Leadership and Your Career

Leadership and Your Career

(name)

MGT/521

12/13/2015

(instructor)

Leadership and Your Career

Within the scope of leadership, there are five main leadership theories that are utilized. The theories include trait theory, behavioral, situational, transformational, and leader-member exchange (or contingency theory). In addition to these theories, there is also the leader-member exchange (LMX) leadership (Kinicki, 2015). To get a grasp on which one works best for their personality or even more than one approach, a person needs to delve deeply into each theory and find what the best approach for them is, or if multiple approaches may work for them. A person also needs to know that anyone can learn these traits within these theories and that people are not just born with these capabilities. Carucci (2015) states that a great leader knows that they are not perfect, but rather embrace that they are not, and learn from each mistake they make. Some leaders feel that they do need to be perfect in their new role as a leader, and make many mistakes along the way feeling as though everything they need to do has to be perfect; being fair to all, and being accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Carucci, 2015). Knowing that you are not perfect and that all humans have the ability to learn each of these traits to become an effective leader can help a person find the theory that works best for them, but they need to understand fully what each theory means to them and their goals as a leader.

Trait Approaches

Starting with trait theories, there are positive and negative traits associated with this type of theory. One would look at the different attributes, negative and positive, and these are extraversion, agreeableness, communication skills, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy (Kinicki, 2015). This theory focuses in on what exactly is the type of individual that can make an excellent leader; this means by correcting some traits, eliminating some, and creating a balance between the different personality traits to ensure success as a leader (Core Leadership Theories, 2015). These positive and negative attributes do not necessarily ensure that a leader will be successful if they have each of them, but by combining different attributes on some level will ensure that a leader can work up to being successful. Organizations use personality and trait testing, evaluate one’s intelligence and personality to choose the correct leader for their purpose (Kinicki, 2015).

Behavioral Approaches

The behavioral theory concentrates