Jurnal Entry

For my journal entry I would like to discuss about Path-Goal Theory by Robert House and Mitchell (1974). To me this is an exceptional theory. I do support this theory very much and I don’t think there is much to criticize on. I believed that the rise and fall of an organization depends on its leader capabilities and influence to motivate, as to be an example to all his or her subordinate. I believed that the better the leader is in his environment, the more he or she is being looked up to by his entire subordinate. If the leader is confident enough managing his or her task, their coworker would have the same feeling about their task too.

According to the theory there are 4 types of leadership directive, supportive, participative and award oriented leadership. These four styles of leadership is said to be used based on the condition of workers and workplaces. An intelligent leader should know how to identify the state of his or her subordinate based on their experience, attitude, and hostility towards their task. I do believe that mixing these styles of leadership will brought the out best result. But I also believe that at the same time it will also create an imbalance towards the sentiment of the subordinates if the leader is not careful of the styles he or she implicates.

Directive leadership is a kind of leadership which enforces the worker to follow specific guidance without question while at the same time may implies some kind of reward or punishment system to the workers. This style is a bit domineering to some where the workers is not given any chance to voice out their own opinions or ideas even though it might be useful towards the organization. Although this kind of leadership is quite autocratic it is best to use it against inexperience workers. I would think that this style would confine the creativity of the workers, however at the same time it will also limits the mix up and errors. This way it will let the worker learn and makes them more experienced. I would suggest that a leader who chooses this leadership to be more open and more expressive of his goals for the workers so that they would understand the situation and at the same time feels motivated to finish their task.

Supportive leadership puts more concern to the workers welfare and the leader is friendlier so to create a pleasant and friendlier environment for the workers to be in. This way it will make the job very much interesting and encouraging. This approach is best when the work is stressful, boring or hazardous. I would have thought that this is a good model where it could provoke loyalty, self confidence and enthusiasm of the workers. However leaders need to be firm on their ground so not to let the workers feels lavish and become sluggish. In a way this style of leadership should be imposed on people who are quite experienced but lack of self confident or self esteem.

Participative leadership is when the leader also contemplates the workers idea and suggestion when