Leadership Assessment Paper

Running Head: LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT PAPER 1

Leadership Assessment Paper

by

Myer Tuolee

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of BUS510

to

Dr. Raquel Fischer

October 24, 2020

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT PAPER 2

Introduction

Leadership plays a fundamental role in organizational success. However, different leaders

adopt various leadership styles to drive their overall performance. That being the case, it is

essential for a leader to assess and understand his or her approach to leadership. The case is so

because it is only through assessment where a leader can identify his or her weaknesses as a

leader and develop ways to improve on the weaknesses (Northouse, 2018). The persons’

leadership style is important because it regulates them through their role as leaders and helps

them to become better communicators with those they are leading. There exist different

leadership assessment approaches that one can use to determine his or her approach to

leadership. Some of them include the behavioral approach and path-goal theory. Although the

two leadership assessment approaches differ in different aspects, they exhibit several similarities

that cuts across both.

Behavioral Approach to Leadership Assessment

The behavioral approach focuses on the leader’s behavior in that, it emphasizes

exclusively on leader’s response to actions and what they actually do. It shifts the study of leader

behavior by expanding the research to integrate leader’s actions towards their followers in

different contexts. According to behavioral approach leadership can be characterized into two

main leadership behaviors- relationship and task behaviors. Relationship behaviors are centered

on helping followers to feel comfortable with both themselves and among one another,

regardless of the situation they get or find themselves in (Carsten, 2017). On the other hand, task

behaviors promote accomplishment of set objectives and goals. The case is so because the help

the followers to attain their individual goals by clearly defining the standards they are expected

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to conform to as well as the expected outcome from each group member. However, the main aim

of the identified approach to leadership assessment is to describe how leader integrate the two

behaviors to lead and influence their followers towards achieving their goals.

The behavioral approach offers a leadership assessment framework with multiple

dimensions. However, it works by explaining the leader’s main behavioral components, rather

than providing an outline of how they should behave. That being the case, leaders can determine

when to be task-oriented and when to be relationship-oriented based on the situations they

encounter or the type of people they lead., the case is so because, there are some followers that

require numerous directions from their leaders, while others need support and nurturance to help

them attain the desired goals.

Path-Goal Theory Leadership

The path-goal theory approach relates to how leaders behave to motivate their followers

to achieve their designated goals. The theory is drawn from heavy research on associated with

issues that motivate employees. It emphasizes more on the leadership style as well as the

followers’ characteristics in an organizational setting. Based on the theory, for a leader to be

successful he or she must utilize a leadership approach that best suits his or her follower’s

motivational requirements (Joe-Akunne, Stephen, & Nnaebue, 2020). To achieve that a leader

should select behaviors that supplement or compliment issues that are lacking in the workplace

environment. Leaders emphasize on approaches and behaviors that facilitate their follower’s goal

achievement through rewarding and providing information that can help their followers attain

their set goals. According to path-goal theory, leadership motivates by making the road to

achievement of the goal easier and clear to travel through direction and coaching, elimination of

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roadblocks and other obstacles, and making a generally satisfying work. There are several styles

that fall under path-goal theory including directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-

oriented style.

Comparison and Contrast between Behavioral Approach and Path-Goal Theory

Behavioral approach and path-goal theory differ widely but exhibit minimal similarities.

One of the commonalities that cuts across the two approaches is that both hold that leaders play a

critical role in determining the employee performance. Also, both behavioral approach and path-

goal theory suggests implementation of a flexible leadership style that allows companies and

managers to attain the best from their employees and responding to the rapidly changing business

environment.

On the other hand, the two approaches differ in that, while behavioral approach

emphasizes exclusively on how leaders act and what they do, path-goal theory focuses on how a

leader can motivate his or her followers to achieve the designated goals. Another difference is

that in behavioral approach, the main goal is to describe how a leader can combine both

relationship and task behaviors to sway followers towards achieving their goals, while according

to Ohs (2017), the path-goal theory’s main goal is to promote follower satisfaction and

performance by emphasizing on the follower’s motivation. Another disparity is that while

behavioral approach has not been established as a refined and polished theory, path-goal theory

is one of the most refined theories that offers a well-organized set of principles and prescriptions

for an efficient leadership behavior. The case is so because the behavioral approach only

provides a leadership assessment framework that divides leadership into two broad ways,

relationship and task dimensions. While behavioral approach offers an opportunity to leaders to

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look at their own behaviors towards their followers, path-goal theory describes how the leader

can help his or her followers towards achieving their goals through selecting specific leadership

behaviors.

Analysis of Leadership Assessment Results

Based on the results from the leadership behavior questionnaire, my task behavior score

was 42, while my relationship behavior score was 31. That being the case, it suggests that I am

more likely to lead focusing more on the task than on relationship. There exist ways in which I

can shift my focus from more task-oriented to relationship-oriented. The case is so because there

are measures that can be incorporated to enhance relationship-oriented leadership. One of them is

through active communication with the followers and seeking for their feedback. Also, I can

engage in a relationship behavior by helping my followers to feel comfortable through measures

such as engaging in open and transparent communication with them, which enhances

relationship building.

The path-goal leadership questionnaire results suggested that I rely more on directive

leadership style because it had the highest score of 33. On the other hand, the style with the

lowest score was participative showing that it is the style that I least rely on. Supportive style is

the second style that I rely more on while achievement-oriented style is the second last relied on

leadership style.

Conclusion

Leaders play a critical role in the organization and in influencing their followers towards

achieving their designated goals. However, it is crucial for a leader to understand his or her

leadership style to determine the approaches and behaviors to adopt to get the best outcome out

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of their followers. Behavioral approach and path-goal theory are some of the ways in which

leaders can assess their leadership styles. While behavioral approach emphasizes exclusively on

the leader’s response to actions and what they do, path-goal theory emphasizes more on how

leaders can behave to motivate their followers towards achieving their designated goals.

Although the two approaches differ widely, they exhibit several similarities such as both of them

suggest the implementation of a flexible leadership style that allows companies and managers to

attain the best from their employees and responding to the rapidly changing business

environment. Based on the results from the assessment, I am a task-oriented leader and relies

more on directive style to leadership.

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References

Carsten, M. K. (2017). Followership development: a behavioral approach. In Leader

Development Deconstructed (pp. 143-161). Springer, Cham.

Joe-Akunne, C., Stephen, E. I., & Nnaebue, C. (2020). Leader-member Exchange and

Transformational Leadership Style: A Prediction to Thriving at Work. Asian Journal of

Advanced Research and Reports, 37-43.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Ohs, M. K. (2017). Path Toward a Goal. Change: A Leader’s Perspective, 51.