Integrating Staff Elements, Personality Type and Groupthink
Walch, Ronald D.
Synopsis "Integrating Staff Elements, Personality Type and Groupthink"
This monograph presents original research that seeks to reveal the relationship between individual personality type, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and individual attitudes about the Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP). It contends that the relationship between individual personality types and attitudes towards the MDMP has evolved since the late 1990s in concert with the changing composition of personality types within the U.S. Army officer corps. Accordingly, this monograph questions the relevance and validity of the current MDMP process. Additionally, this monograph considers the role of personality types within the integrating staff elements of Division-level and higher staffs, and offers practical suggestions towards avoiding groupthink within integrating staff elements. Isabel Briggs-Myers and Katharine Briggs developed the MBTI as a system to describe individual personalities by their self-reported traits. Briggs and Myers describe these traits in terms of eight preferences and sixteen types. The U.S. Army has been using the MBTI for individual development and as a research tool since the 1980s. The personalities of people involved in the MDMP are as important as the process itself. Understanding the role of type diversity in staff work will enable leaders to carry out more complete and effective planning. According to various researchers, effective staff work requires the development and use of cross-functional teams, and the most effective cross-functional teams consist of members who have a variety of personalities. The varied perspectives and alternate approaches provided by a variety of personalities tend to complement each other as teams work toward solutions to staff problems. U.S. Army doctrine designates what researchers call cross-functional teams as integrating cells. Integrating cells are central to the Military Decision-Making Process. Previous studies have shown that cross-functional teams with a variety of complemenThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
