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Developing remote training consultants as leaders: Dialogic/network application of path-goal leadership theory in leadership development

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Developing remote training consultants as leaders: Dialogic/network application of path-goal leadership theory in leadership development

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The purpose of this study by Bickle (2017) was to determine the leadership capacities of software training consultants using path-goal leadership theory. Bickle utilized the four path-goal leadership styles (i.e., directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented) in dialogic-networked activities to develop team leadership. The resulting leadership capacities were Customer Service Oriented, Innovative/Creative, Listening/Communication, Coaching/Mentoring, and Conflict Resolution. Bickle concluded that path-goal theory was a catalyst for developing the leadership capacities of the training consultants, thus preparing them to be more effective leaders in future projects.

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Leadership styles in nursing management: Implications for staff outcomes

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Leadership styles in nursing management: Implications for staff outcomes

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The purpose of this study by Asamani, Naab, & Ofei (2016) was to determine what leadership styles were being used and how effective those styles utilized were among nursing managers. They performed a cross-sectional survey to collect data from nursing staff in five hospitals in Ghana. Nursing managers used different leadership styles depending on the situation and task that needed to be accomplished.  Supportive leadership style was used the most, followed by the achievement-orientated leadership style and participative leadership style. The nursing staff showed moderate levels of job satisfaction.  Leadership styles used by managers resulted in 13.3% of nursing staff intention to stay.  This shows the  importance of utilizing a style in accordance to the situational factors and the characteristics of the environment.

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Effect of path-goal leadership styles on the commitment of employees on construction projects

The purpose of this study by Famakin & Abisuga (2016) was to examine the effect of path-goal leadership styles on employees commitment to construction projects. Data was collected through questionnaires to construction managers of projects that had been completed within the last 5 years prior to the study being conducted. Results of the study indicated a supportive leadership style impacts the affective commitment of project employees, and that continuous commitment of employees to the projects are influenced by supportive and achievement oriented leadership styles.

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Motivation: Motivation is an act of guiding individuals towards goal-directed action by using inspiration and encouragement (Jacobs & McCormick, 2011). The path-goal theory accentuates the achievement of follower goals through the motivational efforts of the leader. Moreover, this theory puts a strong focus on what motivates employees the employee (Dunbar and Winston, 2015).
Theory of Motivation:

The Theory of Motivation is a foundation of path-goal leadership which states that an individual selects a behavior to engage in based on the valences perceived to be associated with the outcomes of the behavior, and the chances that the behavior will result in the outcomes (House, 1971).

Barriers: Barriers are obstacles in the work environment that can limit an individual from reaching their ultimate goal (Dunbar & Winston, 2015). Path-goal leaders help to remove these barriers to improve performance and clear the path to accomplish tasks.
Consideration: Consideration is the degree to which the leader produces a supportive environment by exhibiting relationship behaviors such as being friendly, approachable, looking out for the personal welfare of the group, and giving notice of change in advance. The directive leadership style is based on consideration (House, 1971).
Initiating Structure: The term initiating structure is the degree to which the leader creates psychological structure for subordinates by performing task behaviors such as planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. The supportive, participative, and achievement leadership styles are based on initiating structure (House, 1971).
Directive Behavior: Guidelines are set, expectations are clarified, and specific guidance is provided on how tasks should be accomplished (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Supportive Behavior:
Concern and respect for the followers needs is displayed, and a friendly and and supportive environment is created (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Participative Behavior: The leader and followers collaborate to make decisions (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Achievement Behavior: Challenging and realistic goals are set to motivate individuals to excel and have the confidence they need to reach their goals. (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)

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Asamani, J. A., Naab, F., & Ansah Ofei, A. M. (2016). Leadership styles in nursing management: implications for staff outcomes. Journal of Health Sciences; Sarajevo, 6(1), n/a.

Bayan, Y. F. (2018). Application of path-goal leadership theory and learning theory in a learning organization. Journal of Applied Business Research, 34(1), 13-22. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.19030/jabr.v34i1.10088

Bickle, J. T. (2017). Developing remote training consultants as leaders: Dialogic/network application of path‐goal leadership theory in leadership development. Performance Improvement, 56(9), 32-39. doi:10.1002/pfi.21738

Dixon, M. L., & Hart, L. K. (2010). The impact of path-goal leadership styles on work group effectiveness and turnover intention. Journal of Managerial Issues, 22(1), 52-69.

Dunbar, S.B., & Winston, K. (2015).  An occupational perspective on leadership:

Theoretical and practical dimensions (2nd Ed). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK, Inc.

Famakin & Abisuga (2016) Effect of path-goal leadership styles on the commitment of employees on construction projects, International Journal of Construction Management, 16:1, 67-76,DOI: 10.1080/15623599.2015.1130601

House, R. J. (1971). A path goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(3), 321–339. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391905

Jacobs, K., & McCormick, G.L. (2011).  The occupational therapy manager (5th Ed).

Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Rahman, Aischa. “Path Goal Theory.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=94&v=1xFp085drIk

Stinson, J.E. & Johnson, T. W. (2005). The path-goal theory of leadership: A partial test and suggested refinement. Academy of Management Journal. 18: 242-252.

Vecchio, R. P., Justin, J. E., & Pearce, C. L. (2008). The utility of transactional and transformational leadership for predicting performance and satisfaction within a path-goal theory framework. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317907X202482

Wofford, J. C., & Liska, L. Z. (1993). Path-Goal Theories of Leadership: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Management, 19(4), 857–876. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639301900407

All images from Google Images

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The impact of path-goal leadership styles on work group effectiveness and turnover intention
Dixon and Hart (2010) researched positive leadership styles in the work place to increase group effectiveness and decrease workplace turnover. They found that Path-Goal Leadership increased group effectiveness and was most highly correlated with decreased turnover. Although all styles within Path-Goal Leadership demonstrated a positive correlation with group effectiveness, only Support Leadership showed a direct correlation with decreased turnover intention (Dixon & Hart, 2010).

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Coach Boone, from the movie Remember the Titans, demonstrates path-goal leadership. In the beginning of the clip it is clear that he used the directive leadership style to make the ultimate goal of the team clear to the players.  Coach Boone also used an achievement-oriented style of leadership by making sure that the players all knew that their hard work and effort would pay off at the end of the season.  Lastly, after his assistant coach brought up the fact that Coach Boone’s leadership was creating problems with players losing interest and heart, he used the supportive leadership style to motivate and increase the players confidence to allow them to believe that they could reach their desired goal.

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Directive: A sergeant in the military tells the soldiers under him what needs to be done in order to reach their common goal.

Supportive: A manager can feel that his employees are stressed from a particular assignment given and the team is not working together, so he puts himself on the same level as them and helps alongside them to complete the task.

Participative: The boss of a company invites employees to make decisions alongside him. This way, everyone's opinion feels heard.

Achievement-Oriented: Employees are feeling unmotivated due to non-challenging tasks being assigned, so a manager assigns a more difficult task for completion meanwhile providing increased motivation until completion is achieved.

Although Path-Goal Leadership has four components, a leader should be able to alternate between these four types based on what the needs of the followers are.

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Path-Goal Theory is based on utilizing a specific leadership style to motivate others to help reach a goal.  It is vital that the leader's style and behaviors adapt to the work environment and to the employee(s) (Vecchio, Justin, & Pearce, 2008). Literature states that a leader can affect the performance, satisfaction, and motivation of a group by eliminating obstacles affecting performance, offering compensation or rewards for reaching competency goals, or helping establish a variety of paths to reach the desired goals (House, 1971).
Situational Factors
Effective leadership behavior depends on the characteristics of the environment and situational factors (Dunbar & Winston, 2015). Situational factors rely on the personality of the individuals following the leader.  The followers' personality are effected by their locus of control and self-perceived ability (Dunbar & Winston, 2015).
Characteristics of the Environment
Tasks characteristics include the design of the follower's task, the authority system of the organization, social support and team environment, and structure of the task being completed (House, 1971). .
Application
The leader's ability to be flexible with their leadership style is crucial for being successful in reaching a desired goal.
For followers who have a higher internal locus of control (attributes success to their own efforts and abilities), a leader should utilize a participative style where they collaborate together to reach the goal (Dunbar & Winston, 2015). For followers with external locus of control (attributes success or failure to fate or outside forces), a directive leadership style would be ideal to clarify expectations and guidance for each task (Dixon & Hart, 2010).
A directive leadership would not fit well with individuals who have high self-perceived ability, so a more participative behavior should be utilized.
A supportive leadership style can be utilized if the social support within the team environment is not great, and a friendly or supportive environment needs to be created. Last, an achievement-orientated leadership style should be utilized to develop confidence and set realistic and challenging goals for individuals.
Summary of Literature
Throughout the literature all styles within Path-Goal Theory were utilized in a variety of settings including, healthcare, business, and marketing.  Literature determined that the most effective leader is the one that finds the deficiencies and dysfunction in the work situation of their employees and uses a behavior style that most effectively deals with them (Wofford & Liska, 1993).

Leaders can improve employee performance in a number of ways including identifying potentially successful candidates for training, redesigning jobs, and acquiring and allocating needed resources (Wofford & Liska, 1993).
Among leadership styles, supportive leadership was used most throughout the literature and reportedly led to a greater likelihood of employees to stay at their current job (Asamani, Naab, & Ofei, 2016; Dixon and Hart, 2010; Stinson & Johnson, 2005; Wofford & Liska, 1993).

As an occupational therapist, whether in a leadership role or working with clients, the ability to utilize and intertwine different leadership styles is necessary.  Depending on the client's person factors, environment, and setting (inpatient, outpatient, home health etc.) the leadership style will change.
The "path" can be viewed as the occupational performance of a client and the OT needs to analyze different occupations of the client and identify strengths and limitations when performing those tasks, just like an employer tries to identify motivational factors and increase satisfaction of employees.  The "tasks" of the employees relates to the occupations a client participates in or wants to engage in.  Thus, the OT can put all those factors together and choose a leadership style that best fits the client factors and environment to remove barriers and reach the particular goals set by the client and OT. (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Picture (Below): Identifies examples of when to use leadership styles.

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Path-goal leadership centers on the idea that the leader should be flexible to adopting different leadership styles based on the needs of the employees and work environment in order to achieve a common goal (Bayan, 2018). The leader should increase employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance to become productive members of the organization (Bayan, 2018). The four different leadership styles included in path-goal theory are directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented. Leaders will choose one of these styles based on situational factors and characteristics of the environment.

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The path-goal theory of leader effectiveness was developed in 1971 by Ohio State University graduate Robert House. Path-goal theory is best described as a process in which leaders choose specific behaviors that best fit the employees' needs and work environment in order to guide them along a path to achieving predetermined goals (Northouse, 2013). This padlet summarizes path-goal theory using supporting research, a summary of the literature, key concepts, a real life example, and a pop culture connection.