The Big Five Personality Factors - Research Paper Example

The Big Five Personality Factors Judging from the consultant’s summary, I will select F.C. to lead the group of loan officers in helping the bank mitigate financial risks such as those which the bank got into in Latin America. Compared to A.M. and J.T., F.C exhibits superior personality traits which researchers have associated with effective leadership. The big five personality factors which are; extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience and emotional stability, are vital for the leader of the group of loan officers and are best manifested in F.C. based on the consultants summary regarding the candidate’s personalities. F.C. is an extravert. Extraversion shows how comfortable an individual is with the external environment (Michael 94). Extraverts enjoy being around people. They employ both informal and formal leadership styles and can be described as sociable, talkative and enthusiastic. They dominate conversations most of the times and are not good listeners (Griffin and Moorhead 580). On the other hand, introverts like A.M. and J.T. score poorly on the extraversion scale. Introverts would rather choose to work alone as opposed to working in groups. They are quite serious and maintain high levels of privacy in their affairs at work. F.C.’s extravert trait will be vital in leading the loan officer’s group. This position requires lots of team work in performing activities of accessing credit worthiness and characters of those seeking to secure loans from the bank. It is important to be sociable in order for the group leader to easily fit into the team she will be leading. This quality lacks in A.M. Even though J.T. is an extravert, F.C.’s personality is superior since she does not have a strong desire to dominate her peers. A passion to dominate others would lead to internal conflicts within the loan officers’ team leading to ineffective operations and lack of cooperation which is necessary if the team is to succeed in performing its duties. Agreeableness is a personality which determines how well a person is likely to get along with other people. This factor approximates the point at which a person tires from being defiant and submits to the pressing situation. This is mainly determined by qualities such as being cooperative, good-natured, forgiving, understanding, compassionate and trusting (Hilsenroth, Segal and Hersen 47). One needs to be able to accommodate others in order to be referred to as agreeable. From this point of view, individuals can be classified as challengers, negotiators or adapters. Challengers are sceptical, guarded, persistent, tough and competitive. They are viewed at times as rude, hostile and self-centred. Negotiators seek a win-win solution to problems. They therefore shift between being cooperative and being competitive. Adapters are viewed as humble, tolerant and accepting. They come across as naive, conflict-averse, submissive and at times unprincipled since they easily yield to pressing circumstances (Silverthorne 73). In order to lead the loan officers, the preferred candidate should be a negotiator. This will assist in the negotiations associated with the processing loans. Adapters are more likely to give out loan to highly risky borrowers without proper ways to mitigate the risk for the benefit of the company. Challengers are more likely to set the bar too high disqualifying potentially good borrowers and thus reducing the likelihood of the bank earning from interests accruing from such loans. F.C. has been described as competitive even though she does not exhibit “a strong desire for dominance”. This shows that she is a negotiator scoring well in the perspective of agreeableness. The next personality dimension which is vital in evaluating leadership qualities in an individual is conscientiousness. This shows the extent to which a person is dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented and persistent. Conscientious leaders are good at making long-range goals and do well at organizing routes to achieving these goals despite the obstacles that come their way to distract them (Bass and Bass 122). Leaders can therefore be divided into three groups depending in their conscientiousness namely; flexible, balanced and focused. Flexible individuals approach goals in a spontaneous, relaxed, and open-ended manner. Their easily change their minds and often get disorientated. Balanced people make easy switches from work responsibilities to personal ones. They are sometimes focused and at other times make spontaneous diversions. Focused individuals score highest in regards to conscientiousness (Northouse 22). They are responsible and well disciplined. They dedicate all their disposable resources at the pursuit of their goals and rarely get distracted. The leader to the loans officer must be a focused person who sets goals and works towards achieving them without getting disoriented. F.C. perfectly matches this since she is said to be highly conscientious and goal oriented. This would be important in ensuring that the group stay focused on the vital elements of their work. She is therefore more likely than not to set goals for the group and guide them towards achieving the goals. The group of loan officers needs such a group in order for it to align its targets and objectives to those of the bank at large. The fourth dimension which is emotional stability is also part of the big five personality factors. Emotional stability shows how much an individual is well calm, adjusted and secure. With this kind of a personality, leaders are able to manage stress and even relate well with others (Daft and Lane 98). Emotional stability results into a person not taking failures, challenges and criticism personally. A positive score on emotional stability would show that an individual in resilient. Therefore, such individuals respond calmly and rationally to stressful situations. A high score would in contrast show that a person is reactive and easily excited (Lussier and Achua 33). A good leader who is likely to improve the performance of the loan officers should be in control of their emotions and exercise resilience. He/she should not be easily excited by high return investments which inherently carry high risks to the bank. He/she should be able to handle criticism from their juniors instead of taking matters personally. This will build a good working relationship in the team. F.C shows characters of resilience since she avoids rising emotions not only in herself but also in others. She also prevents development of too close relationships which are likely to interfere with official work of the team. Her distrust would be important in identification and classification of risky and non-risky loan borrowers. A person who is emotionally unstable is easily excited and can easily be convinced to approving high risk loans because of over excitement in its potential high returns of a project. Last but not least, it is important for good leader to show a positive attitude towards openness to experience (Sashkin and Sashkin 27). This fifth and final dimension shows how adventurous a leader is. A leader open to experience portrays a wide range of interests and is very creative, imaginative and considerate to new ideas. Because leadership is about change and not stability, it is important to ensure that the leaders chosen appreciate new ways of doing things. In this respect, individuals can be classified as explorers, moderates or preservers. Explorers are curious and seek broader knowledge. They are therefore more likely to be contemplating on how to improve the system or how to improve their capabilities by improving their academic excellence. Preservers score least on openness to new experiences. They are conservative and get easily comfortable in repetitive and present ways of doing things. The moderate are down to earth although they can sometimes be convinced to making changes (Day and Antonakis 216). A good leader for the loan officers should be an explorer. The leader should therefore be creative and eager to seek new experiences. This is important in order to change the current system in the bank which led to the poor financial position associated with high risk loans advanced in Latin America. A leader open to new experiences will well fit the position since he/she will be able to guide the team even as the bank expand to other markets. F.C. matches this quality since the consultant concluded that she is the type who would go any mile to achieve a goal. The goal of the bank is to ensure that loan officers are tamed to exercise due diligence before approval of loans. She is highly likely to establish new ways of ensuring risky loans are avoided or their risks are incorporated by the set interest rate. Her description as being outgoing also shows that she is open to new experiences. A.M. has a number of traits which disqualify her personality from being that of the leader being searched. She is said to be an introvert who would not work well with being a team leader. A team leader should be an extravert since working in teams requires cooperation and synergy. Her positive attitude towards every person may also not work in the best interest of the bank most especially the credit department. Even though it shows that is agreeable, this may not work well in changing the current way of doing things which has put the bank in a poor financial state. Moderate in trust is an important trait for the right person who will lead the loan officers. This is because moderate distrust will help in critically evaluating loans before approval as well as positively questioning loan officers’ decisions without making it too personal. J.T has some of the personality traits of a good leader but also has some qualities which would not work well in the position of team leader of the bank’s loan officers. He is an extravert. This is an important trait necessary in leading the loan officers’ group. This position requires lots of team work in performing activities of accessing credit worthiness and characters of those seeking to secure loans from the bank. It is important to be sociable in order for the group leader to easily fit into the team she will be leading. His strong drive towards achievements also shows that he is conscientious. This would be important in ensuring that the group stay focused on the vital elements of their work. J.T. is therefore more likely to set goals for the group and guide it towards achieving the goals. The group of loan officers needs such a leader in order for it to focus on aligning its targets and objectives to those of the bank at large. J.T. however has a negative attitude towards the average person. He believes that people have an inherent dislike for work. He is highly suspicious of motives and abilities of people. He is said to be of the opinion that people must be coerced, threatened and controlled for them do perform their duties. This shows that he is not agreeable and therefore would have a problem in reaching a common bargain with his team members while necessary. His negative emotionality is also likely to cause internal conflicts due his negative perception and generalization on individuals’ intentions and characters. In conclusion, the F.M. character exhibits better big five personality factors compared to J.T. and A.M. F.M. can therefore be said to be a more effective leader judging from the consultant’s report. She has control over her emotions. Though she is an extravert, she does not have a too high desire for dominance which would negatively impact a teamwork setting. Her well hidden distrust would work well in evaluating the riskiness of borrowers saving the bank from loses associated with lack of prudence. Because she is goal oriented, F.M. has the quality of being conscientiousness. Her outgoing personality also shows that she is open to new experiences. She therefore has the ability improve the effectiveness of the loan officers and guide them towards positive change. She is the candidate best suited to lead the team of loan officers. Works Cited Bass, Bernard M., and Ruth Bass. The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications. 4th ed. New York: Free, 2008. Print. Daft, Richard L., and Patricia G. Lane. The Leadership Experience. 4th ed. Mason, OH: South- Western College Pub, 2008. Print. Day, David V., and John Antonakis, eds. The Nature of Leadership. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012. Print. Griffin, Ricky W., and Gregory Moorhead. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 10th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western College Pub, 2012. Print. Hilsenroth, Mark J., Daniel L. Segal, and Michel Hersen, eds. Comprehensive Handbook of Psychological Assessment. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2004. Print. Lussier, Robert N., and Christopher F. Achua. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. 4th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western College Pub, 2010. Print. Michael D. Mumford. Leadership 101. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2009. Print. Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc, 2009. Print. Sashkin, Marshall, and Molly G. Sashkin. Leadership That Matters: the Critical Factors for Making a Difference in People's Lives and Organizations' Success. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2003. Print. Silverthorne, Colin P. Organizational Psychology in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York, N.Y.: NYU, 2005. Print. Read More