Example Of Path Goal Theory

I have chosen the movie “ Miracle” as an illustration of an individual, Herb Brooks, fulfilling the parameters of Robert House’s Path-Goal Theory .

Path-Goal Theory assumes that leaders are flexible and that they can change their style, as situations require. The theory proposes two contingency variables, such as environment and follower characteristics, that moderate the leader behavior-outcome relationship. The leader must consider follower’s valences, instrumentalities, expectancies, equity of rewards, and accuracy of role perceptions when assessing the requirements of his followers. Additionally, personal characteristics of subordinates determine how the environment and leader are interpreted. Effective leaders clarify the path to help their followers achieve organizational goals and facilitate the journey by reducing roadblocks and pitfalls. This approach assumes that there is one right way of achieving a goal and that the leader can see it while the followers can not. This casts the leader as the knowing person and the followers as dependent, thereby limiting the development of the follower. While the path-goal theory has some validity, Bass argues that better leaders integrate a task-oriented and relationship-oriented approach (Blake & Mouton, 1964) as well as demonstrate their ability to clarify the path to the goals (Bass, 1960, 1990). Furthermore, this transactional

Lack of leadership has proven to be one of the leading causes of companies not meeting their targets, and that's where Welch's four principles of establishing Mission and Values, applying Candor, implementing Differentiation, hearing the Voice of the team and rewarding accordingly have become very useful in building a strong leadership foundation. In my recent work assignment, I didn't feel I had many good examples to follow. Therefore, to delve into options of how to affect my teams' culture and support, my company's goal has led me to understand the difference between managing and leading. In this paper, I will review my leadership attributes, including any weaknesses, and study the opportunities for improvements to building a platform for effective leadership.

1. Use as many motivational theories as you can to explain why the reward system adopted by Mary Kay works in China?

1. Based on the principles of path-goal theory, describe why Art and Bob appear to be less effective than Carol?

We find in the behavioral approach an emphasis on how leaders interact with their subordinates as well as how a leader creates processes that encourage subordinates to be productive and accomplish the goals of the agency. The behavioral approach is concerned with whether or not the subordinates feel that their leader makes them feel like a valued member of the agency and if their opinions carry any weight in the day to day operation of the agency.

The path-goal theory’s focus is on the leader’s behavior that can allow for the employees to reach personal and organizational goals. A leader’s attitude has impact on the attitude of the staff. Leaders can reward employees when goals are met which can increase employee motivation, job satisfaction and overall productivity (Schultz, 2010). This theory identifies four styles of leadership as directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented (Schultz, 2010).

On the other hand, the directive leadership occurs when the leader tells his subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do. This type of behavior involves planning, making schedules, setting goals and behavior standards. Directive leadership is used most often when the subordinates need clear directions and authority. People working under directive leadership find that it is easier to be told what to do as opposed to thinking for themselves. The directive leader has the propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. He can also be task-oriented because he is more effective when the situation is in his favor. He can excel because the task is clear and he has the power.

This leadership style works best during urgent and pressured situations as there is only one leader directing the team what to do. The leader has control over the decision making and they would want to retain as much power as possible, as soon as the leader loses power the team may go against the final decisions. Public services may pressure the leaders to use this leadership style as it is efficient and work will get down more quickly. With this leadership comes with more disadvantages than advantages. The advantages of this leadership are that it maintains discipline as one person is in charge of a team so they would get the work done quickly.

Based on the principles of path-goal theory which entails how leaders motivate followers to accomplish designated goals and emphasizes the relationship between the leader's style and the characteristics of the followers and the organizational setting (Northouse, P.115) the reason why Art and bob appear to be less effective than carol is because they don't use all the techniques that Carol uses which are to be involved and as stated in the book she is always resolving problems and making people feel motivated and rewarding them. The case states that "workers see Carol as an interesting mixture of part parent, part coach, and part manufacturing expert". (Pg. 127) Qualities that Art and Bob lack. Art is a hands on leader and doesn't care about

In some instances of the movie Danny is acting as directive leader, where he gives specific instructions to the group and clarifies expectations. Path-Goal theory assumes that leaders are flexible and they can change their leadership style depending on the situations. Although, the leader behavior-outcome relationship is moderated by contingency variables - environment and follower characteristics. The followers do not have control of environment, and the environmental factors determine the leadership style. Follower characteristics are the locus of control, experience, and perceived ability. In the ocean’s eleven case the team members can be described as having external locus of control where they believe that their success is attributed to luck or fate. The whole robbery plan is based that each member will performed his specified duties and everything goes well as planned, also that boxing championship will not be cancelled on the weekend, which means that most significant high rollers will go gambling.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relationship between employee satisfaction, employee motivation, and leadership in Arris Group Inc., a large telecommunication manufacturing company. My goal was show how Bob Swanson, the Vice President of Global Retail Sales, leads and motivates his employees and helps them develop their technical and personal skills. I wanted to explore his leadership style and make connections to the several organizational behavior theories he unknowingly but effectively uses within his team. My plan is to discuss both employee motivation and job

Like the above case where the employees are neglecting their duties. With this style the leader directs the followers on the ways of working and the expected results. This is solely productive for routine jobs.

This journal article on the path-goal approach theory is a study that carefully examines the rapport and connection amongst leaders and followers job expectancies. This model designed by House (1974) addresses the directive, supportive, participative and achievement –oriented components of leadership and subordinates. Additionally, it studies the conduct and character of leaders while investigating situational contingences that transform those behaviors. Therefore, the leader’s role in this model is to ensure that they provide guidance and support while demonstrating behavior that is motivational by inspiring followers to work diligently to achieve organizational goals that were carefully outlined to facilitate success. Hence, the purpose of this study was to test the validity of the path-goal theory with reference to expectancy theory. Conversely, it revealed that cellular companies gives adequate powers to its managers to offer incentives to individuals performing at high levels. However, a weaker relationship between the leader conduct and the followers’ job expectancy was the outcome. One exception noted was that of supportive leader behavior which was revealed at the conclusion of the study. Subsequently, the behavior of the leader had a tremendous impact on outcome. Leaders must assist subordinates throughout the path by eliminating road blocks along the way. The primary function of the leader in this research was to motivate subordinates and increase payoffs

This leader makes the subordinates aware of the goal they have to achieve, and he allows them to complete the objective in any way they prefer, this is because the leader trusts the employees to perform the job themselves. The drawbacks of this kind of leadership for employees is that the employees are not capable of making decisions like the leader, they do not have the skills ike the leader, they might result in making the wrong decision, and also without the leaders involvement the employees might be demotivated to make decisions and do the perticular task. Also another drawback would be that without the involovement of the leader, the subordinates would lack co-ordination between each other and the work may be unstructured (Vindhya Nettikumara 2014).In a Bureaucratic leadership style, According to the MSG Experts(2013), "The leader strictly follows the organisations rules and policies. Also they make sure that the employees also strictly follows the rules and procedures". The drawback of this leadership style is that it discourages creativity in employees, because they are only allowed to do what is said by the rules and procedures. and does not make employees self contented which creates low level of motivation in