Team Psychology - How Individual Personality Psychology Affects Social Team Dynamics
How people think and how that affects cooperation.
Overview
Overview
Individual personality psychology and group psychology play an important role in team harmony and performance.
While there is no single formula for success, having an understanding of how you perceive otherss and are yourself perceived by others may help.
The Human Condition
It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built up upon a renunciation of instinct….
-Sigmund Freud, “Civilization and its Discontents”
Concept
As popularized in the early 20th century by Freud’s “Civilization and its Discontents” and Hermann Hesse’s “Steppenwolf”, humans have long been accused of harboring conflicting motivations:
- to be an individual
- to belong to a group
Solution
While there is no solution, there are strategies for mitigating the impact of this inherent conflict on team performance.
For team harmony, it may help to understand an individual’s motivations and try to provide for their needs.
Motivation
When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love, and self-esteem.
-Abraham Maslow, “Toward a Psychology of Being”
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
In the mid-20th century, a social scientist named Abraham Maslow proposed a set of needs of humans in order to explain motivation (or the lack thereof):
- Physiological needs - food, water, sleep, shelter, etc.
- Safety - personal, financial, and other forms of safety
- Social belonging - a need for the feeling of belongingness, social acceptance, and love
- Esteem - recognition, respect, and the need for status
- Self-actualization - a desire to accomplish everything one can… to maximize one’s potential!
The idea was that you cannot achieve higher needs without satisfying lower needs.
Maslow’s Pyramid
Where does software development fit in this pyramid?
Tricks of the trade
Safety:
- no guns at work
- systems for handling reports of abuse and harrassment
Social belonging:
- provide communal facilities and activities
- encourage informal communication
Esteem:
- recognize achievements of individuals
- give appropriate rewards
Self-realization:
- training - people want to learn more
- responsibility - let individuals have a stake in the work
Personality Types
Whatever the circumstances of your life, the understanding of type can make your perceptions clearer, your judgements sounder, and your life closer to your heart’s desire.
-Isabel Briggs Myers
Myers-Briggs
Based on Jung’s theory of personality, the Myers-Briggs set of personality dualities are quite popular in corporate America human resources practices.
Personality Differences
Team Size
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
-Fred Brooks, “The Mythical Man-Month”
Two-Pizza Teams
Jeff Bezos is famous for the “two pizza” team - a team should only be as large as can be fed with two pizzas.
Maybe he’s right. But maybe not.
Tevye the milkman
When you’re rich, they think you really know!
-Tevye, an empoverished milkman dreaming of a life full of wealth and esteem says, in the classic Yiddish story, “Fiddler on the Roof”
Conclusions
Thank you. Bye.