Path Goal Theory Flashcards
Path-Goal Theory
emphasizes the relationship between:
• The leader’s style
• The characteristics of the subordinates
• The work setting
enhance employee performance and satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation.
Subordinates will be motivated if they believe:
• They are capable of performing their work
• That their efforts will result in a certain outcome
• That the payoffs for doing their work are worthwhile.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory (1964)
• Valence – The evaluation of relative attractiveness and unattractiveness of different rewards or outcomes.
• Instrumentality – The perceived relationship between performance and attainment of a certain outcome. (the fact of being one of the most important influences in causing something to happen)
• Expectancy – The probability that a particular behaviour will lead to a particular outcome or performance
Challenge to the Leader :
• To use a leadership style that best meets subordinates’ motivational needs by:
• Choosing behaviours that complement and supplement what is missing in the work setting.
• Enhancing goal attainment by providing information or rewards.
• Providing subordinates with the elements they need to reach their goals.
Conditions of Leadership Motivation
• It increases the number and kinds of payoffs subordinates receive from their work.
• Makes the path to the goal clear and easy to travel through with coaching and direction.
• Removes obstacles and roadblocks to attaining the goal.
• Makes the work itself more personally satisfying
2 Characteristic to motivate:
• Subordinate characteristics
• Task characteristics
Leader Behaviours
- Directive leadership
Task instructions
What is expected of them
Tell them what’s going on
What is the goal
How to do it
Clear rules and standards for performance
When to be done
Leader Behaviours
Supportive leadership
Friendly and approachable
Pleasant workplace environment
Wellbeing and needs
Create subordinates as equals
Respect their status
Participative leadership
Get followers to be part of the decision making
Seek input and ideas from followers
Integrate inputs into the organisation
Consult with subordinates
Achievement-Oriented leadership
Challenges subordinates to work at the highest level
High standards of excellence
Seek continuous improvement
Confidence in subordinates to establish and achieve goals
Subordinate Characteristics
• Need for affiliation
• Preference for structure
• Desires for control
• Self-perceived level of task ability
Strong need for affiliation
Friendly leader , supportive environment
Preference for structure
Task clarity
Direction
Certainty
Psycholoical structure
Dogmatic and authoritian
Desire for control
Internal locus of control
- feel incharge of their work
- integral part of decision-making process
External control
- leadership that parallels subordinates feelings that outside forces control their circumstances
Perception of their own ability – specific task
.
• As perception of ability and competence goes up, need for highly directive leadership goes down.
• Directive leadership may become redundant, possibly excessively controlling
Three components of task characteristics:
• Design of subordinate’s task
• Organisation’s formal authority system
• Primary work group of subordinates
Goal Setting and Performance
• Two primary attributes of goals
Content: Features of the goals
- Difficulty: size of the goal and degree of effort required to attain
- Complexity: different outcomes dimension
- Specificity: quantitative
- Conflict : inhibits one another
Intensity: process of which the goal is set and accomplished
- commitment and importance
SMARTER Goals
· S pecific
· M easurable
· A cceptable
· R ealistic
· T imely
· E xtended
· R einforcing
Task Characteristics
Task situations requiring leader involvement
Unclear and ambiguous
- leader needs to provide structure
Highly repetitive
- provide support to maintain motivation
Weak formal authority
- need a leader to make the rules and requirements clear
Non- supportive/weak group norms
- leader needs to build cohesiveness and role responsibility
Obstacles in the work setting that creates threats for subordinates
• Leaders’ responsibility is to help subordinates by
• Removing the obstacles
• Helping subordinates around them
3 Factor model Positive energy , operation, vision
• Assisting with obstacles will increase
• Subordinates’ expectations to complete the task
• Their sense of job satisfaction
How does the Path-Goal Theory work
• The leader’s job is to help subordinates reach their goals by directing, guiding, and coaching them along the way.
• Leaders must evaluate task and subordinate characteristics and adapt their leadership style and behaviours to these.
• The Path-goal theory suggests which style is most appropriate for specific characteristics.
• It provides a set of assumptions about how different leadership styles will interact with subordinate characteristics and the work situation to affect employee motivation
Strengths
Useful theoretical frame work to understand how various leadership behaviours affect the satisfaction of
subordinates and their work performance.
Integrates motivation via vrooms expectancy theory to leadership theory
Practical model: highlights the important ways
leaders help subordinates.
Criticisms
• Interpreting the meaning of the theory can be confusing because it is so complex and incorporates so many different aspects of leadership. Consequently, it is difficult to implement.
• Empirical research studies have demonstrated only partial support for path-goal theory.
- Unclear
• It fails to adequately explain the relationship between leadership behaviour and worker motivation.
• treats leadership as a one-way event in which the leader affects the subordinate
Application
The path-goal theory offers valuable insights that can be applied in ongoing settings to improve one’s leadership.
• Informs leaders about when to be directive, supportive, participative or achievement-oriented.
• The principles of path-goal theory can be employed by leaders at all organisational levels and for all types of tasks.
