House published his classic article, a path goal theory of leader effectiveness in administrative science quarterly 1971. Pathgoal theory chap 6 leadership by northouse, 8th ed. A comparison of leadership theories in an organizational. Leader behavior is acceptable and satisfying to subordinates. This questionnaire contains questions about different styles of path goal leadership. Path goal theory path goal theory was originally developed by martin evans in 1970 and expanded by robert house in 1971 into a more complex contingency theory. Drawing on expectancy theory and the ohio and michigan leader behavior studies, house suggested that a leader should help elucidate the path for followers to achieve group goals. The path goal theory reinforces the idea that motivation plays an important part in how a supervisor and a subordinate interact and. The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance follower performance and. Pathgoal leadership theory, leadership styles in the path.
Lessons, legacy, and reformulated theory, leadership quarterly, vol. When leader behavior clarifies these goals or makes them more attractive the satisfaction, performance, and the leader acceptance is expected. Pdf overview of pathgoal leadership theory researchgate. House stressed that the effects of leadership behavior on subordinates motivation and satisfaction are contingent in which each of the behaviors are likely to be effective or ineffective. The path goal model is a theory based on specifying a leaders style or behavior that best fits the employee and work environment in order to.
In a later version of path goal theory house and mitchell 1974 advanced two general propositions. In other words, the pathgoal theory of leadership was developed to explain how the behavior of a leader influences the satisfaction and performance of subordinates. House, founder of pathgoal theory, believes that a leaders behavior is contingent to employee satisfaction, employee motivation and employee performance. This lecture covers chapter 6 path goal theory found in leadership. Rather, leaders act as coaches and facilitators to their subordinates. The theory is based on the premise that an employees perception of expectancies between his effort and performance is greatly affected by a leaders behavior. Chapter 7 path goal theory 155 path goal leadership questionnaire instructions. The leaders help group members in attaining rewards by clarifying the paths to goals and removing obstacles to performance. House and american organisational expert terence r. Path goal theory supports leadership through telling and presents four types of leadership. Advantages and disadvantages of pathgoal theory of leadership. Oct 05, 2014 the path goal theory suggests that a leader directs followers behavior by motivating them to accomplish goals psu wc, 2014, l.
Leadership is a special case of interpersonal influence that gets an individual or group to. Jan 18, 2018 clarifying and clearing a path to achieving the groups goals. This allows the style of leadership to be able to achieve a specific goal. Expectancy theory explains why people work hard to attain work goals. Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory robert j.
It extracts the essence of the expectancy theory of motivation and the ohio state leadership research on initiating structure and consideration. Path goal theory predicts that directive leader behavior will be more effective for the. What is the path goal theory of leadership of robert house. Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization. Citing a need for consistency with existing theory and empirical testing, house reformulated the definition of pathgoal leadership theory in 1996 by stating leaders. In each leadership theory, background information, development and. Pathgoal theory of leadership leadership training from epm. News blog custom search search path goal leadership theory the path goal model is a theory based on specifying a leaders style or behavior that best fits the employee and work environment in order to achieve a goal house, mitchell, 1974. Pdf pathgoal theory of leadership semantic scholar. Goal setting theory suggests that an effective way to motivate people is to set challenging but realistic goals and to offer rewards for goal. Neider university of miami over 20 years have passed since robert j.
An investigation of pathgoal and transformational leadership. Pdf this paper used learning theory and pathgoal theory to propose a learning leadership model. Nov 01, 2019 what is path goal theory of leadership. There are several goals that can be pursued when implementing this theory. Dimensions of leader behavior such as leader initiating structure, consideration, authoritarianism, hierarchical influence, and closeness of supervision are analyzed in terms of path goal variables such as valence and instrumentality. Feb 18, 2016 based on the expectancy theory of 1964, developed in the 1970s and then redefined in the 90s, this leadership theory touts identifying and then employing a leaders style and behaviors based on the needs of their employees in order to achieve a goal. A reformulated 1996 path goal theory of work expand. Indicate how often each statement is true of your own behavior. The theory builds heavily on two theories of work motivation. Theory and practice, 8th edition, by peter northouse. According to house 1971, path goal theory is a conceptualization of explicit leader message behavior. The theory states that a good leader gives clear directions, sets high goals, gets involved in the achievement of the goal and supports his employees.
House 1971, the path goal theory encapsulates the necessity for distinct roles which a leader must fulfil, as well as the leadership traits managers should acquire in their practice. House, and house and dessler advanced a more complex theory of the effects of leader behavior on the motivation of sub. Path goal theory, originally developed by evans 1970 and later modified by house 1971, was designed to identify a leaders most practiced style as a motivation to get subordinates to accomplish goals. Robert house s path goal theory is a leadership theory that is based on specifying the style of behavior of the leader that best fits their direct reports and their work environment. The theory states that a leaders behavior is contingent to the satisfaction, motivation and performance of his or her.
Pdf application of pathgoal leadership theory and learning. An investigation of pathgoal theory, relationship of leadership. An explanation of the effects of leader behavior on subordinate satisfaction, motivation, and. House also provided guidelines of which leaders must follow to compensate for subordinates. This applies to each of the four components of leadership. The pathgoal theory can best be thought of as a process in which leaders select specific behaviors that are best suited to the employees needs and the working environment so that they may best guide the employees through their path in the obtainment of their daily work activities goals northouse, 20. Leadership behavior and acceptance of leaders by subordinates. Goal setting theory suggests that an effective way to motivate people is to set challenging but realistic goals and to offer rewards for goal accomplishment. Pathgoal theory supports leadership through telling and presents four types of leadership. Pathgoal theory developed by martin evans and robert house, related to the contingency approach, is derived from the expectancy theory of motivation. House in 1971 specified that the leaders motivational function was to increase personal payoffs to subordinates for work goal attainment and make the path to these payoffs easier to travel by clarifying it, reducing road blocks and pitfalls, and increasing the opportunities for personal satisfaction en route p.
Aug 21, 2020 the path goal theory is a leadership theory that was developed in the 70s of the last century by american management guru and expert in the field of leadership in various cultures, robert j. The theory states that a leaders behavior is contingent to the satisfaction, motivation and performance of his or her subordinates. The leader can do so by defining goals, clarifies path, remove. Pathgoal theory of leadership pathgoal theory was initially developed by robert house to explain workplace leadership. Pathgoal theory was initially developed by robert house to explain workplace leadership. The concepts and terminologies used in path goal had already been used 10 at university of michigan. The pathgoal theory, also known as the pathgoal theory of leader effectiveness or the path goal model, is a leadership theory developed by robert house, an ohio state university graduate, in 1971 and revised in 1996. The model of leadership advanced by house and evans is called the path goal theory of leadership because it suggests that an effective leader provides organizational members with a path to a valued goal. The various methodologies that have been used to test the theory and lessons learned from empirical testing are discussed. The path goal theory of leadership is widely recognized contingency approach to leadership.
This paper reports the results of a longitudinal analysis of the path goal theory of leader effectiveness house 1971, using a sample of managers and production workers from a single organization. Path goal theory, as suggested by dixon and hart 2010, suggests such flexible behaviors like clarification, direction, structure, and rewards p. According to this theory, leaders are effective because of thler impact on subordinates motivation. It is in the elaboration mode that house s path goal theory makes its contribution. Jan 26, 20 path goal theorycons this is a very complex theory that incorporates many aspects of leadership research only partially supports the theory fails to explain adequately the relationship between leader behavior and subordinate motivation treats leadership as a one way street, places a majority of the responsibility on the leader. Leadership is a special case of interpersonal influence that gets an individual or group to do what the leader or manager wants to be done. Jun 29, 2016 northouse 2016 posits that this theory of leadership is concerned with enhancing follower performance and follower satisfaction by focusing on follower motivation, p. But later with the emergence of many great women leaders as well, the theory was recognized as the great person theory. The pathgoal model is a theory based on specifying a leaders style or behavior that best fits the employee and. House a path goal theory of leader effectiveness an explanation of the effects of leader behavior on subordinate satisfaction, motivation, and performance is presented. House, 1971 has existed for over three decades evans, 1968, and it is currently one of the major approaches to leadership that is covered by virtually all basic textbooks on.
Great man theory of leadership management study guide. In a later version of pathgoal theory house and mitchell 1974 advanced two general propositions. In the situational approach, the leader tailors their approach to the followers development levels. The pathgoal theory was first introduced by martin evans 1970 and then further developed by house 1971. The explanation is derived from a path goal theory of motivation. The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance follower performance and follower satisfaction by focusing on follower motivation. In path goal theory the leader is supposed to help the subordinate make through the path to productivity or goals. The pathgoal theory of robert house says that a leader can affect the performance, satisfaction, and motivation of a group by. The pathgoal theory can best be referred to as a set of processes in which leaders choose specific behaviors that are good for the employees needs and their working environment so that they may work.
The circumstances in path goal theory are driven by follower characteristics and workplace characteristics. However, whether leadership behavior can do so effectively also depends on situational factors. May 28, 2016 the definition of path goal leadership theory has changed over time. The effective leader compensates for deficiencies of hisher followers in order to overcome obstacles toward a goal, which in its turn increase followers intrinsic motivation house, 1996. Here the leader provides guidelines, lets subordinates know what is expected of them, sets performance standards for them, and. Mitchell university of washington an integrated body of conjecture by students of leadership, referred to as the pathgoal theory of leadership, is currently emerging. As per servant leadership theory, leadership is not viewed as a position of power.
The path goal model is a theory based on explaining a leaders style or behavior that is best suited to the employee and workplace to achieve a common goal. Pathgoal theory in leadership essay 2048 words bartleby. Citing a need for consistency with existing theory and empirical testing, house reformulated the definition of path goal leadership theory in 1996 by stating leaders. According to house s pathgoal theory, a leaders effectiveness depends on several employee and environmental contingent factors and certain. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates followers, pathgoal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of evans 1970, house 1971, house and dessler. House s theory matched four ways of behaving to four sets of circumstances, or situations. The goal is to increase your employees motivation, empowerment, and satisfaction so they become productive members of the organization. Applying the pathgoal theory in leadership online training. O ffering rewards for achieving performance goals, clarifying paths towards these goals, removing obstacles to performance. The pathgoal model is a theory based on specifying a leaders style or behavior that best fits the employee and work environment in order to achieve a goal house, mitchell, 1974. House, the founder of the pathgoal theory, a leaders behaviour is contingent to employee satisfaction, employee motivation and employee performance. The theory was developed by robert house and has its roots in the expectancy theory of motivation. Path goal theory of leadership edapp microlearning blog.
621 2 1152 1411 311 429 88 1217 1410 1553 1190 149 226 303 929 97 973 347 1164 1127 1022 475 642 584