Christopher Pappas: Article Analysis

Great leadership is the key to success in any organization. To strive to be a great leader is to strive to excel in all facets of life, setting an example and inspiring others. Motivation is a key characteristic to successful leadership and it is the basis or core principal guiding my leadership philosophy. I describe someone who is motivated as someone who demonstrates drive, determination, and willingness. Someone who is motivated, striving in all aspects of life, will succeed in their leadership endeavors. As my own guiding principle, I strive to be the best I can be in all aspects of my life, which translates well to leadership. Personal motivation is directly related to several theories including House’s Path Goal theory, transformational leadership theory, and bases of power theory, and is therefore essential to successful leadership.

Path-goal leadership purpose, “is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation, it emphasizes the relationship between the leader’s style and the characteristics of the subordinates and the work settings”(Northouse, 2013, p.137). Leaders in this theory focuses on how to enhances the subordinate goal attainment. This is done through providing information and rewards in the work environment.

I had interviewed my Pappa, my mother’s father, for this project. My Pappa is an ordinary person in an extraordinary time because he was born in the final years of WWII and he grew up in a world that was healing after WWII. He was extraordinary because of his family history with the Russian Revolution and both world wars.

The upper-classman will teach the freshmen time management, organizational skills and social skills. Every single freshmen student athlete will have to meet with their mentor once a week. The meetings will be mandatory for the freshmen student athlete. During this time they will discuss the current academic semester and other issues dealing with school. The upper-classmen will give them pointers on how to be a good student. They will give them advice to meet with professors and ask for help if needed. The Path-goal theory in leadership refers to the ability to motivate others to their desired performance. “The aim of leadership in path-goal theory is to influence the satisfaction, motivation, and performance of participants. Similar to transactional leadership, there is the promise of valued rewards for followers who achieve the desired performance or objective” (Hickman 73). I relate this to the mentor program because the freshmen students want to be successful and having the upper-classmen as their leader they achieve success. During this process I will have to go back to this theory because it will be very helpful for what I am trying to accomplish. After graduating from the Master in Leadership Studies I will take the knowledge I learned here and use in my future job. I will be working with student athletes and figure out ways to give them the leadership that they need.

The path-goal theory states that it is the leader’s job to provide support to get the employee towards achievement of their goals (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p. 397). You made a specific reference to reducing the roadblocks that are in the way of goal attainment. At work I try to make it fun to work. It is important to respect employees’ likes and dislikes. Leader behavior should be directed to

Within this review I am going to summarise, critique, and discuss Martin Thrupp’s Journal Article “Education’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’: Persistent Middle Class Advantage’.

Through careful, calculated progression Principle centered Leadership presents a plan that first prepares the leader him or herself, then illustrates how to use that leadership to manage an organization. Author Stephen R. Covey introduces the notion that we as individuals and organizations need to not only survive but also to thrive in the faces of adversity, change and success. Despite their efforts to improve, countless companies continue to fail all the while spending millions of dollars, time and effort every year. Reversing this requires the full measure of individuals’ creativity, talent, and energy in the midst of this changing adversity. At the fundamental root of this success is balance; balance in our personal life, family life, and professional life, which is discussed in great detail throughout the text.

Effective Leaders are able to motivate followers through a few different ways such as; articulating a compelling vision, emphasizing collective identities, expressing confidence and optimism and referencing core values and ideals. By articulating a compelling vision and using core values and ideals, that relate back to the organization's goals, employees are better able to identify themselves with the company and work harder to reach the goals. Having collective identities in a workplace and expressing confidence in your employees will allow people to better understand their role and if they are effectively completing the that needs to be done work.

Higher ambition leaders are those who see the organization in its totality, its possibilities and potential. Higher ambition leaders are able to communicate to all employees the ability of the organization to value financial and social values equally (Pierce & Newstrom, 2014, p.85). The following paper will discuss those attributes of a higher-ambition leader, compare and contrast higher-ambition leaders to leaders, and how this paper has influenced the development of this team’s personal leadership style.

Organizations large and small have different leadership styles within. Some of them are very laidback and others follow company manuals to the “T”. The purpose of leadership is to create and promote change, and that people involved in leadership are not just the subject of change but also the driving force behind it (DeGrosky, 2012). A leader must understand the goals and objectives of a company and do everything in their power to accomplish them. An effective way to accomplish this is leading by example. Leaders encourage, motivate, coach, and most importantly, they walk the talk. Unfortunately, organizations have leaders who do not share the same commitment as others. These leadership styles can be daggers to some companies that will eventually lead to trouble if not properly managed. Not all companies are equal but they all share commonalities when it comes to leadership. As a leader in our organization, I witness unfair practices from our directors. For the purpose of this assignment, I will refer to our organization as Mentors, Inc. When I speak of unfair practices, some of our directors are there simply to collect a paycheck and often forget the essential tasks that come with their title. When trying to understand leadership and motivation, it is important to understand why people work. Some people work only for the money (Reis & Geller, 2010, p. 4).

This analysis is basically a self-assessment of the current leadership and motivational skills that I possess. Throughout this course I have learned numerous new skills and tools to better the way a person leads and motivates their followers. For example, I use the situational approach to leadership but I use the skills approach in combination with the path-goal theory to influence others. This could be bettered by implementing more of the path-goal theory in the way I lead as well and the way I influence others. Although, the skills and traits that I possess have been working will there is always room for improvement. There are a number of traits I would like to strive to possess such as integrity, dominance and conscientiousness. The greatest factor to helping someone or yourself attain self-improvement goals is to develop a plan and determine ways that will be effective for the change.

Consequently, leadership development requires that organizations take a strategic approach such as coaching, training programs, mentoring, and/or virtual learning. A critical analysis and evaluation of what I learned regarding leadership development is that organizations must evaluate organizational needs and individual skills and competencies; assess an individual readiness to learn; create performance measures and evaluation criteria to measure training and learning effectiveness; create an organizational culture that promotes continual learning, training, and development; shared-vision; establish effective organization communication practices; build trust and create a sense of agency among employees; build and develop relationships with employees, stakeholders, and leadership; and listen to and engage employees in the learning process (Bennett & Bierema, 2010; Crossan, Vera, & Nanjad, 2008; Duff, 2013; Linley, Govindji, & West, 2007; Rupp, Gibbons, & Snyder, 2008; Strand, 2014; Wankel, 2009; Welch, Grossaint, Reid, & Walker, 2014).

Path-Goal theory of leadership suggests that a leader needs to influence followers' perceptions of work goals, self-development goals, and paths to goal attainment: “Leader behaviors thus are expected to be acceptable when employees view them as a source of satisfaction or as paying the way to future satisfaction. In addition, leader behavior is predicted to be motivational to the extent it (1). Reduce roadblocks that interfere with goal accomplishment (2) Provides the guidance and support needed by employees and (3) ties meaningful rewards to goal accomplishment.” (R. Kreitner & A. Kinicki Organizational Behavior, 8th edition, P475)

The Path-Goal Theory was developed by Robert House in the early 1970’s which according to Northhouse (2013) holds that the leader affects the performance of the follower by presenting rewards, clearing the path to objectives, and removing obstacles. According to House & Mitchell (1975) the leader can take on varying roles which will depend on the situation and the follower’s capabilities and motivation. House & Mitchell (1975) describe the two variables associated with the theory as “(a) personal characteristics of the subordinates and (b) the environmental pressures and demands with which subordinates must cope in order to accomplish the work goals and to satisfy their needs” (p.6).

Organizational leadership courses take a deeper look into the way that individual workers and a firm’s workforce function. Managers – or management candidates – who train in this discipline are better able to manage the many various personalities they will encounter under their purview; however, workers interested in advancing their careers are most likely short of the time necessary to learn new skills. Online learning may offer busy learners the outlet they need to add organizational leadership to their repertoire.