Cultural Dimensions of Leadership
February 12, 2025
Group of individuals working together for a common objective form a team. Teams are generally formed to accomplish complicated and difficult tasks. All individuals come together on a common platform and strive hard to achieve the set objective. When individuals work as a single unit towards a common predefined goal, a team is formed. Not […]
Different Political Systems around the World There are many different types of political systems around the world. Whereas the political system in the United States follows a mixture of direct and indirect election, the UK with its Westminster style of democracy is another type of political system. Most of the former colonial countries follow the […]
The reinsurance market is very competitive market. After the increase in globalization and privatization, companies from all across the world are now allowed to compete in the reinsurance business in most parts of the world. In most cases, this generally means that the reinsurer is spoilt for choice. Nowadays, most cedant insurers receive several quotations […]
Workplace ethics ensures employees are treated with utmost respect. It also leads to a sense of satisfaction among employees and they develop a feeling of attachment towards their respective organizations. The feeling of loyalty is a feeling which is seen in very few individuals. For them, going to work is the best source of earning […]
We had discussed how the OODA Loop or the Observe, Orient, Decision, Action loop works in helping to make better decisions. The first and the important thing to remember about the OODA loop is that it is mainly concerned about situations that involve split second decision making. Considering the fact that it was developed by […]
The theory was developed by Robert House and has its roots in the expectancy theory of motivation. The theory is based on the premise that an employee’s perception of expectancies between his effort and performance is greatly affected by a leader’s behavior.
The leaders help group members in attaining rewards by clarifying the paths to goals and removing obstacles to performance. They do so by providing the information, support, and other resources which are required by employees to complete the task.
House’s theory advocates servant leadership. As per servant leadership theory, leadership is not viewed as a position of power. Rather, leaders act as coaches and facilitators to their subordinates.
According to House’s path-goal theory, a leader’s effectiveness depends on several employee and environmental contingent factors and certain leadership styles. All these are explained in the figure 1 below:
Figure 1: Path-Goal Leadership TheoryThe four leadership styles are:
He/She makes judicious use of rewards and disciplinary action. The style is the same as task-oriented one.
He/She consults his subordinates on important decisions related to work, task goals, and paths to resolve goals.
The leader believes that employees are responsible enough to accomplish challenging goals. This is the same as goal-setting theory.
According to the theory, these leadership styles are not mutually excusive and leaders are capable of selecting more than one kind of a style suited for a particular situation.
The theory states that each of these styles will be effective in some situations but not in others.
It further states that the relationship between a leader’s style and effectiveness is dependent on the following variables:
When team cohesiveness is low, a supportive leadership style must be used whereas in a situation where performance-oriented team norms exist, a directive style or possibly an achievement-oriented style works better. Leaders should apply directive style to counteract team norms that oppose the team’s formal objectives.
The theory has been subjected to empirical testing in several studies and has received considerable research support.
This theory consistently reminds the leaders that their main role as a leader is to assist the subordinates in defining their goals and then to assist them in accomplishing those goals in the most efficient and effective manner.
This theory gives a guide map to the leaders about how to increase subordinates satisfaction and performance level.
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