Eassy Questuion: The Path-Goal Theory approach was introduced by scholars to address a unique challenge within the leadership and management field. Please identify this gap and/or challenge and explain what Path-Goal theory offers as a solution. Please defend your decision/argument with evidence-based information and logic.

Read the givent information and anwers the question based on rovided information.

Path-goal theory was developed to explain how leaders motivate followers to be productive and satisfied with their work.

leadership behaviors identified as part of path-goal theorydirective, supportive, participative, andachievement oriented(House & Mitchell, 1974, p. 83). These four leader behaviors are not only foundational to understanding how path-goal theory works but are still more commonly used by researchers in contemporary studies of the path-goal leadership approach (e.g., Asamani et al., 2016).

HOW DOES PATH-GOAL THEORY WORK?

Path-goal theory is an approach to leadership that is not only theoretically complex, but also pragmatic. It provides a set of assumptions about how various leadership styles interact with characteristics of both followers and the work setting to affect the motivation of followers. In practice, the theory provides direction about how leaders can help followers to accomplish their work in a satisfactory manner.

Theoretically, the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of followers and the work they are doing. The theory predicts that adirective styleof leadership is best in situations in which followers are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, the organizational rules are unclear, and the task is complex. In these situations, directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for followers (House & Mitchell, 1974, p. 90).

For tasks that are structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use asupportive style. The supportive style provides what is missing by nurturing followers when they are engaged in tasks that are repetitive and unchallenging. Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for followers engaged in mundane, mechanized activity.

Participative leadershipis considered best when a task is ambiguous: Participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals, and helps followers learn what leads to what (House & Mitchell, 1974, p. 92). In addition, participative leadership has a positive impact when followers are autonomous and have a strong need for control because this kind of follower responds favorably to being involved in decision making and in the structuring of work.

Furthermore, path-goal theory predicts thatachievement-oriented leadershipis most effective in settings in which followers are required to perform ambiguous tasks. In settings such as these, leaders who challenge and set high standards for followers raise followers' confidence that they have the ability to reach their goals. In effect, achievement-oriented leadership helps followers feel that their efforts will result in effective performance. In settings where the task is more structured and less ambiguous, however, achievement-oriented leadership appears to be unrelated to followers' expectations about their work efforts.

Pragmatically, path-goal theory is straightforward. An effective leader has to attend to the needs of followers. The leader should help followers to define theirgoals and the paths they want to take in reaching those goals. When obstacles arise, the leader needs to help followers confront them. This may mean helping a follower around the obstacle, or it may mean removing an obstacle. The leader's job is to help followers reach their goals by directing, guiding, and coaching them along the way.

Path-goal theory was developed to explain how leaders motivate followers to be productive and satisfied with their work. It is a contingency approach to leadership because effectiveness depends on the fit between the leader's behavior and the characteristics of followers and the task.

The basic principles of path-goal theory are derived from expectancy theory, which suggests that followers will be motivated if they feel competent, if they think their efforts will be rewarded, and if they find the payoff for their work valuable. A leader can help followers by selecting a style of leadership (directive, supportive, participative, or achievement oriented) that provides what is missing for followers in a particular work setting. In simple terms, it is the leader's responsibility to help followers reach their goals by directing, guiding, and coaching them along the way.

In addition to leader behaviors,illustrates two other major components of path-goal theory: follower characteristics and task characteristics. Each of these two sets of characteristics influences the way leaders' behaviors affectfollower motivation. In other words, the impact of leadership iscontingenton the characteristics of both followers and their task.

Follower Characteristics

Follower characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by followers in a given work context. Researchers have focused on followers'needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, andself-perceived level of task ability.These characteristics and many others determine the degree to which followers find the behavior of a leader an immediate source of satisfaction or instrumental to some future satisfaction. As we discuss these follower characteristics, it is helpful to relate them to the characteristics exhibited by the athletes and coach of the Navarro College cheerleading team (Case Study 4.3). College-level competitive cheer is physically demanding and dangerous, and the coach of this 40-member team knows that each athlete has different follower characteristics that she must respond to in order to keep the individual athletes motivated to put in the hard work and practice required for the team to win at the national competition.

Path-goal theory predicts that followers who have strongneeds for affiliationprefer supportive leadership because friendly and concerned leadership is a source of satisfaction. For many of the Navarro College cheer team's athletes, having been chosen by Coach Monica Aldama to be part of this elite squad makes them feel special and talented. The coach continues to foster those feelings in them by verbally recognizing her team members' hard work at practices and by attending to them individually when they need support.

For followers who are dogmatic and authoritarian and have to work in uncertain situations, path-goal theory suggests directive leadership because task clarity satisfies theirpreferences for structure. Directive leadership helps these followers by clarifying the path to the goal, making it less ambiguous. The authoritarian type of follower feels more comfortable when the leader provides a greater sense of certainty in the work setting. By establishing a mandatory, consistent team practice schedule and policies regarding the athletes' class attendance, practices, and personal conduct, Coach Aldama provides a very clear structure for her athletes. They know what is expected of them and what the consequences are if those expectations are not met.

Followers'desires for controlhave received special attention in path-goal research through studies of a personality construct locus of control that can be subdivided into internal and external dimensions. Followers with aninternal locus of controlbelieve that they are in charge of the events that occur in their life, whereas those with anexternal locus of controlbelieve that chance, fate, or outside forces determine life events. Path-goal theory suggests that for followers with an internal locus of control participative leadership is most satisfying because itallows them to feel in charge of their work and to be an integral part of decision making. For followers with an external locus of control, path-goal theory suggests that directive leadership is best because it parallels followers' feelings that outside forces control their circumstances. On the Navarro College cheer team, Coach Aldama's assistant coach exhibits his internal locus of control in directing practices and also in participating with Coach Aldama regarding who will make the final cut for the team. On the other hand, for those athletes who have an external locus of control, Coach Aldama has to be very directive and tell them exactly what she needs from them.

Task Characteristics

In addition to follower characteristics, task characteristics have a major impact on the way a leader's behavior influences followers' motivation.Task characteristics include thedesign of the followers' task, theformal authority systemof the organization, and theprimary work group of followers. Collectively, these characteristics in themselves can provide motivation for followers. When a situation provides a clearly structured task, strong group norms, and an established authority system, followers will find the paths to desired goals apparent and will not need a leader to clarify goals or coach them in how to reach these goals. Followers will feel as if they can accomplish their work and that their work is of value. Leadership in these types of contexts could be seen as unnecessary, un-empathic, and excessively controlling.

In some situations, however, thedesign of the taskcharacteristics may call for leadership involvement. Tasks that are unclear and ambiguous call for leadership input that provides structure. In addition, highly repetitive tasks call for leadership that gives support to maintain followers' motivation. In work settings where theformal authority systemis weak, leadership becomes a tool that helps followers by making the rules and work requirements clear. In contexts where theprimary work groupnorms are weak or nonsupportive, leadership assists in building cohesiveness and role responsibility.

A special focus of path-goal theory is helping followers overcome obstacles. Obstacles could be just about anything in the work setting that gets in the way of followers. Specifically, obstacles create excessive uncertainties, frustrations, or threats for followers. In these settings, path-goal theory suggests that it is the leader's responsibility to help followers by removing these obstacles or helping followers to navigate around them. Helping followers around these obstacles will increase followers' expectations that they can complete the task and increase their sense of job satisfaction. In coaching the Navarro cheer team, Coach Aldama sometimes finds elements of the routines that have been developed for her team to be too challenging for her athletes to accomplish. As a leader she will try to solve these issues by reworking the routine's elements and guiding the athletes on skills to help them master these elements.

Path-goal theory has several positive features. First, path-goal theory provides a useful theoretical framework for understanding how various leadership behaviors affect followers' satisfaction and work performance. It was one of the first theories to specify conceptually distinct varieties of leadership (e.g., directive, supportive, participative, achievement oriented), expanding the focus of prior research, which dealt exclusively with task- and relationship-oriented behaviors (Jermier, 1996). The path-goal approach was also one of the first situational contingency theories of leadership to explain how task and follower characteristics affect the impact of leadership on follower performance. The framework provided in path-goal theory informs leaders about how to choose an appropriate leadership style based on the various demands of the task and the type of followers being asked to do the task. Additionally, later iterations of the theory offer suggestions for how to motivate work groups for increased collaboration and enhanced performance.

A second positive feature of path-goal theory is that it attempts to integrate the motivation principles of expectancy theory into a theory of leadership. This makes path-goal theory unique because no other leadership approach deals directly with motivation in this way. Path-goal theory forces us continually to ask questions such as these about follower motivation: How can I motivate followers to feel that they can do the work? How can I help them feel that if they successfully do their work, they will be rewarded? What can I do to improve the payoffs that followers expect from their work? Understanding the processes and dynamics behind motivation is critical in any organization (Kanfer, Frese, & Johnson, 2017), and path-goal theory is designed to keep those questions that address issues of motivation at the forefront of the leader's mind.

Path-goal's third strength, and perhaps its greatest, is that the theory provides a model that in certain ways is very practical. The representation of the model (Figure 6.1) underscores and highlights the important ways leaders help followers. It shouts out for leaders to clarify the paths to the goals and remove or help followers around the obstacles to the goals. In its simplest form, the theory reminds leaders that the overarching purpose of leadership is to guide and coach followers as they move along the path to achieve a goal. The theory includes characteristics of both the followers and the situation and is more comprehensive than prior contingency theories.

SUMMERY

Path-goal theory offers a large set of predictions for how a leader's style interacts with followers' needs and the nature of the task. Among other things, it predicts that directive leadership is effective with ambiguous tasks, that supportive leadership is effective for repetitive tasks, that participative leadership is effective when tasks are unclear and followers are autonomous, and that achievement-oriented leadership is effective for challenging tasks.

Path-goal theory has three major strengths. First, it provides a theoretical framework that is useful for understanding how various styles of leadership affect the productivity and satisfaction of followers. Second, path-goal theory is unique in that it integrates the motivation principles of expectancy theory into a theory of leadership. Third, it provides a practical model that underscores the important ways in which leaders help followers.