes discussion sessions on problems, a variation in level of agreement is observed. Now we consider that all four factors measuring Extroversion behavior of Leader are equally important. In order to test this assumption at a 5% level of significance following hypothesis is formulated and tested. : All factors defining the Extroversion behavior of Leader are equally important : is not true 493

14 Following analysis of variance tables test the hypothesis Table -5 SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Leader likes to discuss my new ideas and ways of doing things Leader helps the employees to teach them new and different ways Leader appreciates others ideas Leader organizes discussion section for problems Form table above it can be observed that there is a difference in means i.e. people think differently on different statements. Different variances also indicate in the same direction. Now we see whether this difference on the level of agreement is statistically significant or not. For that we apply one way single factor ANOVA. Following table describe the results. Table -6 ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P- value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total Table above clearly describes that p-value is above level of significance hence we do not reject the null hypothesis and conclude that all factors contributing to Extroversion behavior of Leader are equally important. Now we analyze Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance. Maintaining the balance of research yet again four statements are asked from the respondents in order to measure above mentioned characteristics of leadership. Following radar diagram describes the all four statements with respect to their mean scores. Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance Leader determines the problem facing by employees Leader analysis the performance of employees with predetermined standards Leader uses the standard Performa to check level of performance Leader maintains the different parameters for performance 494 Figure -21

15 Overall a variation in level of agreements is observed on all four statements. Maximum agreement appears on the statement Leader maintains the different parameters for performance. Now we analyze all statements individually by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Leader analysis the performance of employees with predetermined standards Post Figure -22 Demographics show the agreement on the statement Leader analyses the performance of employees with predetermined standards. Leader uses the standard Performa to check level of performance Post Figure -23 Above mentioned figure shows a high agreement overall with less variation in comparison to previous statement.. 495

16 Leader maintains the different parameters for performance Post Figure -24 When respondents are asked whether the leader maintains the different parameters for performance. The variation in level of agreement is higher.. Leader determines the problem facing by employees Post Figure -25 Agreement level is low comparatively on the statement that leader determines the problems facing by employees.. 496

17 Now we consider that all four factors measuring Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance are equally important. In order to test this assumption at a 5% level of significance following hypothesis is formulated and tested. : All factors defining the Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance : is not true Following analysis of variance tables test the hypothesis Table -7 SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Leader analysis the performance of employees with predetermined standards Leader uses the standard Performa to check level of performance Leader maintains the different parameters for performance Leader determines the problem facing by employees We can see that there is a difference in level of agreement on all four statements and variance is also different for different statements. Now we see whether the difference in level of agreement is statistically significant or not. In order to do that we apply one-way single factor ANOVA. Following table shows the results. Table -8 ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P- value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total We can see from table above that p-value is greater than the level of significance hence we fail to reject null hypothesis and conclude that all statements catering to Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance have same level of agreement. Limitations of the study The study come up with the great advantage to the managers to select the effective leadership attributes of the effective leader to face the global issues. But this study is not enough further survey and researches are always welcome to more and more effective way. The study consist some limitations: The study is restricted to the only from the employees at the middle level of the organization. It may be extended by covering another levels to get the more effective and accurate picture. The data collection sample size is 314 companies. The study may be conducted on the large scale to obtain the more information and reliable data from the large number of respondents. 497

18 The study is limited in the small area of Delhi and NCR. The study may be extended to the large area of India beyond the small geographical limits. It may be present the whole picture of the Indian MNC s Conclusion or Finding Personality of the leader, was defined by preference given by the MBTI such as orientation of energyextraversion/introversion (E/I), process of perception - sensing/intuition (S/N), process of judging - thinking/feeling (T/F), attitude dealing with the outside world-judging/perceiving (J/P). The results indicate that the all factors of personality openness are strongly supported while the behavior of the leader to involve the employees in the subject matters and motivate them to take the initiative to share their ideas and suggestions and all constructs measuring the level of Sensing personality factor of Leader are positive rating while working with the employees leader take proper supervision and think twice to make a decision. The result also highlighted the Extroversion behavior of Leader is highly supported to the employee s benefits and healthy environment at workplace by discussing with the subordinates and appreciating their work. On the contrary Judging trait of leader to recognize their employees for their work performance shows the negative response. As per the time of rating the leader the employees consider their appraisal rating given the leader. The major finding of the study is Extroversion, sensing and openness are highly recommended than judging. This implies that the personality difference strongly influence the self-assessment and assessment of others. The paper represented the different personality factors of the leader and the result provides the further information in the field of psychology and organization to create the healthy environment while working with the subordinates. The study resulted that the personality s preferences are most important for the leader. References Abdullah M. Abu-Tineh, Samer A. Khasawneh and Aieman A. Al-Omari, Kouzes and Posner s Transformational Leadership Model in Practice: The Case of Jordanian Schools, Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, Vol. 29, No. 8, [2008], pp: Atwater L, Yammarino F, Does self-other agreement on leadership perceptions moderate the validity of leadership and performance predication?, Personnel Psychology Vol. 45, No. 1, [1992], pp: Atwater L, Yammarino F, Personal attributes as predictors of superiors and subordinates perceptions of military academy leadership, Human Relations, Vol. 46, No.5, [1993], pp: Anne H. Reilly, Tony J. Karounos, Exploring the link between Emotional Intelligence and Cross Cultural Leadership Effectiveness, Journal of International Business and Cultural studies. Austin J, Slater F, Kelloway, Transformational characteristics and profiles of employed and out placed executives using the 16 PF Journal of Business & Psychology, Vol. 8, No.1 [1993], pp: Bass B.M. & Avolio B.J, Transformational Leadership Development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, consulting Psychologist Press, Palo Alto, CA Bono J. E & Judge, Personality and Transformational and Transactional Leadership a meta- analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 89, No.5,[2004], pp: Burke W.W, Leadership Report, w. Warner Burke and associates, Pelhem, NY Church A. H. & Waclawski J, The relationship between individual personality orientation and executive leadership behavior Journal of Occupation and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 71, [1998], pp: Dorfman P., Scandura Terri, Leadership research in an international and cross- culture context, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 15, [2004], pp: Hilde Hetland and Gro M Sandal, Transformational Leadership in Norway: Outcomes and Personality Correlate, European Journal of work an Organizational Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 2 [2003], pp: Judge T.A & Bono J.E, Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership, Journal of applied Psychology, Vol. 85, No. 5 [2000], pp: Jung C. G, Psychological Types, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. Kenneth Brain, Dianne Lewis, Exploring leadership preferences in multicultural workgroups An Australian case study, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol: 25, No:3 [2004] pp:

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