Leadership can be used in interaction between the leader and the employees and the way they follow the leader`s choices to benefit the organization and empower the employees to be more productive and more satisfied with what they contribute to the success of the organization. The desire is to complete the milestones that were developed and their goals. It is to bring a better outcome to the productivity and the correlation of the employees and their managers. The structure of Path-goal theory is such that the tasks and the characters that can be the obstacles like the designs, systems and the groups that are working on the tasks (Martin, 2006). The employees’ ability, experience and locus of management, the leadership is to consider the two subjects like characteristics of the employees and the environment the tasks are set. It is then supported by leadership styles that can be supportive, directive, achievement oriented and participative. The focus after deciding on the leadership styles should motivate the employees to completing the goals, obstacle management, support for the motivation and clarification of the path to follow to complete the goals. The situational leadership structure incorporates and bases itself on behaviors that are high or low, and how they are directed into progressing. The second stage is to coach the behavior that is either directive or supportive. The third stage is then to support the two subjects (Martin, 2006). The last stage is to delegate the behavior. It is mainly based on the support and directives that the followers require to be successful. The first stage is meant to support the followers by directing them the second is meant to coach and the third is meant to motivate the followers. The last is for the leaders to delegate the most appropriate style of leadership to affect task management.
The difference between the two theories is that path-goal theory is based on how to achieve the goal with the full satisfaction that comes with the designs that are used to implement the process the challenges and the achievements too. It is essential in the success of the theory in application. The situational theory on the other hand, focuses on how their employees are to be assisted to achieve success in the way they operate in goal achievement. It is especially important when the leader knows how to delegate the assistance required in the processes involved in the goal achievement (Gabarro, 1991).
The employees’ role in the path goal theory is to interpret what the leader is to do about their needs. The involvement is to be structured, in a way that the locus of control and the affiliation of the leader are maintained within a level that perceives the needs of the employees and the best way to motivate them to attain the set goals. The situational structure is based on the adaptation of the situations presented following the steps that are defined in the theory. The theory advocates for directing of the employees, coaching, supporting, and delegating of the styles in accordance with the behavior that has been monitored in the particular situation (Gabarro, 1991). Situational leadership is based on the study of behavior and the requirements to correct the behaviors portrayed by the employees and the characteristics of all the employees to adapting to the situations and the best way for the leader to implement changes to improve the situation.
The leader in each situational theory needs to know the characteristics at each stage so that they can know what is high and what is low and what needs to be done to counter the problem in each particular stage to assure the success in all the stages involved in the process of goal accomplishment. It is meant to present chances like understanding the followers and interacting with them to know the best way to achieve normality and balance of the situations. The path-goal theory on the other hand, incorporates consideration of behaviors and the initial structure like task assignment, scheduling and organizing the followers in completing the work. The leaders need to be directive, supportive, and participative in the achievement of the goals. The leaders should be appreciative of contributions in the process (Griffin, 2007).
Conclusively, directives are the cornerstone to coordination; therefore, the leader needs to work closely with the staff and understanding the behaviors depicted by the followers. From my past experiences, leaders need to be flexible to change and how they provide support for their employees (Griffin, 2007). Remove the obstacles involved and having clearly set goals is a good way to assure that the employees perform higher than they used to initially. Situational leaders need to interact with their employees and exchange information. Communication is also the base of the character description, performance, commitment and an appropriate environment for the situations involved. The leaders should also be interactive with their followers, which is important for the success of the goals set. They need to direct their followers, coach them and participate, support and delegate the suitable styles for the development and success of the goals.
References
Gabarro, J. J. (1991). Managing people and organizations. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business
Griffin, R. W. (2007). Fundamentals of management: Core concepts and applications. Boston,
Mass: Houghton Mifflin.
Martin, B. (2006). Outdoor leadership: Theory and practice. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
