DOMINANT PERSONALITY TYPES AND TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION PERFORMANCE: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20, 1993 1 DOMINANT PERSONALITY TYPES AND TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATION PERFORMANCE: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY Philip H. Anderson and Leigh Lawton University of St. Thomas ABSTRACT Patz (1990, 1992) presented evidence that total enterprise simulations are biased in favor of a particular personality type. This study directly tests Patz’s hypotheses but uses individuals rather than groups to isolate the effects of personality type on simulation performance from that caused by group dynamics. No support for Patz’s conclusions is found. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to directly test Patz (1990. 1992) hypothesis that dominant personality type as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is related to performance in a total enterprise (TE) simulation exercise. Based on his research, Patz concluded that TE simulations are biased in favor of Intuitive and Thinking (N and T) personality types. While Patz found that the degree of N and T dominance among team members was positively related to simulation performance, his analysis was complicated by the fact that his students participated in teams. No attempt was made to assess the influence of group dynamics on his results. Therefore, it is not possible to determine how much of the groups’ simulation performance was a function of group dynamics rather than personality type. This study an extension of earlier work by Anderson and Lawton (1990), eliminates the problem of group dynamics by having each individual student operate his or her won company in a total enterprise simulation. Anderson and Lawton (1990) conducted a partial replication of Patz’s hypothesis and found evidence that contradicted his conclusions. While they examined individuals (rather than groups). Anderson and Lawton related simulation performance to the student’s relative MBTI preferences rather than to his or her dominant personality type. Two other studies, by Gosenpud and Washbush (1992) and Washbush (1992), more directly tested Patz’s hypothesis concerning dominant personality types and found inconclusive or contradictory results. However, in both of these cases, groups were the unit of measure and hence the results were affected by group effects. In fact, the Gosenpud and Washbush (1992) study included measures of group dynamics. They found group dynamics affected performance on the simulation, but the effects of the MBTI dominant personality types were unclear. Washbush’s results contradicted Patz’s but no measures of group effects were reported. Michael, Johnson Fleming, and Lynch (1992) explored the effects of personality type on simulation performance using the Type Differentiation Indicator (TDI) developed by Saunders (1987). The TDI provides 27 subscale measures, including five scales for each of the four dimensions measured by the MBTI (for 20 MBTI subscales). Michael et al. used teams of six, with an elected CEO, to manage the simulation companies. As did Anderson and Lawton (1990), Michael et al. measured relative MBTI preferences rather than the dominant personality type which was the focus of Patz' research. They found limited support for the contention that personality type is related to performance on a simulation. They attempted to relate performance to the personality types of individuals, a composite personality profile for the team and the personality of the team’s CEO. Correlations between team performance and individual TDI scores ‘were low or insignificant (page 6). The relationship between performance and the personality of the CEO was also weak. Only two of the twenty MBTI subscales showed a statistically significant relationship and none of the four MBTI dimensions (e.g.. thinking/feeling) were correlated with performance. The composite team personality profile showed the greatest number of significant relationships with performance. Six of the twenty MBTI subscales were significant and two of the dimensions of the MBTI were found to be related to performance. Based on their results, Michael. et al. concluded that .‘. .team composite results suggest that the more successful teams were composed of more members who favor the intuitive and thinking functions (page 9). Given the conflicting results among the various studies, this study was undertaken to provide a direct test of Patz’s hypothesis using individuals rather than teams, thus eliminating the complications arising from group dynamics. As such, this research provides a clean test of the reliability of the hypothesis that total enterprise simulations are biased in favor of particular personality types. Myers-Briggs Type Personality Theory The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) instrument provides an assessment of an individuals preferences for processing information and decision making. The MBTI instrument measures an individual’s preferences on four dichotomous scales: Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I) Sensing (5) versus Intuition (N) Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F) Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P) These four dichotomous dimensions translate into 16 basic personality types such as ENTJ or INFP. For each personality type a dominant and auxiliary personality pattern for information processing and decision making can be identified. These dominant and auxiliary types can be either sensing, intuitive, thinking, or feeling. A precise method for determining an individual’s dominance type is described in Myers and Myers (1980). Patz’s research focused on the relationship between these dominance patterns (as opposed to the relative strength on each of the four dichotomous scales) and TE simulation performance. Patz (1990. 1992) hypothesized that TE simulations are biased in favor of N and T type dominant personalities. He presented evidence that N and T type dominant personalities consistently outperform other personality types on a TE simulation. Patz cited Myers and McCaulley's (1985) description of N and T types as preferring to make judgments pursuing a possibility there is a ‘technical, scientific, theoretical, or executive one, with the human element subordinated. They further contended that N and T types tend to be logical and ingenious. They are best in solving problems within their field of special interest the more intricate aspects of finance, or any sort of development or pioneering in technical or administrative areas” (Myers and McCaulley. 1985. Chapter 4 page 35). Patz argued the N and T type characteristics described by Myers and McCaulley match those designed into total enterprise simulations. TE simulations require the application of technical, scientific, and theoretical knowledge presented in business program curriculum. Further, TE simulations put participants into the role of an administrator who Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20, 1993 2 oversees the business functions of marketing, operations, and finance. Given this “fit” between the N and T type personality and TE simulations. Patz contends that simulation teams with a member who has a dominant N and T type personality will establish an early lead over other teams in a TE simulation. Patz also hypothesized these teams would maintain their lead throughout the simulation exercise. Hypotheses Based on Patz’s earlier work, the following hypotheses were tested. H1: Individuals with dominant N and T type personalities will out-perform all other dominant personality types over the first six decision periods of the simulation exercise. H2: Individuals with dominant N and T type personalities will out-perform all other dominant personality types over the ten decision periods of the simulation exercise. H3: Individuals with dominant N and T type personalities will out-perform all other dominant personality types over the last four decision periods of the simulation exercise. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The Subjects and the Course Subjects for the study were seniors in their final year of study at a medium-sized, private, midwestern university. All were members of one of two sections of a business policy course conducted using a total enterprise simulation (described below) as a major component of the course pedagogy. The profile of the student was that of a typical traditional college senior. All were majoring in various fields of business administration. The Simulation The simulation used was the same as that used by Patz (1990) in his study: Micromatic: A Management Simulation by Scott and Strickland (1985). Micromatic is a moderately complex simulation. Each decision set requires approximately 60 decisions in the areas of production, marketing, and finance. Each decision set represents a three-month period. The Methodology Students were first exposured to the simulation as a member of a group. This ensured that students developed a basic understanding of the simulation. After four decision periods students were required to manage a simulation company as an individual, beginning with the initial quarter of the simulation’s operation. That is, the individually managed companies were not continuations of the group-managed companies. This resulted in 44 individually managed companies, one for every student involved. Because of software restrictions, these companies were organized into three separate industries: two industries of 15 companies each and one industry of 14 companies. The students were randomly assigned to one of the three industries. Competition among the firms was within each industry, not across industries. A total of 10 simulated quarters of operation were run. Micromatic uses seven factors to determine current quarter and game-to-date rankings of company performance. These factors are sales revenues, net income, earnings per share, return on sales, return on assets, return on equity, and stock price. The percentage weights assigned to these factors were the same as in the Patz study: 10, 20, 10, 5, 25, 20, and 10, respectively. Results were standardized so that a comparison of performance across the three industries could be made. Performance of individually managed simulation companies counted for 25% of the student’s grade for the course. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument was administered to the students early in the semester. Feedback on the MBTI and their personality type was given at the end of the semester, after completion of the simulation exercise. The current study directly tests Patz hypothesis that simulation exercises are biased in favor of dominant personality types. It improves upon the Patz study by having each simulation company managed by an individual, to eliminate the group effects involved in Patz’s work. Also, the use of individuals as the unit of measure created a larger sample size; 44 versus 12 in the Patz study. Finally, the current study ran for 10 decision periods versus 8 conducted in the Patz study. The two extra periods should allow any bias in favor of a personality type to materialize, if they do exist. RESULTS Analysis of variance tests were conducted to measure the relationship between the students’ Myers-Briggs dominant personality types and their cumulative performance on the TE simulation after six decisions, after ten decisions, and for the last four decisions. Analysis of the last four decisions was conducted to test whether lucky” performance early in the simulation exercise influenced overall results. Table #1 shows the cumulative performance of the different dominant personality types after 6 decisions. The p-value of .557 indicates that after 6 decisions, no dominant personality type had significantly better performance than any other. This is in direct contradiction with the results found by Patz. Tables 2 and 3 also show that no significant difference exists on simulation performance between dominant personality types after 10 decisions had been completed nor over the last 4 decisions sets. Table 3 shows that even if initial poor performance had affected cumulative performance after 6 decisions and after 10 decisions, none of the dominant personality types was able to achieve a significant advantage over the last 4 quarters of operation. Not only did the p-values fail to approach significance but the direction was contrary to expectations. As can be seen in Tables 1 through 3, the sensing dominants scored higher than the Ns or Ts. Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20, 1993 3 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Results of this study show no support for the hypothesis that total enterprise simulations are biased in favor of particular personality types. No significant differences exist on simulation performance between dominant personality types at any stage of the simulation's operation. No ‘personality bias was found at the beginning, end, or over the duration of the simulation. As stated earlier, not only was there a lack of significant difference between personality types regarding simulation performance but the direction of the differences that did exist were contrary to those hypothesized by Patz. There were differences between the methodology used in this study and that used by Patz that may explain the conflicting results. These include (1) the use of individuals rather than groups as the unit of measure, (2) the age and amount of business experience of the subjects, and (3) the subjects prior experience with a simulation exercise. The focus on individuals rather than groups was the major methodological variation in this study's test of Patz hypotheses. In addition, the current study’s subjects were typical, traditional college seniors. In the Patz study they were full-time employed, with an average of seven years of business experience. This study's subjects also had a four decision period introduction to the simulation. The Patz study does not report whether his subjects had any prior exposure to the simulation exercise. Even with these differences, it would seem reasonable to assume that if the effect of personality type is as dominant at Patz suggests, there should be some signs of its influence regardless the inclusion of these variables. However, no measurable effect on performance related to personality type was found in this study. In fact, where group effects were eliminated, no support for the hypothesis was found. Given earlier research support for the importance of group effects on simulation performance reported here and in earlier research (e.g.. Wolfe and Box), and the lack of support for the influence of personality type when group effects are eliminated, it appears that group dynamics rather than personality type, may be a more fruitful area for future research. REFERENCES Anderson P.H. and Lawton L. (1991), ‘Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance,’ Developments In Business Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Vol 18. pp. 1-4. Briggs K.C, and Myers, I.B. (1983), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test Booklet: Abbreviated Version. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press. Gosenpud J. and Washbush, J.B. (1992), “The Influence of Myers-Briggs Type and Group Dynamics Factors on Total Enterprise Performance,’ Developments In Business Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Vol 19, pp. 64-67. Michael T. D.A. Johnson, R. Fleming, and R. Lynch (1991) Predicting Team Effectiveness in Total Enterprise Simulations Using the TDI,” Paper presented at the Advanced Applications for MBTI Technology Conference, Princeton, NJ, October, 13-15. Myers, I.B. and McCaulley, M.H. (1985), Manual: A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press. Myers, I.B. and Myers, PB (1980), Gifts Differing. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press, pgs 15-16. Patz, A.L. (i990), Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance,” Developments in Business Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Vol 17, pp. 132-137. Patz A.L. (1992), Personality Bias in Total Enterprise Simulations,’ Simulation and Gaming. Vol 23, pp. 45-76 Saunders, DR. (1987), Type Differentiation Indicator Manual, Consulting Psychologists Press. Palo Alto, CA Washbush, J.B. (i992), Personality Characteristics and Group Performance in Total Enterprise Simulations,” Developments In Business Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Vol 19, pp. 176-179. Wolfe, J. and Box, TM (1987), “Team Cohesion Effects on Business Game Performance.’ Developments in Business Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Vol 14, pp. 250-255 Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program