Personality Testing: Results, Critique, and Application

Results of the Belbin Test:

• Preferred styles: Team-worker, implementer, and coordinator
• Less preferred styles: Monitor-evaluator, completer-finisher, shaper
• Styles to avoid: Plant, specialist, resource investigator

Analysis and Interpretation:

• Preferred roles: According to the results, I am a strong and socially-oriented team worker who can adequately respond to situations and people, as well as promoting team spirit. I am also dutiful and predictable, which allows me to organize activities at a high level. Thanks to these traits, I can efficiently coordinate teamwork.
• Secondary roles: In case of need, I could challenge ineffectiveness and complacency in a team by taking on the role of shaper. If a team requires me to take on some other roles, I could be a sober and prudent monitor-evaluator or a perfectionist completer-finisher who wraps up and concludes team projects.
• Roles to avoid: According to the test, I lack some highly specialized and rare skills of specialist or genius mind of plant, but it means that I can contribute to teamwork in a wide range of ways. I am also not extraverted and communicative enough to be a resource investigator.

Results of the Learning Style Inventory

• Auditory is my most preferred learning style.
• Two other styles, i.e. visual and kinaesthetic, show equal results and do not have much lower scores than the dominant style.
Analysis and Interpretation:
• Preferred learning style: According to the results of the VAK test, my dominant learning style is auditory, which means that discussions, verbal explanations, and listening are the most effective learning means for me.
• Secondary learning styles: Kinaesthetic and visual learning styles have the same scores that are not much lower than the dominant style, which means that I can use them equally effectively. Hence, written instructions, pictures, touching, and moving can assist me with learning new information.

Results of the MBTI Test

• Overall result of the test: entp
Analysis and Interpretation:
• My source of energy is extraversion, hence talking and socialization are important for me.
• I receive information through intuition, thus being able to recognize possibilities and a big picture.
• I make decisions based on thinking and rely on logics.
• In personal life, I use perceiving type, which means that I like surprises and can easily change plans.

Overall, I agree with the results of the Belbin test since the roles of team-worker, implementer, and coordinator really seem to suit my skills and me. According to the results, my dominant role is that of team-worker, which is definitely true. However, I do not agree with the statement that I am not extraverted and socializing, which is implied from the fact that one of the styles to avoid is that of resource investigator. It may be true that I would not like to work in this capacity, but I suppose that I have enough skills to excel at it, in case, a team needs me to do that. I have never taken this test before, which is why it is impossible to compare the results over time. In general, the authors of the Belbin test consider it to be reliable since they do not use repeating questions, but employ an algorithm that “seeks for clusters of related behaviour”, which makes the test internally consistent and reliable (Belbin 2016). Reliability and validity of the test have been tested by Van Dierendonck and Groen (2010), who claimed that the test is characterized by good construct validity with minimum variance in results.

I have never taken the VAK Learning Style inventory test before, but, in general, I agree with the results though my results do not show any significant variations between the three styles with the dominant style being ahead by one point only. However, it is really applicable to me as most of the times I perceive information while listening best, but I also rely on reading a lot. Since there is no variance in the test results, there is a question about the reliability and validity of the results. Nonetheless, tests like this one, i.e. aimed at revealing the most appropriate styles are rather wide-spread across various industries, as shown by Sarabi-Asiabar et al. (2015). An interesting finding of the study by Sarabi-Asiabar et al. (2015) is that males prefer kinaesthetic learning, while females have auditory learning as the dominant style. Personally, I suppose that the learning style is an individual choice and that all three styles have to be practiced and used for the best result, which is, in fact, reflected in my results.

The only test that I have taken before and now can compare results is the MBTI test. Hence, my current result is entp, while my previous result was enfp. This way, over the last two years, my decision-making priorities have shifted from feeling to thinking, which is a benefit for my future employment and a sign of my maturation. Now, I rely on logic, which will surely help with making wise management decisions. In all other respects, the results have remained consistent, which testifies to the reliability of results with which I agree. In terms of reliability of the MBTI test, it is considered “as good as or better than other personality instruments” as on retest the same results emerge 75% to 90% of the time (The Myers & Briggs Foundation 2016).

Withal, a common criticism of all psychological tests relating to their validity is that they are outcome-focused and employ correlational analyses for test-retest comparison (Bornstein 2011). In turn, Bornstein (2011) suggests using a process-focused model of testing test validity that takes into consideration mood, external factors, and other issues that may have affected the test taker in the process of undertaking the test. In my case, I filled in the tests in the library while working with my friends, yet I completed the tests on my own and did not share my results with others. Besides, even though there were some interruptions, they did not interfere with the process of testing, and I went back to the test results a couple of times in order to check them. Therefore, applying the Bornstein’s (2011) PF model of validity and traditional models of validity, all three tests can be concluded as generally valid and reliable.

Being offered to undergo the three personality tests with a view to applying for a position within the company’s trainee management programme in six months, I would gladly do that since it would allow finding out some potential spheres that I need to improve. Hence, the results of the Belbin test, VAK Learning Style inventory, and MBTI test would provide me with a solid foundation of developing a targeted personal development plan with a list of traits and skills I need to work on to be accepted into the trainee programme.

Based on the results of the Belbin test, I am an excellent team-worker, which would be my competitive advantage while applying for the desired position. The matter is that contemporary business entities usually value teamwork, yet not all employees can effectively cooperate with others. Besides, I possess a number of other positive qualities that I will emphasize in my application. Hence, I am socially oriented and effective in finding solutions to existing problems and tasks. If a team needs, I can also be a leader by performing the role of Shaper and challenging complacency and ineffectiveness in a team, which is a highly useful trait. However, the Belbin test shows that I lack some specialized skills and genius intelligence, which may be an obstacle for my admission into the program if a lot of Specialists and Plants apply. Furthermore, I need to work on my socialization skills even though I do not agree with this particular result of the test. Thus, with account for the Belbin results, I need to pursue some particular specialization and find a skill that I am exceptionally good at in order to show my potential employer that I would be a superb addition to a team. For instance, I can find some course and obtain a certificate in business-related specialization from a renowned institution with the help of some MOOC platform like edX, which offers plenty of business specializations that can be accomplished over the given period. I also need to work on my socialization skills, which can be done with the help of independent learning, researching, and subsequent empirical application of the acquired skills. Team sports may assist me with improving my socialization skills, as well as providing with a network of useful connections. Six months seem to be a sufficient period of time to master and improve an already existing skill to make it nearly perfect, but first I need to research how to do that and what skills are currently in demand in the market.

In addition, I will emphasize that I am a superb learner as I can use all three learning styles equally effectively and efficiently, which is evident from my VAK Learning Style test results. Hence, being a trainee, I will be able to rely on all three styles and adapt to any circumstances with a view to excelling in the program. With account for my learning style, I am nearly universal, which makes me a good fit for the trainee program. Moreover, my MBTI test results make me an excellent choice for the program and show that I can progress and develop over time as evident from the comparison of my test results over time. Being an extrovert, I will easily establish and maintain good connections with other team members, colleagues, managers, and clients. I can also see a big picture, which is necessary for any successful manager, and my decision-making is logical and reasonable. At the same time, I am flexible and can easily adapt to changing circumstances, which is an essential prerequisite for being efficient in the rapidly changing and developing business environment.

Therefore, the MBTI results and the VAK Learning Style test prove that I am a good candidate for the program as I am a quick learner and potentially effective manager. The only aspect that I have to work concerns my specialization and socialization skills as evident from the Belbin plan. Thus, I plan to find and enrol into a MOOC test that will provide with essential skills for obtaining a competitive advantage and improve my socialization skills by participating in team sports like football.

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