Team Formation by Affinity Groups

Abstract

The team formation procedure of this chapter is built upon responses by prospective team members to any of several personality questionnaires, including the cognitive mode questionnaire of the preceding chapter or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The method uses the mode scores computed by the transformation of the preceding chapter to partition the people pool into eight sets called “affinity groups”, abbreviated “ag.”, top scores going into the ag.s Each ag. normally has as many members as there are teams. Individuals can belong to more than one ag. Teams are formed by selecting a member from each ag. while honoring any non-cognitive constraints on team membership. Each team’s goal is to have as many modes as possible occupied by an affinity group member, for this guarantees mode scores among the highest available. This can be done on a spreadsheet, but attainment of teams with full cognitive diversity may need computer assistance and close attention to detail. An alternative, good for collections of people who already know each other, is to have individuals choose members from the ag.s while respecting any non-psychological restrictions such as gender balance.