Five Factors Model (FFM) also known as Five-Factor Personality Model is based on five broad personality traits which are extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness represented by acronym OCEAN, these traits are often referred to as the “Big Five”.
Over the past 25 years, a consensus has emerged among researchers regarding the basic factors that make up what we call personality. Psychologists now believe that of all the various methods for classifying personality dimensions, only one stands out as the most statistically robust: the Big Five. These factors, commonly called the Big Five, are neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
N = Neuroticism = Need for stability, negative emotionality
E = Extraversion = Positive emotionality, sociability
O = Openness = Originality, imagination
A = Agreeableness = Accommodation, adaptability
C = Conscientiousness = Consolidation, will to achieve, goal-oriented
Table below provides the description, attributes and explanations for each of the factors listed above. These five personality factors are the most reliable for differentiating personality traits. The Big Five synonym clusters appear to account for most differences among individual personalities, describing five universal dimensions. We score a high, low or mid-range rating in each dimension and interpretations of the scores is given below:
Big Five Personality Traits |
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N |
Neuroticism |
N refers to one’s need for stability or negative emotionality. The N score estimates the point at which the flight-or-fight response is triggered. |
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Very reactive and prefers a stress-free workplace, have a shorter “trigger” and can’t take much stress before feeling it. |
Responsive / |
Responsive and tend to be calm, secure and steady under normal circumstances. Have a moderate threshold for handling workplace stress. |
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Resilient/ |
Very calm and relatively unaffected by stress that usually burdens others, have a longer fuse and can take abundant amounts of stress before showing the signs. |
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E |
Extraversion |
E refers to one’s extraversion. This factor describes comfort levels with external stimuli. |
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Likes to be in the thick of the action, prefer to be around other people, is talkative, enthusiastic, sociable and funloving. May not be a good listener as tends to dominate the conversation. |
Ambivert / |
Move easily from working with others to working alone, have moderate threshold for sensory stimulation and may tire of it after a while. |
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Introvert/ |
Prefers to be away from noise and stimulation, like working alone, is serious, quiet, private person.May be considered as loner by others. |
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O |
Openness |
O refers to one’s originality, imagination or openness to new experiences. Reflects level of curiosity versus comfort with familiar territory. |
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Appetite for new ideas and activities,gets easily bored, have many broad interests. Curious, introspective and reflective, seeking new experiences and thinking about the future. May be considered impractical or unrealistic by others. |
Moderate / |
Somewhat down to earth, considers new way of doing something if convinced. Not known for creativity or curiosity, but appreciates innovation and efficiency. |
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Preserver/ |
Prefer familiar territory, more practical, down to earth and comfortable with repetitive activities. May be considered conservative, narrow in thinking by others. |
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A |
Agreeableness |
A refers to one’s accommodation ability, negotiation, agreeableness or adaptability. Estimate of point at which person gets tire of being defiant and turn to acts of submission. |
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Tends to accommodate the wishes and needs of others, is tolerant, humble and accepting. May be considered as naïve, submissive and conflict-averse by others. |
Negotiator / |
Can shift between competitive and cooperative situations and usually push for a win-win strategy. |
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Challenger/ |
Tends to cater to his or her own personal priorities, relate to authority by being skeptical, tough, guarded, persistent and competitive. May be considered as hostile, rude, self-centered or combative by others. |
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C |
Conscientiousness |
C refers to one’s consolidation, conscientiousness, will to achieve or goal-oriented. Capacity to focus attention on sustained, repetitive, goalfocused behavior. |
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Tends to consolidate energy, time and resources. Works in disciplined, dependable, linear, sequential manner, with a strong will to achieve goals. |
Balanced / |
Keep work demands and personal needs in balance. Can switch from focused activities to spontaneous tasks. |
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Flexible/ |
Prefers multitasking and spontaneous work, approaches goals in a relaxed, spontaneous, open-ended way. Can be considered casual about responsibilities or unorganized by others. |
To assess the links between the Big Five and leadership, Judge, Bono, Ilies, and Gerhardt (2002) conducted a major meta-analysis of 78 leadership and personality studies and found a strong relationship between the Big Five traits and leadership.
This model of leadership was result of a study to examine the relationship between the “Big Five” personality dimensions (neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness) with respect to career success. A sample of few hundred employees was surveyed in a diverse set of occupations and organizations. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the incremental variance contributed by the five personality traits after controlling for several career-related variables.
Results showed that, extraversion was related positively to salary level, promotions, and career satisfaction and that neuroticism was related negatively to career satisfaction. Agreeableness was related negatively only to career satisfaction and openness was related negatively to salary level. It was confirmed as expected that having certain personality traits is associated with being an effective leader.
Researchers have pointed to reliability studies that are consistent enough to approach the status of law and for the corporate world; this model provides a reliable, standard vocabulary with which to discuss personality differences. Although the Big Five model gives us a uniform language based on standard definitions, but the fact remains that a combination of forces shape an individual. The Five Factors can be thought as being the main infrastructure as human individuality is too complex for any one system to explain adequately.
This personality assessment can be practically applied to identify the needs of a specific role prior to selecting or appointing a leader and performing a match of factors to determine success of the individual in the role.
Humanistic theories of Leadership
Humanistic leadership is an ethical philosophic approach that recognizes the dignity and worth of each and every group or team member. This approach is based on building a leadership culture of trust, ethics, and empathy. Humanistic leadership is a set of principles founded on humanism with vision, mission, values, and expected behaviors. It is value-driven leadership based on principles such as humility, accountability, positivity, and love.
Jung first introduced his personality theory and explained that all humans have a natural impulse to relate meaningfully to the world through productive work and people through significant relationships. He used four psychological functions - thinking and feeling (rational functions) and sensation and intuition (irrational functions). He also used introversion and extraversion and its impact on appropriate leader behaviors.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory that explains that people are motivated by five basic categories of human needs. These needs are physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. There is a little scientific basis for this concept of a hierarchy of needs.
Rensis Likert studied the patterns and styles of managers and developed four management systems known as Likert's management systems. These styles developed by him are known as Likert management systems. System 1 - Exploitative Authoritative; System 2 - Benevolent Authoritative; System 3 - Consultative and System 4 - Participative.
Action Centered Leadership is a model developed by John Adair and focuses on the three responsibilities of a leader which are achieving the task, managing the team, and managing individuals. All these action elements are mutually dependent and important for any leader.
Charismatic leadership is a trait-based leadership theory where the leaders act as visionary driven by their convictions and motivate their followers to work towards common vision using their charm and persuasiveness. These charismatic leaders act as role models and exhibit extraordinary characteristics that inspire devotion and motivation in followers to persuade change. Leaders are able to cultivate a profound sense of trust with the group of followers.
The development of teams is an ongoing process because the composition of the team may keep on changing. The new members may join and the old members may leave the team. The team members pass through several stages for the development of the team and there has been a lot of research to identify these stages. In this article, we discuss the common theories of team development.
Leadership has been defined in different ways by different sets of scholars. In very simple terms leadership can be defined as the skill of a person to influence an individual or a group for achievement of a goal in a given situation. One can use different dimensions and perspectives to define leadership. Through the evolution of leadership thought, leadership has been defined in various ways discussed here.
The two-factor theory also known as Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and dual-factor theory. This motivator-hygiene theory states that certain factors cause job satisfaction whereas certain separate factors cause dissatisfaction in the workplace. An organization can adjust these factors to influence motivation. These factors are respectively termed as motivators and hygiene factors.
McClelland's Theory of Needs is a human motivation theory which states that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time through our culture and life experiences. As per the three needs theory, these acquired needs significantly influence the behavior of an individual. The three main driving motivators are the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power.
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