Path-Goal Theory Of Leadership

Path-Goal Theory Path-Goal Theory is considered the most comprehensive and generally useful situational model of leadership. It is a theory that concerns how leaders influence subordinates’ perceptions of their work goals and the path they follow to the attainment of those goals. (1) The Path-Goal theory generally follows three steps to complete the process. They are to determine the employee and environmental characteristics, select a leadership style, and focus on motivational factors that will help the employee succeed. (5) Motivation is really important when it comes to leadership. A good leader can motivate his employees to perform at a high level no matter the circumstances that face them. Bad leaders have no motivational skills and …show more content…
(1) Leaders can get busy and with certain tasks leaders are not needed because jobs can be completed without them. Some leadership is unnecessary and redundant because it takes up too much time when the task could be completed at a quicker pace. (6) Some people have the capability to motivate themselves and they don’t like when leaders are constantly hounding them to get certain things done. Good leaders should be able to see this and back off from this certain employee and let them get their task done on their own. Research shows that substitutes for leadership is a better predictor of commitment and satisfaction then it is of performance. (1) As a leader you want to have control over every situation and while substitutes for leadership could be effective it also takes away some of your ability as a leader. This is not one of the theories that should be used often because it does not represent you as well as a leader. Leaders should empower their employees but not give them too much leeway because they will take all the power and not respect you at all as a leader. Good leaders will only institute substitutes for leadership when a task is so simple that it would be a waste of time to use your leadership …show more content…
The two different approaches that are used are in situational leadership are dominance and prestige. (15) These two ways of leading will work but you have to realize the situation that you are working with before you decide which style you want to use. The dominance approach works best when you need to get everyone aligned and going in the same direction. (15) As a leader in these type of situations you need to get everyone on the same page and you can do this by asserting your dominance over your employees. By being dominant you can get everyone on the same page and working for the common goal of your company.