Reference no: EM132867462

What leadership style should they use?

According to path-goal theory, different leader behaviours are effective in different situations. Depending on employee characteristics and environmental factors, leaders may need to demonstrate one or more of four leader behaviours, including:

• Directive leadership: scheduling work, maintaining basic performance standards, clarifying employee roles and goals, assigning tasks to employees
• Supportive leadership: providing emotional support to employees, showing concern for employees, demonstrating respect for employees, being approachable, focusing on maintaining good interpersonal relationships with employees
• Participative leadership: Consulting with employees, allowing employees to make decisions about how work should be done, asking employees for their input and opinions
• Achievement-oriented leadership: Challenging employees to achieve exceptional levels of performance, encouraging employees to be "the best," telling employees that you, as the leader, have confidence in their ability to reach difficult goals
• Recall three of the cases that we have discussed previously this term. Use path-goal theory to determine whether the leader in each case should display directive, supportive, participative, and/or achievement-oriented leadership. Identify any potential constraints that may limit the effectiveness of the chosen styles.

COMM222 Leadership Style - Case Compilation F2019 T. Hecht 1

Case #1: Playing Hooky

Construction and maintenance workers at Toronto public schools who were taking time off work to go to Tim Horton's, drinking in bars, kissing in cars, using public time and resources to promote personal businesses, lying on their time sheets, etc.

You can assume that the workers are high in ability and experience and the nature of the work varies. Sometimes it is routine, simple tasks that have low time urgency; other times, it is non- routine, complex tasks, that have high urgency. Because the workers often move from one task to another, and don't always complete whole projects from beginning to end, the work can be frustrating.

Case #2: Millenial Blues

A young woman gets a job in procurement at a natural foods organization that she believes cares about the environment. She is disillusioned when her recommendation to source a slightly more expensive, but more environmentally friendly, product is rejected, and she quits.

You can assume that the young woman was highly educated, had a high need for achievement, and generally preferred to take initiative. You can also assume that she had approximately 1 year of experience working as a buyer. The nature of the work was said to be challenging and rewarding; you can assume that most tasks were complex and dynamic, although the job also involved some routine re-ordering of consistently used raw materials.

Case #3: The Family Clothing Store

A large brick-and-mortar clothing store that is trying to motivate workers to increase sales.

You can assume that the workers are diverse. Some workers have been at the store for many years. These workers are older, full-time workers, who work during the week during the day; they have high skills and experience. Other workers have only been with the store for a few months. These workers are younger, part-time workers, who work evenings and weekends; they have lower skills and experience. As it was currently designed, the nature of the work was primarily mundane and routine, and employees were frustrated at the low task identity and low autonomy. It seemed like the work could be redesigned to be more dynamic and challenging if more autonomy and task identity were provided to the store employees.