Identify the follower characteristics that influence how workers interpret a leader’s behavior.

We expect our company leaders to wear multiple hats to work every day.  Many are expected to run companies or departments, deal with customers or clients, selling, collecting, and the list goes on.  One of the most important jobs for a leader today is motivating their employees to reach necessary goals.    That would seem easy enough.  Paychecks.  Unfortunately, there is more to it than that.  People are different.  Tasks are different.   Goals are different.  Therefore, it stands to reason leadership behavior will need to be different too.   One way to look at leadership behavior is through the path-goal theory.

The path-goal theory was “developed to explain how leaders motivate followers to be productive and satisfied with their work” (Northouse, 2016, 135).   This theory examines leader behaviors, follower characteristics, and task characteristics.  Theoretically, if the leader understands the follower and the task, they will be able to choose the right leadership behavior to meet the team or company goal.  They will also be able to remove any unnecessary obstacles and create a clear path for the follower.  Sounds easy enough, right?  It’s almost like a simple calculation:  Follower + Task = Necessary Leadership Behavior.   Maybe not that easy.

I found it easier to look at leadership behaviors in combination with task characteristic.  Tasks fall in to three categories: design of the task, formal authority system of the organization, and the primary work group of the followers.   Leadership behaviors include directive leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership and achievement-oriented leadership.   These behaviors are just like the sound.  Directive leadership require the leader to direct.  This includes defining the task, timeline, expectations.   This will be used when tasks are ambiguous, complex or unclear.   Supportive leadership will be used when tasks are repetitive and unchallenging.   Think of someone leading the efforts of an assembly line crew.  Same thing day after day.   A supportive leader who understands the lack of challenge and repetitive nature of the job can make sure they are providing support and encouragement to each employee.  Participative behavior provides the employees the opportunity for involvement in decision making or the process of achieving the desired goal.   This behavior works best when the task is unclear or unstructured.  This gives employees the chance to define the task for success.  And lastly, achievement-oriented leadership.  This leadership behavior can be used when tasks are challenging and complex.

There are times when one leadership behavior will fit the appropriate follower and task; however, the majority of the time, the leader will use a combination of these behaviors to motivate the follower to goal accomplishment.  According to Northouse, “leaders should adapt their styles to the situation or to the motivational needs of their followers” (Northouse, 2016, p. 118).  For example, there may be an employee who has challenging task such as engineer designing a bridge or road.   Achievement-oriented leadership would be appropriate but participating leadership may be an additional behavior.  Leaders can encourage participation in decision and challenge their followers to provide the best results

This theory considers follower motivation, therefore it is necessary for leaders to analyze what followers need or want.  “Follower characteristics determine how a leader’s behavior is interpreted by followers in a given work context” (Northouse, 2016, p.18).    A leader can treat two people exactly the same way and he or she may often get different results.   Where one employee may be upset by something a leader has done, another employee may not even notice.  Leaders need to look at a follower’s need for affiliation or a person’s desire to feel a sense of belonging in a social group.   Depending on how strong this need is, leaders should use a supportive style of leadership that shows concern and involvement.   For employees who are dogmatic and work in uncertain situations respond to a directive leadership style because it provides a structure that will make them comfortable with the tasks at hand.

Then there is the follower’s desire for control.   This includes two groups.  Those with an internal locus of control and an external locus of control.   Do employees believe they are in charge of what happens in their life or do they believe it is just chance (that is a separate blog in itself).   This may affect the leadership style desired.  Those with an internal locus of control prefer a participative leadership style because it allows them to feel a part of or in control of the outcome.   Those with an external locus of control prefer a directive style of leadership because it feeds in their assumption that outside factors are in control.  Otherwise known as their employer.

Finally, the follower’s perception of their own abilities will dictate the best leadership style.  The more you know about your responsibilities, the less you need direction from leadership to achieve results.

At this point, this leadership theory is starting to feel like advanced calculus.  This theory does require a lot from a leader.  For those that supervise large teams, knowing all the factors involved and applying them to a team would be daunting.  The complexity of this theory is noted as one of its weaknesses (Northouse, 2016, p. 123).   However, it would benefit all leaders to understand the path-goal theory.  Motivating employees takes time and energy but once a leader understands this equation and takes the time to understand the employee, this should be a simple path to success for everyone involved.

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2016).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  Los Angeles: Sage Publications.