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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.
Personality as a system
Some psychologists 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).
You can control your internal systems, but there are external and team-specific systems that are beyond your control.
Models for describing Personality types
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
the Five-Factor Model (FFM)