Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

“Big Five” personality traits

and

are illustrated in Figure 9.2.

7

Agreeableness

refers to a person’s ability to get along with others. A high level of

agreeableness in people causes them to be gentle, cooperative, forgiving, understanding,

and good-natured in their dealings with others. Those with lower agreeableness can be

irritable, short-tempered, uncooperative, and generally antagonistic toward other people.

Although research has not yet fully investigated the effects of agreeableness, it would

seem likely that highly agreeable people will be better able to develop good working rela-

tionships with coworkers, subordinates, and higher-level managers than less agreeable

people. This same pattern might also extend to relationships with customers, suppliers,

and other key organizational constituents.