The way we work within a team is shaped by our personality. If our individual preferences for how we communicate and how we do our work match well with those of our team members, teamwork is likely to flow smoothly. If our preferences clash, tensions and conflict can arise. Therefore, understanding our own traits and attributes, as well as those of our team members, is a significant part of understanding how to work as an effective team.
This section introduces you to some of the concepts and issues identified by psychology researchers around personality. The activities are intended to allow you to apply this information to improving and understanding how you work in a team environment.
PERSONALITY AS A SYSTEM
It is very easy to use labels or stereotypes to describe personality (e.g. micro-manager, visionary, or hard worker). However psychologists believe that it is important for us to acknowledge the multiple factors and experiences that go to make up a person's personality, and that behaviour will be shaped by different social factors and the context of the situation.
Some psychologists therefore choose to describe personality as a 'system'. Mayer (2015) goes further and situates this system in the midst of other systems: the brain, the setting, the situation and social groups, and culture. These systems are internal (personality and the brain), external (the situation and the setting), and team-specific (culture and social norms).
The take-away message here is that even if you can control your internal systems, there are external and team-specific systems that are beyond your control. However, we think that if you are aware of all the systems, then you have a good chance of designing and implementing processes that will aid your team.
REFERENCES
Mayer, J.D. (2015) Personality system framework: Current theory and development. Journal of Research in Personality, 56, 4–14.
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