PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS

Assessment Perspectives

Published April 2007

Myers-Briggs Online: The Next Generation of the MBTI

 

  Tegan Jones

For decades, companies have used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to help employees better understand how they work and communicate with others. While the insights gained are often invaluable, the interpretation process can be costly and time-consuming.

To make the MBTI more accessible, CPP, the indicator's publisher, has created an online version of the tool that allows workers to take the test and receive their results on their own time.

The MBTI Complete became available on CPP's Web site in early March. The company hopes the new format will standardize the type-interpretation process and provide people with more accurate information.

Allen Hammer, the author of the MBTI Complete, said the traditional interpretation process left room for a lot of variation, which often led to inaccurate reading and stereotyping.

"Before, the only way people could get the results of their type was to go to a professional," Hammer said. "Then, whatever the professional decided to give them, that's what they got. What this does is standardize what everybody gets in the introductory MBTI interpretation, so everybody who goes through MBTI Complete gets the same thing."

Hammer said he hopes this standardization will cut down on the stereotyping caused by bad interpretations — when the information provided is too shallow or inaccurate, workers can leave the interpretation with a superficial understanding of the MBTI types.

This can give people a negative view of themselves or others, defeating the positive, educational purpose of the MBTI, Hammer said.

The MBTI Complete, however, protects against profiling by educating users about stereotypes throughout the interpretation process. As individuals learn what each scale means, they're quizzed on their understanding of the types. If they indicate they have certain stereotypical views, the tool goes over the materials again and explains why those generalizations are wrong.

At the end of this process, users get the chance to verify the type they have been assigned. While some professionals using the traditional test simply will give individuals their MBTI type without offering them the chance to disagree, the MBTI Complete allows people to analyze and own their predetermined type.

If they disagree with the way they were scored, users can read the descriptions of other types and pick the one they feel best fits them.

While there are some drawbacks to removing the human element from the interpretation process, Hammer said he thinks the gains outweigh the losses.

He also said he thinks many of these shortfalls will be addressed in the future, as technology evolves to allow CPP to integrate more interactive tools into the program.

For example, he hopes to eventually add a visual component to the process to let workers see their types in action. Videos that show different types working together can help employees see how their strengths and shortcomings tend to play out when working in a team, Hammer said.

Even without those tools, he expects the MBTI Complete will save many organizations time and money, as well as improve the quality of the assessments workers receive.

Instead of wasting time going through lengthy interpretations, businesses will be able to move quickly into the application process, Hammer said.

"The main benefit to the company is that they can immediately get to the application they're interested in. Most people are not interested in type, per se — they want to apply it to something," he said. "Now, every person on the team can take the MBTI Complete, get their individual results and then come together to do the team building with everybody being at exactly the same place."

For more information, go to mbticomplete.com.