Effective personality profiles in negotiation according to the Myers-Briggs type indicator

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This explorative study set out to investigate the effectiveness of differentpersonalities in negotiation. The research problem originated as result of the searchthrough literature aimed at developing a negotiation skills program for the South AfricanArmy. Many authors were found to refer to the importance of personality on the processand outcome of negotiation, but that existing research focus mainly on single personalitytraits and often indicated inconclusive results. These findings stirred curiosity to explore thepossibility that certain personality types, according to a more comprehensive theory ofpersonality, may prove to be more effective than others.The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Form G self-scoring and two separate role-playswere used to gather data for this research. The role-plays placed similar boundaries on theparticipants in terms of the type of agreement that could be reached as well as the financialterms involved. The MBTI results were used as continuous scores and the eight subscalesas separate groups and also according to a number of combinations of the subscales.The possible influence of a number of variables were taken into account namely, age,gender, military rank, level of formal education and ethnicity. Though the majority of thesevariables were found to be possible covariates of personality they appear not to haveinfluenced the outcome of the research. This was because no significant correlationsappeared to exist between the outcome of the negotiation role-plays and the various scales and subscales of the MBTI. According to these results, and within the confinement of thisresearch it would appear that the various personality types do not differ in terms of theeffectiveness in negotiation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University