The Big Five model Essay Example for Free

The Big Five model Essay The Big Five model is an inventory tool which is very helpful in assessing one’s personality by evaluating five dimensions; these attributes are conscientiousness, openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Although these five dimensions alone cannot explain the human personality in its entirety, psychologists have agreed that these dimensions do encompass both heredity and environmental factors. This model has proved to be quite effective in evaluating potential candidates for jobs since the measure of its dimensions can be correlated to performance outcomes of various job roles (Tyler Newcombe, 2006). Conscientiousness is a dimension of the human psyche which emphasizes the need to be disciplined and goal-oriented. Individuals who have a high level of conscientiousness are usually very duty-bound and organized. Openness to experience is a personality trait which influences the extent to which an individual is open towards new and abstract concepts and thoughts. Individuals who are well-endowed with this trait are very creative and outstanding in problem-solving due to the ability to expand their horizons. Extraversion is an inclination to socialize and interact. People who posses a high level of extraversion are out-spoken and tend to easily mingle with new people. Agreeableness is a quality of being accommodative of other people’s actions and opinions. People who posses this quality are cooperative and work extremely well in groups. Neuroticism is a tendency to frequently and suddenly experience negative emotions such as depression, anger, anxiety or fear (University of Wisconsin). Neurotic individuals exhibit unpredictable behavior and mood swings due to the inability to keep their emotions under check. Samantha’s decent score in openness to experience signifies her willingness to experiment with new ideas. Her moderately high score in agreeableness implies that she is quite unbiased, fairly analytical and does not take things personally. Samantha’s excellent score in conscientiousness suggests that she is a very dependable and self-motivated person who is capable of gaining the respect of her associates. Her outstanding scores in extraversion vouch for her dynamic personality and indicate that she is free of inhibitions. She also has low neurotic scores, which implies that she is a calm and composed person. All these are indispensable qualities of a good leader and would certainly make Samantha an excellent manager. Reference: Tyler, G. and Newcombe, P. (2006). Relationship between work performance and personality traits in Hong Kong organizational settings. International Journal of Selection Assessment, 14, 37-50. University of Wisconsin. (n. d. ). A Quick Overview of the Big Five Model of Personality. Retrieved 28 January, 2007 from http://www. uwmc. uwc. edu/psychology/big_five. htm