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The 2012 EPSI Symposium, a great success!

Once again, EPSI surpasses itself! It was on May 11^th that the firm held its fourth annual symposium. The event took place at the Holiday Inn Plaza La Chaudière and gathered over one hundred professionals from various organizations.

The speakers, M André Durivage, M Larry Coutts, M Philippe Longpré, Mrs Ashley Bourque, M Mathieu Durivage, and M Franco Maimone, were all able to capture the interest of participants, covering such topics as: competency management, feedback, and cultural diversity. Several EPSI consultants were also present at the event in order to converse with participants and to assist in the various workshops.

As an intern, I found it very rewarding to have the opportunity to work on such a large-scale event and to actually get to see the end result. Moreover, as a student myself, the workshops actually contributed to furthering my understanding of the topics! I was pleasantly surprised by the personable speakers; I also appreciated seeing the EPSI consultants interact with their guests.

This experience proved to be very rewarding overall; I was able to truly benefit from the expertise of EPSI professionals as well as their willingness to share their knowledge with others such as myself.

Aude Paradis

Human Resources Intern, EPSI Inc.

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Customer Service: Best Practices

Competition between organisations is becoming fiercer as days go by. Each company is trying to prove that they are the best; trying to grow within their respective markets while aiming to exceed their clients’ expectations by going above and beyond in terms of client service. It is becoming the focus of worldwide organisations and the foundation of healthy relationships between directors, managers, employees and their clientele.

After working in the customer service field for 10 years now, I have come to have a special understanding of its importance. In what will follow, you will find a list of 10 interesting best practices which I strongly believe should be generously considered when working in any client service based organisation.

BEST PRACTICE #1: Learn the business

Knowing your firm is one thing, but properly understanding the business in which you work is quite another. Effective client service requires both. In order to provide excellent client service, one must understand both his/her own business as well as the clients’ relatively well.

Here, you are essentially responsible for representing the company; you should be in order to answer all questions the client may ask of you. Constantly searching for information may become a disadvantage to the eye of your client, may make you look unknowledgeable, and could potentially make your client want to look elsewhere for the same/better service.

BEST PRACTICE #2: Empower your clients

Sharing information with your clients is not always easy, but putting the tools in their hands can make things simpler for the both of you. The fact is, the more knowledge they have, the more likely they are to call you without thinking that they are bothering you. In this case, they know that they have all the information they should have before contacting you/the company.

BEST PRACTICE #3: Listen – Listen to feedback

Often, the best way to determine client satisfaction is to ask your clients for feedback on “how you’re doing” or “how you did” in the case where the project has ended. As easy as it may sound, we often do not realize that knowing what people want makes it easier to keep them happy.

In order to keep the clients happy after a project, you must simply follow-up with them by, for example, sending them a quick and personalized survey. A quick survey can give you an idea of the areas for improvement and the areas in which your firm, yourself or your team are doing well.

There are also a number of questions you could ask yourself. For example: “Do I listen actively, seeking to understand?”, “Do I regularly formulate my response, presenting my ideas between their questions?”, “Am I listening to the words that are not being spoken (non-verbal)?” These are questions one should ask himself/herself in order to ensure that he/she is actively listening.

BEST PRACTICE #4: Be accessible

Making yourself available to your client when he/she calls or stops by your office goes a long way in building a strong relationship with business units. There are two (2) key ingredients to a great relationship. It is imperative that you be accessible whether it is by telephone, e-mail, and fax or even in person. It is an outward sign that helping your client is your priority. It is also crucial that you be available if you are planning on having a continuous relationship with him/her. If you do not show any interest, the client will do the same in time.

BEST PRACTICE #5: Respond promptly

Just like you, clients expect a prompt response, whether it is a quick return to a phone call to answer a question or a lengthy opinion on a complex issue. Waiting around for a quick phone call, e-mail or fax can slow the work and create set-backs.

Moreover, in order to respond promptly, one must triage requests appropriately. Basically, you need to foremost identify the client’s deadline expectations. You must meet the turnaround timeframe and you also must identify the exact work being asked of you.

BEST PRACTICE #6: Never say ‘no’

Never saying ‘no’ is a very generic rule that applies to most client service related businesses. Your goal here is to offer alternatives and to be helpful by going above and beyond your clients’ expectations. That being said, it can often leave a positive and lasting impression.

BEST PRACTICE #7: Communication

Just like listening, communication is also key to a healthy relationship. In order to improve communication amongst yourselves, you must engage your client in dialogue as two-way conversations are generally more productive than unidirectional ones. This also minimizes the chances of losing track of what is being said. Furthermore, you must ensure that you adjust your vocabulary to that of your clients’ needs and explain things in the way you would to a friend or a neighbour; not your professor. This will make for a more personalized conversation as clients frequently do not tend to ask for definitions of terms to refrain from portraying an unknowledgeable image.

BEST PRACTICE #8: Get to know your clients

Cultivating relationships with internal businesspeople is an investment that always pays off. You must be able to anticipate the clients’ needs when possible. Keeping in touch with clients, even after the contract/project is over, will always go a long way in establishing the fact that they indeed made a good decision consulting with you and will also give you a better chance in terms of choosing you for future contracts/projects.

Additionally, showing interest in clients’ personal life often gives the impression that you care about them as a person, rather than ‘just’ as a client. For example, clients are often more relaxed when chatting over lunch and talking about business in a way you do not hear in a formal meeting. The advantage to that is that you get to know them as people and you get to build trust. The disadvantage here is that this approach does not always work for both parties.

BEST PRACTICE #9: Clients first

In the service world, the client must always come first. Your goal here is to try to your best, by all means possible, to satisfy your customer. You can easily see this as a happy cycle: “Client Service = Happy Client = Potential Long-Term Relationship”. That being said, small things and gestures can easily go a long way.

BEST PRACTICE #10: Outlining the Process

The last, yet particularly important best practice has to do with outlining a project. Although you may not be able to see this as a client service best practice; in order to go beyond expectations, outlining any project is absolutely imperative for both you and the client. There are a number of advantages to outlining a project before it begins. Firstly, both you and the client are fully aware of what steps need to/will be taken throughout the project; thus limiting the surprises that are likely to arise throughout the project. It will also keep the unrealistic demands to a minimum, and will also minimize the chances of straying off the outline. The one significant disadvantage is that things may not turn out as good as originally planned, but overall, things can always be adjusted depending on the demands and needs.

To wrap things up, it is essential to ensure that your client is happy regardless of the time and effort you may have to put in to making it happen. The client counts on you for a number of things and you are responsible for making sure that he/she is happy with the work you accomplish as well as the recommendations you provide. Ultimately, organisations, if not already aware of the importance of client service, will sooner rather than later come to understand its’ magnitude in increasingly competitive markets.

Kimia Mottaghi

Assessment and Evaluation Consultant

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( Français) « Play Ball!! »

Sorry, this entry is only available in Français.

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2012 EPSI Symposium: At the core of HRM!

Driven by the success of past events, EPSI is proud to once again present its annual Symposium in the breathtaking National Capital Region. This years’ theme is: “Competencies. Diversity. Feedback. At the core of HRM.” The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Plaza La Chaudière on May 11, and will consist of three (3) workshops offered in both French and English.

Whether you’re aiming to provide feedback to an employee, implement or maximize a competency-based approach to management, or simply trying to manage the ever-increasing culturally diverse workforce; the fact is that all of these topics are at the core of human resources management today.

Being at the forefront of HRM for several years now, the competency-based approach has already proved its usefulness. However, sometimes, the benefits of using such an approach are difficult to identify. Our speakers will help you navigate through the various concepts pertaining to competency management and will ensure to explain how this approach can be implemented and maximized within your organization.

One of our training workshops will focus specifically on feedback, which if delivered properly, can be extremely effective in helping a person learn about his/her behaviours as well as his/her performance at work. Needless to say, feedback requires a certain degree of mastery, as a bad feedback session can have rather serious detrimental effects on performance and on motivation as well as hinder existing interpersonal relationships. Thus, to minimize these effects, it is important to understand the main concepts and best practices related to feedback in order to maximize its use. Feedback, if properly delivered, greatly favours the development of an employee and also contributes to the attainment of an organization’s bottom line.

Lastly, the ever-growing culturally diverse workforce in organizations today is an invaluable resource. That being said, this wealth must be accompanied by numerous compromises and accommodations. It is therefore important to fully understand the ins and outs of diversity and furthermore, to learn how to manage it so as to optimize the contribution of everyone within the bigger picture. As such, our speakers will help you better grasp the considerations pertaining to the matter, and will bring participants to question themselves and reflect on a number of issues and challenges faced today! All this, to try and help each individual further benefit on their respective organization…

Given that the event is absolutely free of charge, and as the numbers of seats are limited, it is important to reserve your place as soon as possible! For more information on the event or to register today, please visit the following link:

http://www.epsi-inc.com/english/events/symposium/index.php

Looking forward to having you there,

Nicolas Roy, CHRP, M.Sc.

Assessment and Evaluation Consultant

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The 5^th forum on Education – MEDEF Enterprise in France

Each year, the MEDEF (Movement of the French Enterprises) organises a forum to bring the worlds of education and that of the enterprise together. This particular day is both a means to promote initiatives in terms of integration and improved school-business partnerships, but also to address the thoughts of new ideas that promote and support youth guidance.

This year, on the event’s 5^th anniversary which was held back in March, I was able to attend the intervention of André Durivage, who was invited as a witness to the forum and as a research professor from the UQO (University of Quebec in Outaouais).

On this occasion, Mr. Durivage was able to meet with Laurence Parisot, president of the MEDEF, to touch upon a variety of different topics pertaining to the linking of the French school system and the industry, which can at times be very far from one another. The objective of the intervention was to address various topics by providing a cross-Atlantic vision by introducing examples of Canadian practices with respect to such school-business partnerships.

The concept of talent and personal development was at the focus of this forum. Mr. Durivage was able to demonstrate that the development of creativity and potential was at the core of the development of companies, so as to be the most competitive in our modern society. Quebec and Canada have some good examples of companies that have chosen to be creative in order to stand out from the American competition. Today in France, some companies also stand out by their capacity to innovate in different areas, and not just from a technological standpoint. Take GrDF (Gas of France) as an example; the company was facing a shortage in manpower that was core to their business: gas technicians. As such, they sought to recruit by going after cross-disciplinary skills in different professions such as firefighters or the military. They are indeed capable of handing emergency situations that remain an essential skill for the power company, who must constantly work with hazardous materials. This approach remains very innovative and yet is still used very little in France.

In this context, the theory of “right to make mistakes” brought on debates that the concept of creativity requires risk taking. Therefore: “Can we take risks that imply reaching success or failure?” The French educational system rejects any form of failure and bounds young people towards ways considered simpler which has for effect to depreciate these same roads by naming them “dead end jobs”. It also strongly influences today’s youth with respect to their initiatives and other projects. In light of this discussion, Mr. Durivage went on to refer to the example of Steve Jobs and the principle of “Learning by Doing” to indicate that “failure permits to bounce back”.

This question has led to a review of the grading system in French schools. The intervention of Mr. Durivage provided some insight in to the fact that in Quebec, after dismissing grades for a period of twelve years; students and their parents have again claimed that: “education is focused on skills rather than content. This has greatly promoted creativity in children. We were no longer giving grades. But twelve years later, the request to return to a grading system was brought forth because children demonstrated some difficulties relating to a “normative framework”. He then concluded that: “Yes, it is important to encourage creativity, but we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Grading is a human “need” which allows individual to compare themselves to one another.

To overcome the lack of creativity, innovation is growing here and there throughout France; we’re witnessing the development of the micro-businesses. These projects, which also exist just across the Atlantic, allow the development of youth creativity as well as their sense of initiative: “be daring”. Encouraging personal development will be the challenge in the coming years and may grow, according to Mr. Durivage, by creative factors such as the arts, music, and painting; but also by means such as travelling or learning foreign languages. The latter thus opens the debate on the importance of teaching these subjects to children of the future generations.

To conclude, the forum on school-business partnerships has been very successful at leading to the discovery of and an exchange on topics closely related to the values of EPSI: innovation, creativity, openness, and education.

The questions that were raised have allowed for some insight in to issues of education in the future and have instigated discussions and openness with respect to some new, interesting projects. These discussions have also led to further questioning of the value of diplomas in France, particularly in the case of the PhD which is likely to be subjected to further discussion at such forums in the future.

Alexandre Longuet

Assessment and Evaluation Consultant

You will find the event in its entirety on video at the following link (available in French only):

http://www.medef.com/medef-tv/videos/detail/medeftv/5e-forum-education-entreprise.html

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Leadership in Organizations: Concepts and Theories

Larry Coutts, Ph.D. and Director, Research and Development at EPSI Inc. shares with you the highlights of his findings on some of the numerous concepts and theories pertaining to leadership.

Participative Theories: Participative leadership is a style of leadership that involves all members of a team in identifying essential goals and developing procedures or strategies for reaching those goals. From this perspective, participative leadership can be seen as a leadership style that relies heavily on the leader functioning as a facilitator rather than simply issuing orders or making assignments. One of the main benefits of participative leadership is that the process allows for the development of additional leaders who can serve the organization at a later date. Because leaders who favor this style encourage active involvement on the part of everyone on the team, people often are able to express their creativity and demonstrate abilities and talents that would not be made apparent otherwise.

Thus, participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others. Figure 3 depicts the various leadership styles with respect to participation.

Figure 3: Leadership Styles With Respect to Participation

According to participative management theory, the involvement of subordinates in decision-making improves the understanding of the issues by those who must carry out the decisions.

It is assumed that employees are more committed to actions where they have been involved in the relevant decision-making and that they are less competitive and more collaborative when working on joint goals. That is, when people make decisions together, the social commitment to one another is greater and thus increases their commitment to the decision.

Transactional Theories: Transactional theories, also known as management theories, focus on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance. Transactional leadership is a style of leadership in which subordinates seek motivation from their leaders via a combination of punishments and rewards in the workplace. For example, subordinates might receive a punishment if they do a task incorrectly. In contrast, a reward might be given to subordinates who accomplish their tasks correctly and in a timely manner.

The assumptions underlying transactional leadership theories are as follows: People are motivated by reward and punishment and social systems work best with a clear chain of command. When people have agreed to do a job, a part of the deal is that they cede all authority to their manager. The prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what their manager tells them to do. The transactional leader works through creating structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates and the rewards they will get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place.

The early stage of transactional leadership is in negotiating the contract whereby the subordinate is given a salary and other benefits, and the organization (and by implication the subordinate’s manager) gets authority over the subordinate. When the transactional leader allocates work to a subordinate, they are considered to be fully responsible for it, whether or not they have the resources or capability to carry it out. When things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be personally at fault, and is punished for their failure (just as they are rewarded for succeeding).

The transactional leader often uses management by exception, working on the principle that if something is operating to defined (and hence expected) performance then it does not need attention. Exceptions to expectation require praise and reward for exceeding expectation and some kind of corrective action is applied for performance below expectation. Whereas transformational leadership (see below) has more of a “selling” style, transactional leadership, once the contract is in place, takes a “telling” style.

Transformational Theories: Transformational leadership (sometimes referred to as charismatic leadership; see Kanungo, 1998) refers to the process of influencing major changes in the attitudes and assumptions of organization members and building commitment for major changes in the organization’s objectives and strategies. Transformational leadership involves influence by a leader over subordinates, but the effect of the influence is to empower subordinates who also become leaders in the process of transforming the organization. Thus, transformational leadership is usually viewed as a shared process, involving the actions of leaders at different levels and in different subunits.

Bass (1998) defines transformational leadership in terms of the leader’s effect on followers. Leaders transform followers by making them more aware of the importance and value of task outcomes and by inducing them to transcend self-interest for the sake of the organization. As a result of this influence, subordinates feel trust and respect toward the leader and they are motivated to do more than they originally expected to do.

Transformational leaders do more with colleagues and subordinates than set up simple exchanges or agreements. They behave in ways to achieve superior results by employing one or more of the four components of transformational leadership outlined by Lowe, Kroeck, and Sivasubramaniam (1996).

Four Components of Transformational Leadership
Behaviour	Description
Idealized influence	Transformational leaders behave in ways that make them role models for their followers. The leaders are admired, respected, and trusted.
Inspirational motivation	Transformational leaders behave in ways that motivate and inspire those around them by providing meaning and challenge to their followers’ work. Leaders get followers involved in envisioning attractive future states; they create clearly communicated expectations that followers want to meet.
Intellectual stimulation		Transformational leaders stimulate their followers’ efforts to be innovative and creative by questioning assumptions, reframing problems, and approaching old situations in new ways. New ideas and creative problem solutions are solicited from followers, who are included in the process of addressing problems and finding solutions.
Individualized consideration		Transformational leaders pay special attention to each individual follower’s needs for advancement and growth by acting as a coach or mentor. Individual differences of needs and desires are recognized, and the leader’s own behaviour demonstrates acceptance of these differences.

In a similar vein, Conger and Kanungo (1998) provided the following set of five comprehensive (and validated) character dimensions of transformational leaders.

Key Characteristics of Transformational Leaders
Characteristic	Description
Vision and articulation	Has a vision—expressed as an idealized goal—that proposes a future better than the status quo; and is able to clarify the importance of the vision in terms that are understandable to others.
Personal risk	Willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs, and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve the vision.
Environmental sensitivity	Able to make realistic assessments of the environmental constraints and resources needed to bring about change.
Sensitivity to follower needs	Perceptive of others’ abilities and responsive to their needs and feelings.
Unconventional behaviour	Engages in behaviours that are perceived as novel and counter to norms.

In summary, transformational leadership starts with the development of a vision, a view of the future that will excite and convert potential followers. This vision may be developed by the leader, by the senior team, or may emerge from a broad series of discussions. The important factor is the leader buys into it. The next step is to constantly sell the vision. This takes energy and commitment, as few people will immediately buy into a radical vision, and some will come on board much more slowly than others. The transformational leader thus takes every opportunity and will use whatever works to convince others to support the vision. In order to create followers, transformational leaders have to be very careful in creating trust, and their personal integrity is a critical part of the package that they are selling. In effect, they are selling themselves as well as the vision.

This wraps up the theoretical review on the matter… If you have any questions that you’d like answered, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Larry Coutts, Ph.D.

Director, Research and Development, EPSI Inc.

References

Bass, B. M. (1998). Transformational leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1998). Charismatic leadership in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A theory of leadership effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hersey, P, and Blanchard, K. H. (1988). Management of organizational behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hersey, P, Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2001). Management of organizational behaviour, 8^th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

House, R. J. (1971). A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16, 321-338.

House, R. J. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly, 7, 323-352.

House, R. J., & Aditya, R. (1997). The social scientific study of leadership: Quo vadis. Journal of Management, 23, 409-474.

Kanungo, R. N. (1998). Leadership in organizations: Looking ahead to the 21^st century. Canadian Psychology, 39(1-2).

Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? The Executive, 5(2), 48-60.

Lowe, K. B., Kroeck, K. G., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996). Effectiveness correlates of transformation and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic review of the MLQ literature. Leadership Quarterly, 7, 385-425.

Quinn, R. E. (1988). Beyond Rational Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.

Schriesheim, C. A., Cogliser, C. C., & Neider, L. L. (1995). Is it trustworthy? A multiple-levels-of analysis re-examination of an Ohio State leadership study with implications for future research. Leadership Quarterly, Summer, 111-145.

Yukl, G. (1998). Leadership in organizations (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Yukl, G. A., Wall, S, & Lepsinger, R. (1990). Preliminary report on validation of the management practices survey. In K. E. Clark & M. B. Clark (Eds.), Measures of leadership (pp. 223-238). West Orange, NJ: Leadership Library of America.

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Leadership in Organizations: Concepts and Theories

Larry Coutts, Ph.D. and Director, Research and Development at EPSI Inc. shares with you the highlights of his findings on some of the numerous concepts and theories pertaining to leadership.

Theoretical Approaches to Leadership

Interest in leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century. Early leadership theories focused on what qualities distinguished between leaders and followers, while subsequent theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill levels. Several theoretical approaches have been developed to explain leadership. However, although many different leadership theories have emerged, most can be classified into one of the following major types. It is important to recognize, however, that these leadership theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Trait theories
Behavioural theories
Situational contingency theories
Participative theories
Transactional theories
Transformational theories

Trait theories: Trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioural characteristics shared by leaders. It is the earliest approach used to study leadership, having been first used more than a century ago. Initially, the focus was on which traits differentiated “great persons” from the masses. Later studies that used this approach examined differences between leaders and non-leaders as well as trait predictions of outcomes. However, the findings were inconsistent.

More recent research has produced more promising results. Several traits that help identify important leadership strengths have been identified and most of these traits also tend to predict leadership outcomes (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991; House and Aditya, 1997; Yukl, 1998). A sample of these identified traits with positive implications for successful leadership is presented below.

Energy and adjustment or stress tolerance	Integrity
Prosocial power motivation	Perseverance or tenacity
Achievement orientation	Cognitive ability, social intelligence
Emotional maturity	Flexibility
Self-confidence

Behavioural theories: Behavioural theories of leadership focus on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this theoretical approach, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. Behavioural theories emphasize what leaders actually do on the job and the relationship of this behaviour to leader effectiveness. Two major lines of behaviour research are (1) the classification of leadership behaviours into taxonomies and (2) the identification of behaviours related to criteria of leadership effectiveness.

In the 1940s and 1950s, researchers at both the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University sought to identify the leadership behaviours that result in effective performance. Although there were slight differences in the findings of both research groups, the results revealed that subordinates perceive the behaviour of their leader primarily in terms of two independent categories, one dealing with people-oriented behaviours (consideration) and the other with task-oriented behaviours (initiating structure). A highly considerate leader is sensitive to people’s feelings and tries to make things pleasant for his or her followers. On the other hand, a leader who is high in initiating structure is more concerned about defining task requirements and other aspects of the work agenda. Subsequent research indicated that effective leaders should be high in both consideration and initiating structure behaviours (e.g., Schriesheim, Cogliser, & Neider, 1995).

More recently, Yukl, Wall, and Lepsinger (1990) presented a detailed taxonomy of effective leadership behaviours which included the following 11 categories of behaviour applicable to any leader.

A considerable amount of research has examined how specific types of leadership behaviour are related to leader effectiveness. This research suggests that leader effectiveness is predicted better by specific behaviours (e.g., clarifying, monitoring, and problem solving) relevant to the leadership situation than broad measures such as consideration and initiating structure.

Situational Contingency Theories: The trait and behavioural perspectives assume that leadership, by itself, has a strong impact on outcomes. Another development in leadership thinking recognizes, however, that outcomes may be more accurately predicted when leader traits and behaviours are considered in relation to situational contingencies—other important aspects of the leadership situation. Toward this end, contingency theories of leadership such as those proposed by Fred Fiedler (1967), Robert House (1971; 1996), and Hersey and Blanchard (1988; 2001) focus on specific variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to these approaches, no leadership style is best in all situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leader’s preferred style, the capabilities and behaviours of the followers, and aspects of the situation.

For example, according to House’s (1971) Path-Goal Theory, the most important activities of leaders are those that clarify the paths to various goals of interest to subordinates. Such goals might include a promotion, a sense of accomplishment, or a pleasant work climate. In turn, the opportunity to achieve such goals should promote job satisfaction, acceptance of the leader, and high work effort. In this way, the effective leader forms a connection between subordinates’ goals and the organization’s goals. The theory assumes that a leader’s key function is to adjust his/her behaviours by providing what is missing in the situational contingencies, such as those in the work setting. Aspects of the situation such as the nature of the task, the work environment, and subordinate attributes (e.g., ability) determine the optimal amount of each type of leader behaviour (directive, supportive, achievement-oriented, participative) for improving subordinate satisfaction and performance. A model of Path-Goal Theory is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Model of Path-Goal Theory of Leadership

House revised his theory in later years (House, 1996) and presented a reformulated path-goal theory of work unit leadership. The reformulated theory specifies leader behaviours that enhance subordinate empowerment and satisfaction and work unit and subordinate effectiveness. It addresses the effects of leaders on the motivation and abilities of immediate subordinates and the effects of leaders on work unit performance.

Stay tuned for more on the topic… In the meantime, if you have any questions that you’d like answered, there’s no time like the present!