Leaders And Followers : An Effective Leader

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

Today’s potential leaders who have enhanced there skill with education in leadership, believe in the elements that they 've learned. The rational, technical reducible in today 's marketplace could be ill-equipped without the proper motivation and mentoring because motivation of followers isn 't created out of thin air. It’s accomplished by aligning individuals and members who take pride in their contributions and have an understanding of shared goals and values.

Anita Satterlee makes an obvious, but profound observation stating, “A leader cannot lead without followers (Satterlee, pg. 6, 2013).” Essentially, a leader without subordinates who are engaged can not lead properly. While this concept is easy to comprehend, what is most intriguing is Satterlee’s claim that “by mastering the role of followership, a subordinate prepares for the role of leadership (Satterlee, pg. 7, 2013).” Instead of viewing leaders as being static, it is important to view the process of leadership as more

The book, Followership How followers are creating change and changing leaders, by Barbara Kellerman, publisher Harvard Business Press details an interpretation of followers with his or hers correlation to their managers. Kellerman portrays through her book from the leader-centric approach, which govern work on supervision and leadership. However, the book describes examples how a leader typically have power, authority, and influence over a stakeholder in settings of public, private and non-profit organizations sectors (Kellerman, 2008).

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).

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

The supportive leadership role involves showing concern for subordinates' well being and personal needs. This type of leadership behavior is

1. When discussing leadership and followership, there is often a split in personal opinion when it comes to which one is more important. Leadership and followership both offer unique benefits in their own right and have supporting factors, which give them the perceived appearance of being more important. The focus for this paper will be to advocate the importance of followership over that of leadership. This will be accomplished by addressing the pros of followership to include some core skills of followership and the effects followership has on the development of a leader. The expectation of an officer however, places a high amount of emphasis on leadership more so than that of followership. Given this perceived importance of leadership as an officer, an effective leadership style will be explained and how officers develop this particular leadership style. While leadership has a distinct presence within the professional work environment, followership is considered the underlying backbone in developing an effective high performing team.

The key strengths of the supportive leadership style are that it helps to build and maintain effective interpersonal relationships because managers, using this leadership style, are considerate and friendly toward their employees. As a result, the manager is likely to gain and maintain the loyalty of the employees. Additionally, supportive managers, tend to build relationships with employees, create relationships build on trust. Further, employees will feel liked, appreciated, and valued. Also, in a group setting, supportive leadership, helps build cohesion and keep the group together. The primary strength of supportive leadership style is that it helps to build and sustain positive, supportive relationships where employees are more likely to also support the leader and his goals.

According to the path-goal theory the leader’s role is to motivate followers to follow a path towards a goal

Leadership is a process of continuous learning and increasing leadership effectiveness requires understanding, reflection, and the application to the appropriate subject matter. To become an effective leader, one should strive to enhance their skills and abilities associated with applying new data, information, and ideas objectively and subjectively. Even though everyone in the world has in their possession some sort of leadership characteristics and attributes, not everybody is set out to make the necessary sacrifices it takes to become a truly effective leader. Utilizing authentic leadership practices entails learning how to be true to yourself and others. An essential element facilitating meaningful leadership is trust. Influential risks, changes, and challenges will inevitably occur throughout the various stages of life. According to Erik Erikson, human life stages comprise of infancy, early childhood, play age, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and old age (Armstrong, 2012). This paper’s objectives include revealing several moments in life where challenges to leadership occurred, predominantly focused on the adolescence, young adulthood, and adult stages in life. The paper highlights specific instances in life where leadership challenges became noticeably obvious, influencing various personal and professional motivational elements. Life is full of challenges, highlighting previously endured leadership examples helps to recognize and learn

Leadership has been studied from a wide range of perspectives and thus it means different things to different people. Some people view leadership as the focus of group processes, some others view it from a personality or skills perspective, to some others leadership is an act or behavior, some school of thought describe leadership in terms of power relationship while some view leadership as a transformational process (Northouse, 2012). Looking at the various definitions of leadership, there are various terms that are important; including the fact that leadership is a process that involves influence and the attainment of a common goal, and usually occurs in the context of a group (Northouse, 2012). The path-goal theory is one of the

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

Path Goal Theory is a theory proposed by Martin Evans and Robert House, which is then developed by Robert House himself which suggests how leaders of any organization can be effective towards their subordinates in order to achieve organizational goals. This theory was first introduced in 1971 which was created based on Victor Vroom’s ‘Expectancy Theory of Motivation’. The name ‘Path-Goal’ itself shows that the leader should clarify their follower’s performance and remove any obstacle which comes between them and their goals. It is best when the leader focuses on each of the

Riggio, R., Chaleff, I., & Lipman-Blumen, J. (Eds) (2008). The Art of Followership How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.