Personalities in Work Teams

We are all born with them, personalities. Our personality coupled with the way that we were raised is what makes us who we are. If we are asked to describe a friend, we would begin listing the personality traits that are unique to that friend. If we were asked to describe ourselves, we would, more than likely, begin listing our strengths and maybe our weaknesses.

A basic understanding of the personality types

"In Proverbs 30:11-14 the wise man saw four kinds of people. About five hundred years later, the four were given names by Hippocrates, said to be the father of modern medicine." (LaHaye, 1965). "The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates believed that people behave differently because they have a predominance of one type bodily fluid, or humor." (Britannica, 2005). Dr. Tim LaHaye states, "Hippocrates named the temperaments in correspondence with the liquids he thought were the cause. The Sanguine, he thought, is characterized by rich, warm blood. Cholerics must have too much yellow bile, Melancholies he saw as having black or dark blood - black bile. Phlegmatics he saw as having thick blood, which he called phlegm." (LaHaye, 1965) Dr. LaHaye (1965) goes on to say, "Galen, a Greek doctor, came up with a detailed list of the strengths and weaknesses of the four around A.D. 200. This has remained pretty much intact throughout history and is still the prevailing position in Europe."

Since that time, there have been many different theories and tests regarding personalities and temperaments. Basically, the temperaments have been narrowed down to four, although different psychologists have assigned different names. For simplicity in this paper, we will use the names assigned by Hippocrates; Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy and Phlegmatic to refer to the four personality types.

A Brief Explanation for the Four Personality Types

Dr. LaHaye (1965), after 26 years of research, has come to the conclusion that people are a mixture of the four temperaments. There is one temperament that is primarily dominant and one is less dominant. Nonetheless, with close evaluation, there will be evidence of all four types in each individual.

Each personality type has its own list of strengths and weaknesses. The Sanguine is fun-loving, loves people, has a positive outlook on life and is a caring person. His weaknesses include, a tendency to not follow through with projects, has relatively no will power, he is self-centered and very sensitive emotionally. The Choleric also has a positive outlook on life. He is a natural leader. He is logical and is very determined because he knows he is right. Unfortunately, the choleric is easily ignited. He can be very malicious, impulsive and incredibly arrogant. Both the Sanguine and the Choleric are extroverts. The Melancholy feels very deeply. He has to have everything precise. The melancholy is loyal and tends to be very creative. The melancholy's deficiencies; however, are exhibited by his selfishness, negativity and moroseness. Finally, The Phlegmatic has a keen sense of humor. He is trust worthy and thorough. That is, once he beings the project. The Phlegmatic tends to put things off until the last minute. He has trouble making decisions and, because he enjoys a good joke, has a tendency to take the joking too far. The Melancholy and the Phlegmatic are both introverts.

Team Dynamics

Now that we have introduced the personality types, what do they have to do with team dynamics? Teams are made up of people and people are made up of a combination of personality types. Teams must learn to work together in order to accomplish their goals. This is true in all areas of life, not just the work environment. Working together, whether face-to-face or in an online situation, requires developing