Path-Goal Theory and Functional Leadership Explained

Introduction

Leadership theory is important for any discipline and industry, as it provides the framework through which understanding and perspective are obtained. Using these perspectives, theories of leadership serve as guideposts for individuals looking to be effective leaders in their respective workplace environments, fields, families, or communities. In the field of criminal justice, leadership theory is essential because it helps individuals hold themselves accountable and empowers others to do so as well (Brooks & Grint, 2010). This paper focuses mainly on path-goal theory and functional leadership to show how leadership occurs and how setting goals can be an effective way to organize.

Path-Goal Theory

Path-goal theory focuses on organizing by identifying goals and removing obstacles in order to facilitate their accomplishment (Northouse, 2016). As the name of the theory implies, it is about clearing the path for a team or an individual to achieve the objective. House (1996) developed and refined the theory based on the work of Evans (1970), who himself based his research on Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory. According to Vroom (1964), motivation is a result of individual perceptions of planned activities by leaders and what the outcomes of those activities are likely to be. If individuals buy into the activities, they are more likely to stick to the path presented to them by leaders. This idea informs path-goal theory and helps explain how leaders can motivate workers.

One of the main ideas presented by House (1996) is that every worker is likely to have a unique pathway to his or her goals as well as to the goals of the organization. To help the individual identify the right path to those goals, the leader may have to adopt various styles of leadership — such as transformational leadership to inspire and communicate vision, servant leadership to provide support and encouragement, or autocratic leadership for individuals who function best when given explicit and clear direction. The leader has to identify which approaches will work best for the individual and adopt them accordingly. The leader also has to ensure that the goals of the individual are aligned with the goals of the organization (House, 1996). In a criminal justice context, a leader would be tasked with ensuring that whatever aims and objectives the individual has identified as worth pursuing actually line up with the aims and objectives of the field, the discipline, or the organization of which one is a part.

Implicit within path-goal theory is Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs, which argues that every individual has levels of needs that must be met before self-actualization can be achieved. Maslow (1943) showed that emotional security is one of the basic needs of human motivation, and until a person establishes some degree of esteem through interaction with others, that person's development will be stunted. Thus, leaders who neglect to support their followers' emotional and social development — by failing to apply social and emotional intelligence — will bear responsibility if the follower's socio-emotional development is blocked and the follower's goals go unachieved. The leader must be able to fulfill the needs of the follower so that the follower will respond favorably and with motivation to the path the leader has pointed out. Leaders who do provide sufficient social and emotional support can rightly claim some credit for the follower's achievements.

House (1996) also argued that the leader must be flexible and able to adopt different leadership styles when necessary. In some environments, one type of leadership style will be suited, while in another — or when dealing with certain types of followers — a separate style will be required. Follower characteristics must therefore be considered so that the leader can maximize the potential of each follower. The theory has resonated well among leaders since its final articulation by House (1996) because it reminds leaders that they play a central part in the formation and development of followers, and that the essence of leadership is to serve followers so that they can fulfill their individual potential and maximize their service to the organization.

Influences on Follower Development

Behavior and cognition are both impacted by three main agencies: peers, organizations, and media (Bandura, 2018). Leaders fall into the peer group, which makes them a primary factor in the development of the follower. Yet they also fall into the organization group, as leaders within an organization serve in most cases as the mouthpiece for its views, beliefs, and expectations. In this way, leaders can doubly influence how a follower behaves. Still, many other factors can influence a follower, and the leader must be aware of what these are. The individual may be influenced by media, culture, other people, or other groups or organizations into thinking that certain goals or behaviors are acceptable in the criminal justice field when, in reality or according to the organization, they are not. The leader must therefore remain mindful of what these influences are and how they are impacting the follower.

One illustrative example of path-goal theory in practice is found in servant and transformational leadership traditions. A leader who appeals to followers by fulfilling their needs — providing them with resources, addressing their difficulties, and teaching them how to excel — embodies characteristics found in both transformational and servant leadership styles, both of which align with path-goal theory. Such a leader also demonstrates how to remove obstacles along the path to the goal. House (1996) explains, however, that every person may have different personal goals that may or may not line up with organizational goals, and it is the leader's duty to determine whether they do align and to identify pathways to those goals while removing obstacles along the way.

Conclusion

Leadership theory is an essential part of all industries, organizations, fields, and disciplines, and as such it must be understood to see how it is most applicable. The path-goal theory of leadership is a framework that a leader can use to assist followers in achieving their goals: it allows the leader to identify the goal together with the follower, explain why it is important to achieve, and provide direction on how it can be accomplished. This takes the pressure of defining the path entirely on one's own away from the worker and allows the worker to focus on using his or her skills and tools to work toward accomplishing the objective according to the plan worked out by the leader and the follower together. The functional model of leadership essentially provides the blueprint for how this process can best be implemented, by detailing the functions of the leader through the various phases of the leading process. These phases are best described as transitional and active, and during both phases the leader remains completely engaged — never using a hands-off or distant approach — while still challenging workers to overcome obstacles on their own.

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