Leadership - FMph3IP

Running Head : LEADERSHIP

Leadership and Robert House 's Path-Goal ' Theory

[Writer 's Name]

[Name of Institution]

Leadership and Robert House 's Path-Goal ' Theory

Undoubtedly , leadership is one of the central and key concepts in management theory and practice . There is no effective organizational performance without successful , objective and strong leadership . In to achieve organizational goals and fulfill its mission , an effective leader must be able to unite people , to inspire and convince his subordinates in their ability to achieve the goals , to guide encourage and support the employees , to

use proper methods of influence and motivation , to remain a role-model and to be always an example of determined and powerful personality

The issues connected with leadership were a subject of wide social interest since ancient times , but systematic , purposeful and extensive study of leadership was initiated only in the end of the nineteenth century by Frederick Taylor . In modern management theory specialists define several approaches to this concept . Those include situational and behavioral approaches , the models of transformational leadership participative leadership and transactional leadership , as well as contingency leadership theories . All these models are the attempts to analyze what characteristics of leadership are the most effective and why

The specialists , who study the issues from the positions of situational leadership , try to find out what behavioral styles and personal qualities can be the best in the framework of various situational factors . Situational approach is represented by a number of theories including Normative model of Vroom and Yetton , Situational model of Fidler , Situational Leadership of Hersey and Blanchard , and , finally the Path-Goal ' Theory of Leadership developed by Terence Mitchell and Robert House , which states that in to reach organizational success , leaders have to clarify the exact paths to achieving it

In other words , according to this approach , effective leadership involves charting out and explaining the routs to reach high performance , as well as influencing , manipulating and removing possible obstacles from these routs . Therefore , the Path-Goal ' Theory encourages organizational leaders to look for the opportunities of making the paths to organizational goals look easy and advantageous offering some fair system of rewards to the employees and specifying full personal benefits of the subordinates , which can be provided after achieving performance goals , and so forth

There are obvious positive outcomes of using such techniques by an organizational leader . Clarifying the way to achieve the goal can make the employees feel more secure , supported and self-confident . Helping an employee to remove some obstacles on his path to achieving the goal can support him and inspire for removing other bigger obstacles by his own efforts . Finally , increasing rewards can additionally stimulate and motivate the employee to move ahead faster

The Path-Goal ' model considers a series of different leadership styles . The first one is supportive leadership , which is oriented on personality and interpersonal relations . Supportive leaders are opened and encouraging . They prefer friendly and courteous communication Besides , they are always concerned about personal status , well-being and needs of their subordinates . Supportive leadership is very...