PROJECT 1 1
Project 1
Maria Campanella
BMAL 500
September 2, 2020
Liberty University
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Abstract
The objective of this project is to discuss my specific personality type and temperament
to help better understand myself. I specifically talk about the ISFJ personality and what each
letter means and specific examples from my life, how it applies and does not apply. I will also
talk about the temperament of an ISFJ and how it relates to each letter. Next, I describe how
objective behavior is affected by different personalities using the Type Talk at Work textbook. I
also apply the textbook to what I have learned about myself and how it will make me a better
employee.
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Step 1
I – Introverted.
According to this personality test, I have a moderate preference of introversion over
extroversion, fifty percent more, to be exact. I have always been on the line of introverted and
extroverted, but I am not surprised that I am overall introverted. For the most part, I recharge
when I get to be by myself, however, too much alone time is not good for me. There is a small
group of people that I do not feel like I need alone time after being with them. Typically, in a
large group of people I feel anxious and uncomfortable. This flows into my work environment
because it takes me a long time to get acclimated in a new place and a new group of people. At
my most recent job at the Hydaway Outdoor Center, it took me at least a semester to feel
comfortable with the staff, but now that I have been there for over four years, the staff has
become like my family and I rarely feel like I need alone time after being with them. This speaks
to my temperament as the nurturer and I value harmony among people I am around. That is
where my extrovert comes out. I love being with people and people are a big part of my life that
take up a lot of my time. I desire to have a balanced lifestyle of taking time for myself but always
making time for the people in my life that mean the most. In my opinion, this is very important
in the workplace because being friends with coworkers adds to the work experience overall.
According to the Jung personality description, ISFJs are good in the workplace due to their
ability to be analytical when needed and their consistency with being patient and sympathetic
with others. These are the aspects at least that were mentioned that resonated with me the most. A
weakness in the workplace that I feel applies to me is the ISFJ struggle with supervisor roles, and
as a manager, I can attest that it was a hard transition for me to be in charge of leading and
delegating tasks. However, it can be done with time.
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S – Sensing.
I received a score of 28 percent more sensing than intuition. After reading a bit more about what
this means, I see how this is me. This is also a big part of my temperament as an SJ. According to
the Personality Page, the main way I take in information I through my five senses in a literal
way. This came as no surprise to me as I do always take things very literally. Externally, I deal
with things based on how they fit into my core values and I definitely see this in myself. Because
of this, I tend to see the best in people and am able to feel what people are feeling. This helps me
in the workplace because I value cooperation and bringing out the best in people and I see on a
daily basis how this affects my work life. The SJ temperament I think also affects my decision-
making skills, especially at work. I am someone who values other people’s opinions, not
necessarily about myself, but about their environment and what is happening in the workplace.
Because of this, I try to get as many thoughts and opinions from others before making a decision
at work that will affect everyone. This can be a good and bad thing. The good thing is that I care
about my coworkers and staff and want their opinion, but the bad thing is not everyone is going
to agree and that definitely slows down the decision-making process. Another aspect of sensing
and the SJ temperament as a whole, is that we value stability, laws, and rules. The positive of this
is that I will be a good employee as far as following the rules and regulations of the department.
This makes me trustworthy, but it can also prevent me from thinking for my own, which I have
found at the beginning of starting a new job. I will also be completely loyal to a job if I sense that
I am needed and wanted there. When I feel valued at a workplace I will never leave, especially
because of my desire for stability. As the “protector”, according to Keirsey, some of my top
priorities are the well-being and security of the people in my life. In my experience at my current
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job, I can confidently say the people I work with are some of my favorite people and I will be
loyal to their well-being.
F – Feeling.
I am fifty percent more feeling than thinking on this personality test. I tend to see this as more of
a negative thing than a positive thing in my everyday life. I often feel like my thoughts and
opinions do not matter or have to be validated by someone because I do not see myself as a smart
person. This affects me most especially in the workplace. The three guys that I work closely with
at the facility I work at are all logical thinkers and absolutely make their decision off of facts and
logic. I unfortunately often feel inferior to them because of this and feel like I am always forced
to trust their opinion because of what they have based it off of. Typically, this also affects how I
react to their choices because I let my emotions of feeling unneeded build up and can let it out
passive aggressively at times. The personality page talks about how keeping emotions inside and
letting them build up is a very common tendency of ISFJs. However, on the flip side, being more
emotions based can allow me to bond with m coworkers and care for them in a way a logical
thinker may not. When the people I work with are making a decision based off of logic, I am
usually making it based on how it will affect the people within our department. Though that can
make me feel less important sometimes, I do think that is an important view to have and it is
valuable to make decisions based on emotion at times. Something else that comes with my
emotional side of things is my desperate need to avoid confrontation and conflict. This is
something I have grown incredibly aware of over the last few years, so I have been able to
improve, but it still is a big challenge for me. I don’t enjoy it because in my mind, confrontation
involves hurting someone which emotionally gets to me. In the work atmosphere, this is an
aspect of my personality I have had to work on.
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J – Judging.
I am only 9 percent more judging that perceiving. I am surprised at how close to being neutral I
was on this subject, at least when it comes to work. I consider myself to be a very organized
person. I hold time management at a high priority, especially when it comes to work. I take
deadlines seriously and you won’t find me waiting until the last minute to get work tasks done,
especially because people are relying on me to get it done. I do, however, see myself as more of a
perceiving personality when it comes to my schoolwork and life outside of work. Since I am the
only person in charge of my school and when it gets done, I am more inclined to change when I
do things. I am also more inclined to put it off. My mantra is “it will get done eventually.” I am
also a pretty laid-back person and I typically have a go-with-the-flow attitude when it comes to
plans with people. However, I hate when plans change or get cancelled, which speaks to my
judging side of things. I of course think there are pros and cons to both judging and perceiving,
but at work, I do find that it helps me and those around me that I do stick to my plans. The
personality club describes my temperament as “practical and well-organized”, and that most
comes out in my work environment.
ISFJ – The Nurturer.
Overall, the ISFJ personality type is considered the nurturer according to the Jung personality
test. My main priority in my life is to maintain peace and harmony with myself and among the
people I interact with. Being more emotionally oriented also allows me to understand people’s
feelings and be sensitive to those around me. The ISFJ temperament is labeled “the protector’
according to Keirsey and they are typically dedicated individuals. This all pours into my work
life and has a big impact on my attitude and feelings towards my job.
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Step 2
Organizational behavior is heavily shaped by individual differences which are defined as
“the many attributes, such as traits and behaviors, that describe each of us as a person” (Kinicki,
2021, p. 5). Personality tests are able to give individuals insight on how they act in the workplace
and can often give people a better understanding of who they are in general. There are many
benefits of this, but one specifically is that it can help people improve upon things that they may
not have even realized they were doing wrong in the first place. Organizational behavior looks
different for everyone because everyone behaves differently. The difference in personality will
affect how organizational behavior can be used by each individual to become successful and
grow in their workplace. Type Talk at Work addresses team building in the workplace and how
every workplace has a team, no matter where it is. “The company itself represents a team effort
to reach a goal. Each department or division represents a team too. So do the smaller groups of
people working together within those departments. In each case a team’s success is directly
linked to the efforts of the individual players and how well those players get along and work with
each other” (Kroger et al., 2002, p. 93). Every person has a part of the team and knowing how
each person behaves in the workplace is essential to communicating and meshing well as a team.
It helps to better understand each other and understand other’s strengths and weaknesses.
I have been fortunate enough to take personality tests for many things in the past, but I
realize something new about myself every time. This time around, I realized that I make
decisions based off of my emotions way more than I thought. I am, in general, more of an
emotional thinker than I realized. I have seen this quite a bit recently because my three
coworkers that I work closely with are logical thinkers and on top of that, they are all men. They
typically see each other’s side because they think similarly. However, now that I know I am more
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of an emotional thinker, I can be more aware of this so it can stop affecting my attitude at work.
This test also put into perspective how closely I hold the people in my life. I, of course, am aware
of this but having it put into words makes me realize even more how much my coworkers mean
to me. I tend to become close to people that I spend most time with, so my coworkers are high up
on the list of people I value. This is something that flows into work in a positive way because I
take a lot of time to get to know the people I work with and do my best to make sure they feel
valued. Type Talk at Work summed me up quite well in one simple paragraph. “Cautious,
reserved, quiet, ISFJs are content to work quietly by themselves. Their perceptions of the world
are realistic, grounded, and present oriented, and they use those facts and realities to make
decisions that are interpersonally driven. They prefer to live their daily lives in a structured,
ordered, accountable manner” (Kroger et al., 2002, p. 313). It also describes ISFJs at work as
“organized, pleasant, and a dependable team player” (Kroger et al., 2002, p. 314). Type Talk at
Work also mentions my high expectations of myself and others for rules and that could not be
truer. I did not realize this until now but I can sometimes hurt or annoy the people I work with
because I hold them to an unnecessarily high standard. In the workplace, I do not see myself as
cautious and reserved, but that is because I have been there for going on five years. When I first
start a job, that is me to a t! Now that I am comfortable, I would say that organized, pleasant, and
dependable is a perfectly accurate way to describe my demeanor at work. Knowing this about
myself and that I sometimes allow people to steam roll over me or take advantage of me will
help me to be more aware of this at work. I feel like my coworkers know me well enough now
that I do not feel like this happens, but I also don’t think I would notice if it was happening. I
appreciate being made aware of this so I can watch out for it not only for myself, but others as
well. It will make me a better employee and coworker.
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References
Butt, J., & Heiss, M. ISFJ: Introverted sensing feeling judging.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/isfj
Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. (2017). Portrait of an ISFJ: Introverted sensing feeling
judging. http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ISFJ.html
Keirsey. Portrait of the guardian protector ISFJ. https://keirsey.com/temperament/guardian-
protector/
Kinicki, A. (2021). Organizational behavior: A practical, problem-solving approach. McGraw-
Hill Publication.
Kroeger, O., Thuesen, J. M., & Rutledge, H. (2002). Type talk at work: How the 16 personality
types determine your success on the job. New York: Dell Publishing.
Personality Club. ISFJ: The nurturer. https://www.personalityclub.com/personality-types/isfj/
16Personalities. Introduction: Who is a defender (ISFJ). https://www.16personalities.com/isfj-
personality
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