Path Goal Leadership Theory Research Paper

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Introduction

Leadership theory is important for any discipline and industry, as it provides the framework by which understanding and perspective are obtained. Using these perspectives, theories of leadership serve as guideposts for individuals looking to be effective leaders in their respective workplace environments, fields, families or communities. In the field of criminal justice, leadership theory is essential because it helps the individual to hold himself accountable and helps to empower others to do so as well (Brooks & Grint, 2010). This paper will focus mainly on path-goal theory and functional leadership to show how leadership occurs and how setting goals can be an effective way to organize.

Path-Goal Theory

Path-goal theory focuses on organizing by way of identifying goals and the removal of obstacles in order to facilitate the accomplishment of those goals (Northouse, 2016). As the name of the theory implies it is about clearing the path for a team or an individual to achieve the objective. House (1996) developed and refined the theory based on the work of Evans (1970), who himself based his research on the work of Vroom’s (1964) expectancy theory. According to Vroom (1964), motivation is a result of individual perceptions of planned activities by leaders and what the outcomes of these activities are likely to be. If individuals buy into the activities they are more likely to stick to the path presented them by leaders. This idea is what informs the path-goal theory, which helps to explain how leaders can motivate workers.

One of the main ideas presented by House (1996) is that every worker is likely to have a unique pathway to his or her goals as well as to the goals of the organization. To help the individual identify the right path to those goals, the leader may have to adopt various styles of leadership—such as transformational leadership to inspire and communicate vision, or servant leadership to provide support and encouragement, or autocratic leadership for individuals who function best when told explicitly and clearly what they should do. The leader has to identify what approaches are going to work best for the individual and adopt those approaches. The leader also has to be able to ensure that the goals of the individual are in alignment with the goals of the organization (House, 1996). So in a criminal justice context, a leader would be tasked with making sure that whatever aims and objectives the individual has identified as worth pursuing actually line up with the aims and objectives of the field, the discipline, or the organization with which one is a part.

Implicit within the idea of path-goal theory is Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs theory, which argues that every individual has levels of needs that must be met before self-actualization can be achieved. Maslow (1943) showed that emotional security is one of the basic needs of human motivation and until a person establishes some degree of esteem through interaction with others, that person’s development will be stunted. Thus, leaders who neglect to support their follower’s emotional and social development by using some form of social and emotional intelligence will be to blame if the follower’s socio-emotional development is blocked and the follower’s goals not achieved. The leader has to be able to fulfill the needs of the follower so that the follower will respond favorably and with pleasure to the path that the leader has pointed out. Leaders who do provide enough social and emotional support for the follower will be to claim some credit for the follower’s achievements.

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However, behavior and cognition are all impacted by the three main agencies of peers, organizations and media (Bandura, 2018). Leaders would fall into the peer group, which means they are one main factor in the development of the follower. Yet, they could also fall into the organization group, as they are leaders within an organization, and thus they serve as the mouthpiece in most cases for the views and beliefs and expectations of the organization. Thus, they can doubly influence how a follower behaves. Still, there many other factors that can influence a follower, and the leader has to be aware of what these are. The individual may be influenced by media, culture, other people, and other groups or organizations into thinking that certain goals or behaviors are good and acceptable in the criminal justice field when in reality or according to the organization of the leader they are not…

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…of self-actualization that Maslow (1943) identifies in his theory of motivation

8. Support the social climate so that the team members are happy to communicate with one another, are supportive of one another, listen, give feedback and provide assistance when needed

By following this model of functional leadership, the leader can facilitate the aims of the team and the objective. The four basic functions within this model are planning, organizing, leading and controlling, but as Morgeson et al. (2010) show, these functions cover a wide range of other functions that can be understood in more minute detail.

The overall purpose of the functional leadership model is to facilitate the leader in his duty towards his followers. The model lines up well with the theory of path-goal leadership in that it contains all the characteristics and essential elements of the path-goal theory. The leader’s aim is to create a path for the workers that they can follow all the way to the accomplishment of their goal. The removal of obstacles and the satisfaction and motivation of the team members on an individual level is part of that process and requires the leader to be engaged at all times, available for consultation, and actively supportive throughout the process.

Conclusion

Leadership theory is an essential part of all industries, organizations, fields and disciplines and as such it has to be understood to see how it is most applicable. The path-goal theory of leadership is a framework that a leader can use to assist followers in achieving their goals as it allows the leader to identify the goal with the follower, show why it is important to achieve and provide directions on how it can be achieved. This takes the pressure of defining the path all by oneself away from the worker and allows the worker to focus on using his skills and tools to work towards accomplishing the objective according to the plan worked out by the leader and the follower. The functional model of leadership essentially provides the blue print for this process can best be implemented, by detailing the functions of the leader through the various phases of the leading process. These phases can best be described as….....

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