Rather than a leader using the situational approach in order to adapt their leadership style to meet the changing needs and development level of their followers, it is often times more beneficial for a leader to choose their behaviors and leadership style based on the characteristics of their followers and the work setting (Northouse, 2016, p.93). The path-goal theory is a contingency theory that allows leaders to choose a leadership style that will motivate their followers to reach their goals, and help them steer clear of any obstacles they may come across in the process (Pennsylvania State University, 2019). I think it is safe to say that we have all worked with our fair share of coworkers who lacked motivation. For those of us who one day hope to lead in the workplace, it is crucial to have an understanding of this theory because without motivation in subordinates, attaining personal and organizational goals becomes nearly impossible. Studying leaders such as Jack Welch; former CEO of General Electrics, gives us insight on just how a leader can enhance follower’s performance and follower satisfaction by focusing in on follower motivation (Northouse, 2016, p. 115).
The first component of the path-goal theory is leader behaviors. Under this component we see “achievement-oriented leadership,” which characterizes a leader as one who challenges their followers to perform work at their highest level possible, and shows a tremendous amount of confidence in that their followers are capable to succeeding in any goal thrown at them (Northouse, 2016, p. 117). These are the types of behaviors we see Jack Welch exhibiting during his time with GE. Welch viewed all of his subordinates as “pivotal forces in organizational change,” and by focusing in on their needs and the situations in which they worked, he was able harness the collective power of all his employees (Francis, 2014). By putting his focus on developing his followers, Jack became a quite successful and effective leader. It is vital for any leader to look at their behaviors and leadership style and adapt them to meet the motivational needs of their followers and to the situation they are in. Unlike the trait approach, leaders are not locked into only one kind of leadership. With the path-goal theory, they are able to adjust their style if they need.
The second component of the path-goal theory is follower characteristics. Subordinate characteristics such as need affiliation, preference for structure, desire for control, and self-perceived task ability, determine how followers interpret a leader’s behavior (Pennsylvania State University, 2019). One characteristic Jack Welch really looked at intensely in his followers were their perceptions of their own abilities to perform a specific task. Being that Welch focused solely on developing his followers, when they reached a high level of competence, he was able to have trust in them and let them do their own thing. This in turn boosted their motivation because they saw that their leader had faith in their work. As a leader following the path-goal theory, it is crucial that you take into consideration your followers characteristics so you can match your style accordingly in order to motivate them and help them reach their end goal without any obstacles.
The third component of the path-goal theory that impact how leaders motivate subordinates is by taking into account task characteristics. Some task characteristics include the design of the task, the authority system of the organization, and the primary work group of the subordinates. When Welch first joined GE, he saw that the authority system of the organization was very bureaucratic. He thought that this type of authority system “created waste, slowed down decision making, and made the company less competitive” (Singh, 2016). After examining this task characteristic of the organization, Welch simplified work as much as possible, made the workplace less formal, dropped unnecessary tasks, worked with colleagues to eliminate bureaucracy, and streamlined decision making (Singh, 2016). By examining these task characteristics, Welch was able to better understand why his followers were not motivated ,and by simplifying these tasks and adapting his behaviors to change the authority system, he changed that motivation for the better.
Another way leaders can motivate employees is through incentives. In this weeks module on Canvas it is mentioned that “The effective leader will provide valued rewards to the follower and then help the follower find the best way to meet goals” (Pennsylvania State University, 2019). Although not mentioned in the Northouse text, I thought it would be interesting to look at how Welch used rewards in order to motivate his followers. Welch implemented a ranking assessment into the organization in which all his managers ranked their staff into the “top 20” and “Bottom 10” (Gunawardana, 2015). By basing these employees on a “vitality curve,” Welch was able to reward “top 20” employees with access to larger assignments, and raises, where as “bottom 10” employees were coached out of the organization (Gunawardana, 2016). I personally believe that employees are motivated greatly through incentives such as raises and are a huge motivating factor that leaders should implement into the workplace.
Looking at how Jack Welch applies the path-goal theory to his leadership not only lets us in on how he took into account task and follower characteristics to better his leadership, but it also lets us future leaders in on how we can take these components and apply them to real world situations and become more effective leaders with more motivated followers. Studying the path-goal theory also shows us how different leadership behaviors affect the satisfaction and work behavior of followers which is also beneficial to us as future leaders because it goes to show just how important it is to first consider task and follower characteristics before implementing any new behaviors or styles of leadership (Pennsylvania State University, 2019).
References
Francis, A. (2014). What is the leadership style of Jack Welch? Retrieved from: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-leadership-style-of-Jack-Welch
Gunawardana, G. (2015). Jack Welch- A Path Goal Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.dailymirror.lk/72119/jack-welch-a-path-goal-leader
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University. (2019). Lesson 6: contingency and path theories. PSYCH485. Retrieved at: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1972967/modules/items/25704897
Singh, R. (2016). The secrets of Jack Welch – the world’s leading entrepreneur. Retrieved from: https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/secrets-jack-welch-worlds-leading-intrapreneur
Rebecca Hanna Hormann says
Hi!
Wow, what an organized and solid post you’ve put together here. You’re title makes the topic very clear and I started reading your piece already with an idea of what exactly was going to be explained to me. It was very clear from the beginning. This made it very easy to understand your explanations. I think it’s great how you took a certain figure, Jack Welch, and used him to walk the reader through the different factors of the path-goal theory. You start out with leader behaviors but you only really touch on one of the possible behaviors. Throughout our readings this week we also learn that leaders don’t just exhibit or use one type of behavior… is there another type of behavior that Jack Welch exhibited?
You continue on with the followers characteristics and I think you hit the nail right on the head her when talking about his focus on followers perceptions of their own abilities. As you continue on you express well the importance of the leadership strategy but also how relevant the followers are in the leaders world.
Towards the end you mentioned the things that we can learn from observing Jack… are you able to apply any of these things your daily life? Whether that be in terms of being a leader or a follower?
Lastly, I really liked how you put your key vocabulary in italics, this made it extremely easy to follow the concepts that you were explaining