What Is Path Goal Leadership Theory? Essay - 1921 Words.
Essay research Introduction. The topic selected for the essay is path goal theory and its implication in organizations. The path goal theory of leadership consists of four groups such as leadership styles, environmental contingencies, outcomes and subordinate contingencies.
Path-Goal Theory of Leadership Introduction The path-goal theory developed by House(1971) and developed over the next several years(e.g. House, 1999), Since that’s time there are a lot of studies created to test of the theory, argues that leaders can adjust their own behaviors to adapt to contingencies and in this way find the most suitable style for any particular situation.
Path-Goal theory is a situational leadership approach developed by House and Mitchell (1974). It focuses on how leaders motivate followers to accomplish goals and enhance performance and satisfaction. The leader in Path-Goal theory helps the followers set goals, then assists them in developing a path to achieving their goals.
The essay concludes by giving an assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. The Path-Goal Leadership Theory was developed by the American psychologist Robert House to describe the way that leaders encourage and support their subordinates in achieving set goals by making the path that they should take clear and easy.
The path-goal theory explains how a leader can provide support to subordinates on the path to goals by using specific behaviour based on subordinates needs and work settings or situations in which subordinates are operating.(Sikandar Hayyat Malik, 2013) The one of the leadership style in path-goal theory is directive leadership style is leader let employees knows precisely what is expected of.
The path goal theory states that directive leadership is suitable to dogmatic subordinates who have unclear, complex and ambiguous tasks. In the first shift, employees are not authoritarian at all. They are already confident about their ability to complete tasks.
The intent of this writing is to explore what the Path-Goal theory is, how it relates to leadership, and then apply the components to how James Parker, CEO of southwest airlines, appears to use them to facilitate daily operations within the company. The Path-Goal theory was developed from studies conducted by Robert House (Robbins 493).