Using MBTI for the success assessment of engineering teams in project-based learning

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning methodology that emphasizes student centered instruction by assigning projects. The students have to conduct significant projects and cope with realistic working conditions and scenarios. PBL is generally done by groups of students working together towards a common goal. Several factors play a significant role on the final success of each group. It is not only the technical aspects that have an influence on their final achievements, but also the human aspects and group dynamics. These dynamics can be studied through personality assessments, the Myers-Brigss Type Indicator (MBTI) being one of the most used and well-known methods. The MBTI is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Although MBTI strictly speaking just only identifies a personality type of an individual, it taps into key aspects of personality and behavior in areas such as communication, problem solving, decision making, and interpersonal relations. Several studies have also related MBTI profiles with leadership styles. The MBTI also helps in understanding group dynamics, analyzing shortcomings in an individual’s style and how the style affects the group as a whole. MBTI has been widely used in Team Building, Conflict Resolutions, Communication Skills and Understanding. The purpose of this work is to study how different combinations of student profiles could explain different group dynamics and at the same time, to predict the final success in a group. Knowing more about the personality of the team members, their leadership styles and how different personalities get along or conflict with each other can be useful information for building successful PBL groups. To this purpose, the final results of eight different student groups are analyzed, studying the influence of the MBTI profiles of their members with the group success. The final results obtained in this study suggest that the leadership style associated with the profile of the student playing the role of group coordinator and the members’ profile combinations have an influence on the group’s success.