As a follower, I am drawn to leaders who are driven, positive and motivated. Whether they’re athletes, business leaders or everyday people who tenaciously work on improving themselves, I draw encouragement and motivation from their examples. Actually, the reason I am pursuing my bachelor’s degree as an adult learner is in part due to the example of another person in my life. It is absolutely not because it is the easy thing to do. I find myself up at 4 a.m. weekdays, in order to get my coursework done, my son out of the door on time, get in some exercise and head out to my full-time job. Even though it was my dream to finish my education, I never saw myself actually doing it until I met this person, who was a leader in her own right. As a manager of physician educational programs at the medical device company I then worked for, she seemed like such a strong and powerful woman to me. She was someone who clearly had pursued all of the “right” paths in life. She was smart, beautiful, educated and had a great career and I wanted to be like her.
After joining her for lunch one day, I realized how wrong I had been in my assessment of her. Like me, she had broken away from a high control religious organization as an adult. As a result, she had pursued her college education as an adult learner. She did this despite many difficulties – a strained marriage that didn’t last and the birth of her daughters. Also, like me, because she had turned her back on her religion, her family had disowned her, so she had very little support. I was really in the right place at the right time with the right leader to look up to. My friend was driven, positive and motivated – all of the qualities that I am drawn to naturally. Her leadership style influenced me to follow suit and pursue my education. Additionally, she was also supportive and empathetic to my situation.
This situation exemplified Fiddler’s Contingency Model of leadership, which matches leaders with specific situations and works off of the premise that leader’s traits and behaviors remain consistent over time (PSU WC, 2019). Because she and I have a great rapport, as a follower, I was motivated to focus on the task of completing my education (PSU WC, 2019). Therefore, in terms of situational favorability, our leader-member relationship created a friendly bond between us, which was instrumental in my choice to move forward with my education (PSU WC, 2019). In terms of the least preferred coworker (LPC) scale, I would imagine she is a high-LPC leader (PSU WC, 2019). This scale describes a leader’s general style, and high-LPC leaders are motivated by building relationships, which seems to describe her to a tee (PSU WC, 2019).
I am glad to have bonded with a leader of her caliber. Knowing her helped me realize that there was no reason why I could not follow her example and pursue my dreams. I have not looked back since and am on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology next spring.
References:
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 281 Lesson 6: Contingency & Path-Goal Theories. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074671
mrp5540 says
In addition to your analysis of this particular leadership case through the contingency model, I would suggest that path-goal theory would also be an appropriate leadership approach. According to path-goal theory, leaders motivate followers in achieving their goals or objectives (PSU WC, 2019). This theory posits that leaders adopt different leadership styles in order to help followers navigate the optimal path to achieving the desired and valuable outcome (PSU WC, 2019). In this case, your inspiring leader helped you to define your goal (i.e. further your education) and clarified how to achieve this goal through her personal example. In regards to the leadership behaviors your inspiring leader appears to have displayed, based on your comments, I would posit that she engaged in a supportive leadership style. Supportive leadership is characterized by friendliness and approachability, considering and attempting to meet follower’s individual and personal needs (Northouse, 2016). In your case, it appears that this leader identified your need to pursue your education while also balancing your responsibilities and commitments as an adult and as a mother.
Another major component of path-goal theory that appears to be supported by your post refers to the influence of the follower’s characteristics in the leadership behaviors displayed by the leader. In this case, your comments suggest that you required a tangible example of someone who experienced the same life obstacles as you, and yet was still able to achieve the desired goal. This is to say that you expressed a need for affiliation, referring to a desire for friendly and helpful leadership behaviors (Northouse, 2016).
Path-goal theory also applies to the task itself and the influence of its characteristics on the leadership behaviors you describe. Returning to school as an adult learner may be satisfying once the diploma is safely hung on the wall, but the previous steps may appear rather mundane and repetitive as cycles of exams and deadlines are repeated semester after semester. Furthermore, the usually highly structured curriculums may also contribute to certain frustrations and sensation of dissatisfaction while in the midst of the semester. According to goal-path theory, with task characteristics such as these, supportive leadership is once again the the preferred leadership behavior (Northouse, 2016).
In conclusion, as described by path-goal theory the supportive leadership style displayed by your inspiring leader was highly aligned to both your needs as a follower as well as the potential negative reactions that the tasks associated with schoolwork may generate. This alignment allowed your mentioned leader to be particularly effective in helping you identify and meet your goal.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 06: Contingency & Path-Goal Theories. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074682
slu107 says
I am impressed with the character of the leader described in this blog post. Clearly they exhibit traits of effective leadership such as determination, desire for growth, and have a positive outlook. While, the relationship established is an extreme benefit to you in this situation; I am not seeing the descriptive nature of why her leadership style fit the position where she was employed. Fiedler’s Contingency Theory is based on the leader’s style fitting the situation that they are trying to lead (Northouse, 2007, p.113). In considering her current leadership position, it is evident that her leader-member relationship was very high with you as the follower. I would love to hear more about how her relationship is with other followers on her team since this would give a bigger picture on the overall leader-member relationship (Northouse, 2007, p.114).
To expand more on your comment about situational favorableness, it would be helpful to not only hear about her leader-follower relationships, but also the clarify of the tasks she was required to accomplish and also her ability to administer rewards or punishment (Northouse, 2007, p. 114-115). It is really the combination of all three of these parts which make up the sum total in determining if the situation is favorable or not.
Your leader sounds like a genuinely wonderful person of good character. I would just love to hear more about her as a leader!
Reference:
Northouse, P.G. (2007). Contingency Theory. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved from https://reserve-libraries-psu-edu.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/psy/532/53201.pdf.