Big Five Personality Model

In this essay, the role of individual differences in management practice and organizational behavior has been analyzed. This essay is mainly focused on the “Big Five Model of Personality.” Big five-personality model is also known as “five factor model.” Ashton (2013) stated, “Big five personality model is based on common language descriptors of personality (lexical hypothesis)”. The five major personality traits are like Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. All these factors have been analyzed to measure strengths and weaknesses of personal behavior. Depending on that, some recommendations have been provided so that personal weaknesses can be improved. 

These descriptors are grouped together using a statistical technique called factor analysis (this model is not based on experiments). This model helps to comprehend the relationship between personality and academic behaviors. Big five personality model was defined by several independent sets of researchers. These researchers began by studying relationships between a large numbers of known personality traits. They reduced the lists of these traits (arbitrarily) by 5-10 fold and then used factor analysis to group the remaining traits (using data mostly based upon people's estimations, in self-report questionnaire and peer ratings) in order to find the underlying factors of personality.

Figure 1: Big Five Personality Traits

(Source: Stockdale and Steeper 2013)

This widely examined theory suggests five broad dimensions used by some psychologists to describe the human personality and psyche.” The five-personality dimensions of this model are such as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. They are often listed under the acronyms OCEAN. They are discussed below.

As Stockdale and Steeper (2013) mentioned that “openness to experience” is the “Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience.” It helps to reflect the degree of creativity, curiosity and acceptance of novelty in a person. On the other hand, “conscientiousness” is often described as the “tendency to be organized and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior” (Wortman et al. 2012). Extraversion indicates surgency, positive energy and assertiveness. Lamers et al. (2012) stated, “High extraversion is often perceived as attention-seeking, and domineering. Low extraversion causes a reserved, reflective personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed.” On the other hand, agreeableness can be described as the tendency of being cooperative and compassionate rather than antagonistic and suspicious towards other peoples. “Agreeableness is a measure of one's trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is generally well-tempered or not. High agreeableness is often seen as naive or submissive. Low agreeableness personalities are often competitive or challenging people, which can be seen as argumentative or untrustworthy” (De Feyter et al. 2012). Neuroticism can be described as the characteristics of human beings to experience unpleasant emotions easily. These emotions are such as anxiety, anger, depression and vulnerability.  It also indicates impulse control and emotional stability. (Karsten et al. 2012) mentioned, “A high need for stability manifests as a stable and calm personality, but can be seen as uninspiring and unconcerned. A low need for stability causes a reactive and excitable personality, often very dynamic individuals, but they can be perceived as unstable or insecure.”

After analyzing the big five personality traits, some strengths and weaknesses of my personality profile can be identified. At first, I need to share my results. They are given below in the table.

Openness to experience,	16/ 100
Conscientiousness	58/100
Extraversion	64/100
Agreeableness	44/100
Neuroticism	32/100

Figure 2: Result of my Big 5 personality test

(Source: Outofservice2016)

It has been found that, I use to trust in the conventional way of working. Although, I prefer to remain down to earth, my interests are a little bit narrow. I have lack of creativity and curiousness, which can be treated a major flaw in my organizational behavior. It often reduces the efficiency of my decision-making capability. It is mentioned in the creativity process model of organizational behavior that “Creativity can be described as Developing an original product, service, or idea that makes a socially recognized contribution.” In this theory, it is also mentioned that, creativity is a part of decision-making process that can influence both personal competencies and conditions of organizations. In addition, I also have found that, I like to judge other’s performance critically. Sometimes even, I behave rudely to my colleagues and followers for their poor performance. My major weakness is that I cannot compromise with quality. Hence, I prefer to make critical analysis of any performance. I often behave rudely and talk harsh to others so that they do not repeat the same mistake again in future. However, it often destroys the team spirit. According to the model of organizational behavior (OB model) from the beginning of the civilization, there are two alternative approaches used to trust people. One says “trust everyone unless there is contrary evidence”. Another says “do not trust anyone unless there is contrary evidence” Milfont and Sibley (2012). These approaches have different influence on the interpersonal communication. I have analyzed that, in case of teamwork I believe in the second approach.

I have also analyzed some positive aspects of my organizational behavior. I am reliable, well organized and self-disciplined. I always try carefully to maintain quality and deadline for any task submitted to me. For example, sometimes my managers ask me to complete a task within very short period of time. Most of my colleagues reject these tasks, as it becomes risky to complete the task within short deadline. However, I never let down my superiors. I think that these emergency tasks are the opportunities to show my capability to the management. For this reason, they always consider me as a responsible team leader and employee.

 My organizational behavior tends to be sociable, friendly, fun loving and talkative. I always ask my fellow team members to come to me for any help. I always try to solve their issues as much as possible. For example, in order to complete some projects, I have to deal with multicultural teams, where conflict is inevitable. I always ask them about their issues and talk face to face so that all conflicts can be resolved. I think that conflict and isolation can decrease my team performance.

I score low in Neuroticism (32). That mean, I tend to remain calm and relax in critical situations. For instance, often our management asks to submit a task 7 days before deadline or they often give negative review about our team performance. It often decline all employee’s morale. I cheer them up and motivate them to remain calm so that they can improve performance in future.   Credé et al. (2012) mentioned that emotional intelligence is an important part of organizational behaviour.  It has been found that misbehaving with employees, staying insecure, nervous about task outcomes can cause stress among employees. They become unmotivated and looking forward to leave the company. According to Cobb-Clark and Schurer (2012), staying calm in pressure situation can lead to anxiety, worry and stress.   

I used to stay calm under pressure situation. Robbins and Judge (2012) mentioned “developing the ability to stay calm under pressure situations means that you are less likely to suffer from the effects of stress, anxiety and worry. Your calm approach will also lead to better health and higher levels of productivity. It will provide you with a sense of control over the events and circumstances of your life, and most certainly a better sense of control over yourself, your thoughts and emotions. On top of this, staying calm under pressure will help improve your ability to focus on the right things, at the right time, and in the right way. It will allow you to better communicate your needs to other people, and help you make more effective, intelligent and emotional-free decisions.” For example, in order to handle critical situations (like completing tasks within short time), I have to face various emotional issues such as anxiety, frustration, stress, fear and anger. I personally believe that when emotion controls us, we are not able to capitalize our greatest opportunities to get forward.

In his research work Andrease King (2012) had analyzed the relationship between personality and job performance. It has been found that extroversion, conscientiousness and Neuroticism are those personality traits which can motivate employees and job performance (Phillips and Gully 2013). Andrease King (2012) mentioned “People, who display high levels of Extroversion and Conscientiousness, as well as low levels of Neuroticism, perform better in sales related occupations.” From the result, It has been analyzed that I have scored high for extroversion (64), conscientiousness (58). However, the score is low (32) in Neuroticism. It has been found that friendly behaviour and talkative nature helps to motivate my followers. I always try to remain organised and disciplined. I personally believe that “discipline is the key of success.” My seniors always trust me with any task as I always complete them on time. I love to make fun with my colleagues and subordinates. It helps to create healthy environment within the workplace and motivates my subordinates to work ethically.  

From the analysis, it has been found that I believe in traditional thinking and working style. However, lack of creativity often has affected my work performance. There are some recommendations have been provided in this section to improve creativity.

Figure 3: Recommendation to improve motivation and performance

(Source: Created by Author)

McShane and Von Glinow (2012) stated that, “few people know enough about the way their minds work to be able to treat it like a skill.” Example has to be taken from peoples like Steve Job, Einstein who can develop creative ideas consistently.

It has been found that most creative people have tremendous amount of knowledge. They have expertise in their own field. In this modern era it is assumed that, a person can find out any information from Google whenever it is required. However, it is required to look for updated books and journals to improve knowledge in specialized field. In order to maximize the quality of  knowledge, it is  to develop the habit to explain things back to myself.

It has been found that openness is one of the five major personality traits. Lind and van den Bos (2013) stated “openness reflects how much you are motivated to consider new ideas, concepts, and experiences.” It has been found that “The most creative people are typically very open people. If you are someone who resists new ideas and experiences, that does not mean you cannot be creativity.” Hence, it is required to develop a new set of habits and ideas rather than rejecting them just because they are new. Whenever new idea is encountered, it is required to listen to it or read it through. However, it should not be applied right away. A person should read it again and again until he or she becomes familiar with the idea.  

It is required to think about a problem or situation differently. A person has to try to ask questions differently to himself. That means that whenever a person wants to think about a problem or situation differently, he has to ask different questions to myself. Phillips and Gully (2013) stated that, “The most creative people don’t settle on a single way to think about a problem. Instead, they keep finding new descriptions of that problem and allowing their memory to find more information that might help to solve it. The more different questions they ask, the more creative ideas they have”.

From the theory of organizational behavior, it has been found that harsh behavior can de-motivate others. It also can distort the performance of employees as well. (Moorhead and Griffin 2012) stated “Difficult behavior can inhibit performance in others and will only deteriorate if left alone, contaminating more people and incurring hidden costs for the organization. It takes many forms like rudeness, yelling, shunning, mobbing, gossiping, refusing to talk to or acknowledge others, harassing, incessant complaining to supervisors, ignoring directives, and slow working.” Hence, It is required to develop a suitable punishment strategy so that behavior can be improved. I should pay certain money to the fund box whenever I misbehave with someone.

This essay helps me to analyze my own personal behavior depending on big five personality trait models. It has been found that harsh behavior can demotivate followers. On the contrary, friendly behaviour and talkative nature can help to motivate followers. This essay also helps to understand that openness can increase creativity. In order to increase creativity it is required to think about a problem or situation differently. A person has to try to ask questions differently to himself. In order to be creative people need to keep finding new descriptions of that problem and allowing their memory to find more information that might help to solve it.

Reference list

Ashton, M. 2013. Individual differences and personality. Amsterdam: Academic Press.

Cobb-Clark, D.A. and Schurer, S., 2012.The stability of big-five personality traits. Economics Letters, 115(1), pp.11-15.

Credé, M., Harms, P., Niehorster, S. and Gaye-Valentine, A., 2012.An evaluation of the consequences of using short measures of the Big Five personality traits. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(4), p.874.

De Feyter, T., Caers, R., Vigna, C. and Berings, D., 2012.Unraveling the impact of the Big Five personality traits on academic performance: The moderating and mediating effects of self-efficacy and academic motivation.Learning and Individual Differences, 22(4), pp.439-448.

Karsten, J., Penninx, B.W., Riese, H., Ormel, J., Nolen, W.A. and Hartman, C.A., 2012.The state effect of depressive and anxiety disorders on big five personality traits. Journal of psychiatric research, 46(5), pp.644-650.

Lamers, S.M., Westerhof, G.J., Kovács, V. and Bohlmeijer, E.T., 2012.Differential relationships in the association of the Big Five personality traits with positive mental health and psychopathology. Journal of Research in Personality, 46(5), pp.517-524.

Lind, E. and van den Bos, K. 2013. Freeing organizational behavior from inhibitory constraints.Research in Organizational Behavior, 33, pp.79-95.

McShane, S. and Von Glinow, M. 2012. Organizational behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Milfont, T.L. and Sibley, C.G., 2012. The big five personality traits and environmental engagement: Associations at the individual and societal level.Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32(2), pp.187-195.

Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. 2012. Managing organizational behavior. Andover: South-WesternCengage Learning.

Outofservice, 2016. Your Big Five Results. [online] Outofservice.com. Available at: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/results/?oR=0.55&cR=0.639&eR=0.656&aR=0.639&nR=0.438 [Accessed 8 Sep. 2016].

Phillips, J. and Gully, S. 2013. Organizational behavior. Mason, OH: South-WesternCengage Learning.

Robbins, S. and Judge, T. 2012. Essentials of organizational behavior.Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Stockdale, S. and Steeper, C. 2013. Teach Yourself. London: Hodder& Stoughton.

Wortman, J., Lucas, R.E. and Donnellan, M.B., 2012. Stability and change in the Big Five personality domains: Evidence from a longitudinal study of Australians. Psychology and aging, 27(4), p.867.