DISC Assessment

The four styles

DISC builds on psychologist William Moulton Marston's 1928 book Emotions of Normal People, and was turned into questionnaires by later publishers. Most versions describe:

• Dominance (D): direct, results-focused, comfortable with conflict and quick decisions.
• Influence (I): outgoing, persuasive, energized by people and enthusiasm.
• Steadiness (S): patient, supportive, values stability and cooperation.
• Conscientiousness (C): precise, analytical, values accuracy and rules.

A person typically gets a primary style and a secondary one, such as "Di" or "SC." Several publishers sell different DISC instruments, and they are not interchangeable: the item wording, scoring and reports vary.

How it is used at work

DISC is popular because it is short, easy to explain and not threatening. Common uses:

• Team workshops on communication, such as how a high-C analyst and a high-I sales lead can brief each other.
• New manager training on adapting feedback style.
• Coaching conversations about how someone comes across under pressure.
• Sales training on reading customer preferences.

In these settings the value is the shared vocabulary, not the precision of the score.

Should you use DISC for hiring?

Our view: no, not as a screening or selection tool. DISC was built to describe style, not to predict who will perform well in a job, and publishers of the best-known versions themselves advise against using it for hiring decisions. Style labels also tempt managers into stereotypes like "we need a D for this role," which can screen out people who would do the job well in a different way.

If you want a personality measure in selection, look at instruments validated for job performance, usually based on the Big Five traits, and check their evidence for your role. Even then, a work sample test or structured interview usually predicts performance better. See our entries on the personality test and psychometric test for the wider picture.

Legal and fairness notes

Any test used to make employment decisions in the US must be job-related and consistent with business necessity if it causes adverse impact under Title VII, and the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures expect validation evidence. Personality questionnaires can also raise ADA concerns if items could reveal a mental health condition. Using DISC for team development rather than selection avoids most of these issues. Rules differ outside the US, and data protection laws apply to the stored results.