In the last byte, we looked at which of the leadership style would be appropriate according to the Path-Goal Theory, based on the follower’s aspiration. In today’s byte, we continue the discussion further.
In addition to the consideration that the leader should provide to the follower in deciding his/her leader behavior; the work environment is also to be included. The workplace characteristics like – task structure, work group, authority system; combined with the follower characteristics like – ability level, authoritarianism, locus of control; are to be considered in adopting a leadership behavior.
An example would help make this point clear – If the followers are highly trained professionals, and the task is difficult, yet achievable one – an achievement oriented style adopted by the leader would be more appropriate than any of the other ones.
Given that this theory assumes that leaders adapt their behavior and style to fit the characteristics of their follower and the environment in which they work – it is evident that there would be a lot of variety to be taken note of. Researchers today are focusing on what style works best in specific situations by including factors like – organization size, the leader style – visionary/transactional etc to be able to help strengthen the theory.
