Most employees today are looking to be heard and know that all of their contributions are appreciated by their organization. They want to know that their skill sets are applicable and that their career goals can still be met even with recent and future budget cuts. Management is finding it difficult to motivate their employees while reassuring them they are an asset to the team. The Path-Goal Theory can fulfill this leadership need. This theory states that directive leadership is best used in situations in which task demands are ambiguous and organizational rules are unclear (Pennsylvania State University World Campus). In other words, management starts by defining the goals of the individual, clarifying the path to take to reach these objectives and remove any potential obstacles all while offering support to the individual.
My experience with this type of leadership style started when my manager gave me my most recent performance review. In the meeting my manager gave me positive feedback and commented on my recent contributions to my department and how they did not go unnoticed. At the end of the review we went over my concerns and what I personally wanted to improve on for the following year. I stated that I would like to work on being more motivated and push myself to being promoted to management. For the first time my manager actually seemed interested in what my concerns and goals were and asked me how he could help to get me the success I was seeking.
Once my goals had been presented and defined, my manager and I sat down for a few hours planning out the best path for me to be able to reach these aspirations. After a lot of discussion we came up with the following criteria that would need to be met in order for me to be considered for upper management level. I would need to ensure that all my policy paperwork was turned in on time and written to the best of my ability, work on helping others in my department get any work done that they need assistance with and possibly think about taking a management course on my own time to prove that I was serious about being promoted. Although these were going to be tough points to hit, my manager assured me that he was behind me 100% and would do anything to help me out.
I was in fact surprised as to how helpful my manager was in not only motivating me to complete these tasks, but to clear any potential obstacles I may have faced along the way. For example, the only management class I could find was at 4:00 pm at the local college. Since my schedule kept me at work till 5:00 pm, he allowed me to change my schedule so I would be able to leave work early enough to make my class. He also on multiple occasions gave me pep talks on how I could do it and was so close to proving what an asset I was to the company. He really was a big driving force for me wanting to prove myself to the company.
In the end, I was able to meet all the criteria that we had established at my review. I had no issues with any of my policy write ups, was given high remarks by multiple coworkers in my department stating that I was able to help them when they were in need and lastly I was able to complete my Introduction to Management Course. After reading our lesson on Path-Goal Theory, I now know that this is the application that my manager was using when he was working with me on my annual review. He did this by utilizing the four different leadership behaviors to maximize the outcome of my work. Through achievement–oriented behavior, directive path-goal clarifying behavior, supportive leader behavior and participative leader behavior he was able to properly motivate me and push me to reach my goals (Vanessa Cross, 2014). More managers should take this approach when reviewing their employees, as it would help them to find the ones that are goal oriented and find the others that may only be there to collect a paycheck.
References:
- Pennsylvania State University World Campus. Lesson 6 Part 2: Path-Goal Theory. Retrieved from Psychology 485: Leadership in Work Settings https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/06_lesson/04_topic/01_page.html
- Cross, Vanessa (2014). The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership in Companies. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pathgoal-theory-leadership-companies-20568.html