Big Five Model

Self awareness is a measure of knowing yourself; your motivations, preferences and personality and understanding how these factors influence your judgement, decisions and relations with others. One way in which to do this is through self analysis. Self analysis requires an individual to study themselves as an object in an experience or event (De Janasz, et al., 2006). The Big Five Locator Questionnaire, the Personal Style Inventory the Human Dynamics Profiler, and the Emotional Intelligence Test are four of the five diagnostic tools that can be used to self analyse and in turn gain self awareness. These tools focus predominantly on one's personality and by identifying their strengths and weaknesses, how their personality helps them interact in diverse surroundings and build relationships with others.

The "Big Five Model" is almost universally accepted and consists of the five traits, extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness and openness to experience which are fundamental to human personality (Colin, et al., 2007). These five traits represent characteristics which could be linked with satisfaction and success (De Janasz , et al., 2006).

From the results revealed by the Big Five Locator Questionnaire, I appeared to be well balanced in all five traits; neither scoring too high or too low in either of the categories. However, I am more skewed towards an individual that is somewhat extroversive, that is I am sociable and assertive (De Janasz, et al., 2006), which reflects back onto my level of emotional stability. Also, I enjoy originality and novelty and being exposed to new ideas and people but at the same time I am aware of my limits. This can be portrayed through my experience of starting university. At first it was daunting, especially in terms of starting over. But I have come to enjoy the experiences and I have made so many new friends and always love being introduced to new people. I enjoy socialising because I love the vibe, the energy and the atmosphere of being around people However, I get easily distracted and become disorganised with work, which is indicated by my level of conscientiousness. Yet, I understand that there are times that I have to take a step back and learn to be independent, when I need to get things done. However, being an extrovert and being able to negotiate rather than being too trusting or too judgmental and cautious (Colin, et al., 2007), allows me to work well in teams as well. But at the end of the day, although I am often disorganised, I like to get things done; can sometimes lead to unruly emotions being projected.

The "Personal Style Inventory" (PSI) is based on Myer Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which looks at preferences of a person, rather than measure trait, ability or character. This is because there are differences in the ways each individual prefer to use their perception and judgment (Myersbriggs, n.d.). Each individual's personality type is determined by their preference under four dimensions which include introversion-extroversion, intuition-sensing, feeling-thinking and perceiving-judging (Hogan & Champagne, 1979).

The test undertaken classified me as an energiser (Hogan & Champagne, 1979). I combine characteristics of an extrovert, which is supportive of the results derived from the Big 5 Questionnaire, and have an intuitive nature which again is a reflection of me extroversive personality and my openness to discover new ideas. Therefore, I am able to present a proposal or lead a group discussion with ease and tact. I am also sociable, popular, and active (Hogan & Champagne, 1979). Furthermore as a feeler, I show real concern for what others think or want, and try to handle things considering other people's feelings (Hogan & Champagne, 1979). The test also showed me to be a judger, thus I am responsive and responsible, a natural leader, being able to put enough time into my work to perform well (Hogan & Champagne, 1979); contradicts my degree of openness and conscientiousness. However, although I am able to work independently I can often get impatient and impulsive (Hogan & Champagne, 1979). Often I realise this behaviour when I am in a team situation and we have to make a quick decision, or if I am out shopping with my parents and they spend more time than needed at one place I become irritated because I feel like it's pointless. Despite this test showing a precise indication of my personality style, I disagree that I am less objective and overly accepting (Hogan & Champagne, 1979). For instance, I am always asked by my friends to give them relationship advice. But before I give them any advice I ask them to explain the situation and tell me how they feel and what they think would be the right thing to do, and take that into consideration. Only then do I suggest what may be the right thing to do, taking into account their feelings. Yet, I make it clear that it's really up to them on what choice they make; I believe it's important to always hear both sides of a story.

Human Dynamics is a body of work that identifies and illuminates innate distinctions in the way people function as a whole system, that include mental, physical and emotional dimensions (Seal & Horne, 2003). These three dimensions merge together in people in a unique arrangement characterised by different ways of living, which has been termed, personality dynamics.

Using the results derived from the other diagnostics tools as well as my personal assumptions, I centre much on the category of the Emotionally-Objective. As stated by Seal & Horne (2003), emotionally-objective people process information in a nonlinear, associative way (emotional principle) the world of ideas (mental principle). Characteristics of the emotionally objective include, lack of patience, being highly interactive which leads to the exchange of ideas. We also like to give and receive feedback and don't resent any constructive criticism – reflected by extroversive character. We prefer forward movement through trial and error; concentrate on the future with little concern for the past (Seagal & Horne, 1997). The work we present isn't precise, as we do work with little planning, but we make adjustments along the way and in doing so we are led to new experiences (Seagal & Horne, 1997); demonstrates my degree of conscientiousness and openness. These characteristics provide a good basis of my personality because I am not someone who plans what to do a lot of the time; I postpone tedious tasks and leave them till later but what I end up presenting is what is required. Being intuitive allows me to focus on a particular project for hours on end (Seal & Horne, 2003) until I find a possible solution and although I easily forget matters of the past but when I need to study for exams I can remember weeks of study because I know it's important, but once I complete the exam the information is of no concern.

Emotional intelligence is the known ability of people to recognize the meanings of emotions and their relationships in order to get along with others (Sardo & Serge, 2004).By understanding our own emotional side and the emotional needs of other, we can assist to motivate others, not only to increase their effectiveness at work, but in order to develop their potential (Hahn, R. et al., 2012), as EQ affects employees and organizational performance (Reddy, et al., 2012). Six fundamentals exist for developing emotional