Goal-Setting (Crace, 2014)

 

Is Path-Goal Theory A Practical Leadership Practice?

The path-goal theory of leadership is more of a follower motivational theory to leadership than it is a theory of true leader-follower development. At its core, the path-goal theory is based on the situational approaches leadership styles, mixed with the expectancy theory to motivation, where a leader’s objective is to increase a follower’s motivation through improving one’s job satisfaction and performance while in pursuit of a goal. Thus, I will be examining the practical use of the path-goal theory to my current job as a machinist, and my last job as a computer sales associate. But first, let’s define leadership as to have a foundation for its meaning in this blog (Northouse, 2016).

According to Peter Northouse (2016), the definition of leadership is “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2016, p. 6). Thus, after defining leadership, I am sure we can agree the path-goal theory falls into the leadership category since it involves a leader influencing and or motivating followers to pursue a common goal. However, as I break down the path-goal theory, its complexity makes it less practical than others theories to employ as an everyday leadership method. To start, let’s look at the path-goal theory’s basis to obtain a better understanding of the theory (Northouse, 2016).

As Northouse (2016) states, “within the path-goal theory, motivation is conceptualized from the perspective of the expectancy theory of motivation” (Northouse, 2016, p. 116). Author Victor Vroom postulated the expectancy theory which utilizes three key variables to the conceptualization of motivation, these variables being expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy is ones’ idea that increased effort will lead to ones’ performance increasing as well. Instrumentality is ones’ idea that performing well at ones’ job will lead to a valued outcome, and valence is the importance one places on the expected outcome. To illustrate, if I think money is important (valence), I will put more effort into working harder (expectancy), if my performance has increased, I will get a raise and will be making even more money (instrumentality). However, Vroom’s expectancy theory “assumes that behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain… Hence, the expectancy theory works on perceptions” (YourCoach, 2018). Thus, working harder for a raise will not guarantee an outcome of a raise just because I perceive it will.

Moreover, the path-goal theory is outlined as selecting a leadership behavior based on the characteristics of the follower and task. Hence, a follower’s motivation is contingent on the leader picking the correct leadership style to fit the follower and task he or she is engaged in. Northouse (2016) states the “path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help followers along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors” (Northouse, 2016, p. 116). These behaviors are directive, supportive, participative, and achievement oriented. Thus, the path-goal theory essentially “provides a set of assumptions about how various leadership styles interact with characteristics of followers and the work setting to affect the motivations of followers” (Northouse, 2016, p. 120). For example, the path-goal theory would recommend a leader to use the directive style of leadership to help guide followers who are assertive and authoritarian. While the supportive style would be recommended for follower whose work is mundane and repetitive. This leads me to my next point, the weaknesses in the path-goal theory outweigh its benefits (Northouse, 2016).

According to Northouse (2016), one of the theory’s criticisms is the complexity of leadership aspects it tries to incorporate. Such as knowing the behavior, motivation, and how to correctly interpret it to apply the right leadership style. Another criticism is the lack of empirical research. Northouse (2016) states, “research findings to date do not provide a full and consistent picture of the basic assumptions and corollaries of path-goal theory” (Northouse, 2016, p. 124). The last two criticisms of the path-goal theory are it fails to explain how leadership behavior correlates to a follower’s motivation and that the theory is only directed towards the followers, removing the possibilities of followers being able to affect change on leaders (Northouse, 2016).

Lastly, due to the complexity of the path-goal theory, it would be difficult to utilize it in every leadership scenario. For instance, at my last job, I work as a computer sales associate for a big brick and mortar electronic chain. Even though I had one manager who oversaw the computer department, I had eight managers in total. Assuming they were all taught to employ the path-goal theory to keep employees motivated to reaching department goals. How would all eight managers keep a consistency of using the same behavioral style on a single employee let alone the 65 employees who come and go throughout the day. With a speculative guess of about 35-full time employees and 80-part-time employees. One can perceive the difficulty of managers being able consistency use the correct behavioral style on their employees. Thus, the path-goal theory better suits a leader-follower situation where the leader is better acquainted with his or her followers. Such as my current job at a machine shop. It is a small family business of about 50 full-time employees. It is a shop were tenure is important to management and turnover is very low. Thus, our three managers have had lots of time getting to know their employee’s personalities, aptitudes, and how to apply the correct behavioral style to given situation (Northouse, 2016).

In concluding, the path-goal theory does not seem to be a practical leadership approach since it utilizes some guesswork to predict what actions a leader should take towards his or her followers. On the other hand, the theory’s basis for motivating followers is also based on some perceptional guesswork as well. However, the path-goal theory “effectiveness depends on the fit between the leader’s behavior and the characteristics of followers and task” (Northouse, 2016, p. 135). Yet, the path-goal theory is innovative in the sense it tries to integrate motivation directly into a leadership theory, versus motivation just being a by-product of a good and or effective leadership (Northouse, 2016).

References

Crace, D. (2014, 01 27). Goal-Setting. Proper Goal Setting For Powerful PPC Campaigns. Internet Marketing Inc.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership Theory and Practice (7th Edition). London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications, Inc.

YourCoach. (2018, n.d. n.d.). Vroom expectancy motivation theory. Retrieved from Your Coach: http://www.yourcoach.be/en/employee-motivation-theories/vroom-expectancy-motivation-theory.php