Reflection for path-goal Leadership Key behaviours among group members Most of us were participative and had a supportive leadership path, which means being more people-oriented. Differences among individual members 2 of us are task focused when it comes to leadership. One is directive and another is achievement-oriented. What results were surprising? What were possible causes of the differences? We had thought that our leadership styles would be the same.
Giri and Santra (2010) found that job experiences influence the leadership styles of employees. They add that each person goes through his/her own learning makes decisions based on his/her life experiences. Each of us had different experiences prior to becoming a group. How did individual members or the group react to differences among the group’s behaviours? We were accepting toward the different leadership styles each one preferred and valued each one’s strengths.
Depending on the situation, we would chose to let the most suitable person lead. What was one key factor that the group learnt about each other? We realised that everyone could lead, just in different ways. We are made differently and each of us subconsciously displays our personal leadership style. We have to give each other a chance to display their strengths associated with a particular style of leadership when there is a need to.
How activity is linked to discussion topic By deciding what leadership style we would use in a particular situation, and having learnt which style fit best to a situation, we each know which situations we triumph most, and which we have scope for learning to modify our usual styles. Reference: Giri, V & Santra, T 2010, ‘Effects of job experience, career stage, and hierarchy on leadership style’, Singapore Management Review, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 85-93.
