Customer Reviews

The Owner's Manual for Personality at Work: How the Big Five Personality Traits Affect Your Performance, Communication, Teamwork, Leadership, and Sales

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Being a doctoral student in organizational leadership, I have read most of the books written about personality research, and especially those that focus on leadership behavior. Examining leadership competencies, learning styles, team development, and the application of personality assessment with the book has "simply" further opened my eyes to the importance of improving interpersonal awareness in the organization. The Howard's book is the first that I feel approached the subject from an understandable and practical basis. I use the book daily as I write my dissertation as a reference for practical applications of personality testing with the NEO-PI-R, and how to apply what I have learned from my data in the topic of leadership. It was a pleasure to find a book that allowed me to peruse the table of contents and move right to a section that applied to my current research without having to struggle. A nice thing that the authors have done is to provide a common language that can be used in the workplace with regard to understanding individual differences. This can set the stage for better communication among team members. In addition, I have found that as people understand themsleves better and can speak a similar language it can improve the flow of overall understanding in the organization. The book has opened my eyes to better acknowledge individual differences within teams, and to believe that there is no perfect solution when choosing leaders and team members. The world must incorporate these important individual differences effectively into their organizational structure; so as opposed to sujectively wandering through the personnel challenges of today's workplace, understanding these differences and blending the right mixtures of personality traits can make a difference in determining success. I applaud their efforts, and look for more.

As a corporate psychologist, I was pleased to find the serious research underlying this book, although it should be just as appealing to new students and the lay public. It is an excellent combination of literature review and applied science. Particularly valuable are the mappings of Big Five personality factors to various leadership styles (Kotter, Bennis, etc.) and 200 managerial competencies. Additional chapters do the same for approaches to learning, team building, interpersonal relationships, sales skills, and more. This book should soon be required reading within this field.

Why is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator so popular among trainers, leadership coaches and others who use personality theories at work? I think the numerous books presenting the MBTI to practitioners play a key role. There is more research support for the Five Factor personality model, but it is less known outside of research journals. Pierce and Jane Howard address this issue with their clearly-written guide to five-factor personality applied to work settings.

The book opens with a brief history of personality research and the emergence of the five factor model to summarize many dimensions of personality. In an executive summary style, the first chapter argues for the reliability, validity, representativeness, global applicability and descriptive power of five factor personality measures. The following chapters present descriptions of the five factors: 1) Need for Stability/Negative Emotionality; 2) Extraversion; 3) Originality/Openness to Experience; 4) Accommodation/Agreeableness; and 5) Consolidation/Conscientiousness. Chapters include descriptions of each factor, characterizations of high, medium and low scores, and case studies illustrating each factor "in action." Although the authors' terminology departs somewhat from established definitions, it communicates well.

The rest of the book explores implications of the five factor model. Successive chapters describe personality's impact on leadership style, persuasive techniques, career planning and work relationships. The team building and employee selection chapters advise managers to consider personality differences when delivering feedback and assigning work. The book closes by outlining how personality is both inherited and learned, and its effect on learning style, job performance and non-work interests. The introduction (pp. 19-20) helps readers pick and choose from these applied chapters, depending on their needs.

This book was clearly written with a business agenda. The authors promote their consulting services and their "Workplace Big Five Profile" alternative to the widely-used NEO-PI-R. This agenda occasionally grates--as when their "Timeline Illustrating the History of the Development of the Big Five" (p. 249) focuses exclusively on the authors after 1985. Admittedly, it can also aid understanding. The side-by-side comparison of subscales from the WPBF and NEO for each personality factor is an effective strategy, for example.

Their occasional conceits cost the authors a star from this reviewer, but need not cost them any readers. The Howards do a passable job explaining five-factor personality to the interested nonpsychologist. Practitioners can use this book to understand and work with different personalities on the job. It's a useful and needed alternative to the many, many popular books on the MBTI.

I picked up this book after reading "The Owner's manual for Brain" by the same author. This book is short and precise to the point. Every paragraph in the book is written very concisely with specific applicability i real-life. Understanding the principles behind what is mentioned in this book is very helpful in working with people at work and elsewhere. Sure enough, I get less frustrated, but am able to apply the thoughts behind this book and use them in right set, to get the best out of those. A must read for every manager.
I enrolled in CentACS immediately after reading this book!

This is a must have book for any consultant or any individual interested in conducting personality research.

I have been working in the industry for a number of years and I have finally found the one book that seamlessly integrates science and practice. The research is insightful and the recommendations applicable. The Howard's have done a fabulous job of understanding the needs of today's organizational psychologist/management consultants and created the ultimate resource guide and complimentary materials.

Because of this book, I am certain that I am providing my clients with better service, presentation and product! A great read, resource and thought-provoking tool.

Research, analysis, synthesis. Dr. Howard takes abstract theory and delivers practical actions. This new paradigm seamlessly integrates individual personalities into effective management practices. Hiring, training and optimizing employees (using these principles) should all but eliminate firing. Managers will be able to predict, instead of react. Career paths are planned, not discovered by trial and error. Human Resource management becomes more science than art. Functional deployment of staff is now possible, enabling management to capitalize on each and every employee's natural talents.

I was disappointed in the book and would not recommend it. The explored ideas are rather superficial, and lacking depth and detail. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I was already familiar with the dynamics of introverted and extroverted personalities at work, beyond that, there was nothing else to absorb. Sorry!