The most widely accepted, well researched model of personality derives from an invitation that psychologist Gordon Allport issued to the personality research community in 1936. He challenged researchers to take the 4,500 or so adjectives in the unabridged English dictionary and to find the smallest number of synonym clusters to account for all these adjectives (Howard, 2004). To do this well required factor analysis, a complex statistical process that is painstakingly slow and prone to error when done without the aid of computers. It was not until the advent of mainframe computers in the 1950’s that the “answer” emerged when researchers Tupes and Christal gained access to a US Air Force mainframe computer. However, few in the mainstream research community had ready access to computers until the mid-1980’s when PC’s became available. It was not until the 1990’s that the bulk of the personality psychology community agreed that they had the clear factor solution to satisfy Gordon Allport’s 1936 challenge. From this work, emerged five personality factors which are consistently generalizable across populations around the world. This “solution” to personality is known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM) or the Big 5. . The factors in the FFM are typically designated as Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness.
The best known and most well researched personality instruments based on the FFM are the NEO series of instruments by McCrae and Costa. These researchers developed their instruments in the Laboratory of Personality and Cognition at the National Institute on Aging. There are now several personality instruments based on the FFM, some of which are used in clinical and counseling settings, as well as for training and development, and some more recent instruments designed specifically for HR training and development applications. Prior to the development of FFM instruments, many personality researchers used the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in their work. As the research base for the FFM evolved, personality psychologists began to switch to FFM assessments.
While the NEO assessments do very well in measuring the FFM, the assessments were designed for academia and tend to use psychologically oriented language that is not that useful for end users in an organizational context. There are several big five assessments that have gained popularity for use in organizations. These are well designed, research-based assessments that can best support an organization’s talent strategy, including talent acquisition, assessment of potential, coaching and leadership development.
A couple of the most frequently used personality assessments based on the FFM are Hogan Assessment Systems “Hogan Personality Inventory” and Paradigm Personality Labs “WorkPlace™ Big Five.” Both have solid psychometric properties and measure the full range of the Big Five model. When considering which personality assessment to use, it is helpful to think about the intended function of the assessment. For instance, in leadership coaching applications, it is helpful for the language used in the assessment survey and reports to be accessible to the coachee. Language that is too psychologically oriented may be more difficult for leaders and managers to understand and apply in their everyday work lives. Of all the personality assessments our team has reviewed, we have found that the WorkPlace Big Five offers the best balance between psychometric rigor and end-user accessibility. This assessment was specifically designed for use in organizations and, as such, contains language that is organizationally friendly. Most other assessments in this class use language that is somewhat more psychological, making them less accessible to end-users.
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