Path †Goal Theory and the Jeanne Lewis Case Essay

In the Path-Goal Theory of attractership, the leader is effective when their behavior has an trespass on motivation. Follower satisfaction and performance provoke be improved by offering rewards for goals, clarifying the path to goal achievement, and removing impediments to parturiency execution. Path-Goal Theory is link to the Expectancy model, which concludes that people are motivated if they see their efforts contri provideding to a desired goal. The behavior of the follower and the leader are linked, so the worsen application of the Path-Goal Theory includes recognizing the situation of the follower and adopting a corresponding leader behavior.Jeanne Lewis held s constantlyal divergent roles during her employment at Staples, Inc. (Suesse, 2000). There are four leader behaviors in the Path-Goal model, each of which was used by Lewis at different magazines and in different situations. The following examples include a preaching of Lewis behavior, how her behavior relates to the Path-Goal model, employees solvent to Lewis behavior, and how the employees behavior relates to the Path-Goal Theory. exploit Leadership In 1994 Lewis was promoted to hot England Director of Operations, inheriting an organization lacking in strong lead, but with knowledge open employees.Lewis replaced some employees, set aggressive performance goals and challenged employees. These actions are significative of the Achievement leadership bearing, wherein the leader is both demanding and financial supportive, sets challenging goals, seeks continuous improvement, expects uplifted performance, and encourages workers to assume more responsibility (Woolard, 2009). Lewis employees responded with increased motivation launching new-sprung(prenominal) training programs and setting high goals for themselves.This behavior is representative of the Path-Goal theory wherein pursual adopt high goals leading to improved satisfaction and performance (Hersey, 2008, p. 00). The Achievemen t Leadership style is used when there is a lack of stage profession challenge in the follower. Directive Leadership Lewis was then moved to Merchandising, a nonher(prenominal) area in which she had no direct work experience. With no time for her reports to teach her the ins and outs of merchandising, Lewis adopted the style of a Directive Leader and told her lag to fix it and fix it fast. The Directive Leader tells what is judge, how and when to do it and communicates how the task fits in with other tasks in the organization. The response from her employees to this style was favorable.They spread out their persuasion beyond just the cost of the product and the selling price, developing strategical thinking which resulted in a tripling of the direct product profitability. Lewis boss, Richard Gentry, remarked, Jeanne exhibit that you can be a good merchant but you can also be strategic and think outside of the four walls (Suisse, 2000, p. 5). The impact to the follower of the Directive leadership style is clarification of the path to the goal. The employees expand their thinking to encompass the broad steps in their path to expected unit performance. encouraging LeadershipWhen Lewis was selected to replace the departing Executive Vice electric chair of Marketing, Todd Krasnow, she once again had to adapt her leadership style in response to her team. Lewis was placed in charge of retail marketing and small business to learn the ropes during Krasnows final time at Staples. The department was comprised of 2 different groups marketing and an in-house advertising agency. When she challenged a marketing program with the direct, jolty and tumble style she was accustomed to using in her previous assignments in operations and merchandising, the person presenting the idea was devastated.Lewis would have to adopt a supportive style or would have people leaving my office in tears and end up accomplishing nothing. Lewis made an effort to be approachable, with an open door policy. In this situation, where the follower lacks self confidence, a corroborative or Relationship behavior is needed. The Supportive Leader demonstrates concern for the tumefy being of followers and is open and approachable. Employees responded favorably to her change in style. Supportive leader behavior has in it the objective to increase confidence in the follower, thereby increasing their productivity and performance. Participative LeadershipWhen merger plans with Office shop were blocked by the courts, the Staples management team refocused on growth and profitability of the Staples brand. In Lewis mind, the marketing department was the brand champion and separate support for other departments. The department was divided, however, with a marketing and advertising side that did not operate in concert. Lewis remarked, the thought I would go home with at night was, if they knew more, then they would do a better job. Lewis began holding lag meetings in an attempt t o share information and decision making and set forth down the wall between the departments. I was amazed that while we had this Brobdingnagian marketing budget that everyone shared, no one knew what the other people were doing (Suesse, 2000, p. 8). A Participative Leader approaches the task in a consulting, group-wise manner. They share work problems and mash suggestions in an effort to include the entire organization in the decision-making process. Lewis expanded meetings with direct reports in an attempt to increase group interaction and boost advertising managers to share their work across business unit boundaries.This style changes reward and clarifies the needs of the followers. In Lewis case she was able to get key stakeholders in differing departments to buy in to more strategic thinking. Jeanne Lewis was given ever increasing responsibility at Staples due to her ability to adapt her leadership style to match the changing needs of her subordinates. By following the Path- Goal Theory, Lewis was able to harness the power of her followers and achieve success for the organization.