The pre-identified contemporary public leader is United States President Joe Biden, who significantly utilizes the path-goal theory to help his subordinates achieve their goals. First of all, the Path-Goal Theory of leadership stipulates that a leader should be accountable for rendering supporters the necessary support, information or vital resources towards achieving the predetermined goals (Northouse, 2016). n other words, under the path-goal theory, a leader should provide appropriate parameters or aspects to ensure a viable path to realizing their goals.
In this context, President Biden actively integrates path-goal theory in his leadership style, especially in mobilizing US residents to embrace the vaccine upon respective declaration of the individual population as a priority (LaFraniere & Weiland, 2021). It emanates from the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic that has devastated the US’s social, economic, and political operations and worldwide. Therefore, upholding significant health and safety among the United States’ residents was an important strategy to mitigate the adverse implications of the pandemic. The only approach Americans could safeguard and enhance their survival rate amid the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic is to take the vaccine. So, President Biden identified the need to lead his followers towards preserving their health, well-being and safety. He actively urges Americans to take the vaccine as soon their population group is announced as the priority group. He promises citizens that taking vaccines would ensure improved health, safety, and life without restrictions.
The prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed President Biden to a broad spectrum of obstacles that progressively and ultimately puts his leadership styles into practice. World Health Organization identifies vaccination as the baseline for ending the pandemic and resuming complete normalcy. Similarly, President Biden acknowledges vaccination as a critical intervention measure to end the pandemic and decided to implement the strategy by establishing mass vaccination sites. However, setting up a hundred mass vaccination sites is a hassle.
Therefore, President Biden utilized the path-goal leadership theory to avert the barriers of mass vaccination across the United States to enhance nationwide social and health safety. President Biden led by considering setting up mass vaccination sites and urging the public to take the vaccines (LaFraniere & Weiland, 2021). ver time, the strategy’s effectiveness started declining, and President Biden revamped the vaccination initiative by shifting attention to local settings (LaFraniere & Weiland, 2021). Enhancing the convenience element of the vaccination strategy came in handy to encourage increased vaccine uptake despite the looming passive public attitudes towards the vaccines. Consequently, through President Biden’s leadership intervention, the United States has seen an increased vaccination rate among the majority and the vulnerable groups.
The ability of a leader to effectively lead his followers hailing from diverse cultural backgrounds, social classes, nationalities, races, or ethnicities depicts intense and intriguing leadership styles. Diversity issues in nations and globally continue to pester leaders to adopt appropriate leadership styles to address the relevant diversity issue components. In that light, President Biden portrays his commitment to leading diverse followers in the United States by incorporating a diverse cabinet that represents the needs and perspectives of diverse social groups in the country and enacting executive orders to uphold diversity, equity, and inclusion in federal operations.
President Biden’s administration provided a diverse leadership, one of a kind throughout the United States history. According to Smith (2021), President Biden’s cabinet comprises significant numbers of women candidates and other underrepresented social groups such as sexual minorities. Incorporating the diverse candidates in his cabinet and the federal government depicts that President Biden cares about diversity in the United States.
Also, on June 25, 2021, President Biden enacted a comprehensive executive order to enhance and develop diversity, equity and inclusion across the federal government (Gurchiek & Gurchiek, 2021). Providing a legal framework for perpetuating diversity depicts President Biden’s capacity and commitment to ensure everybody is represented in his government and not discriminated against or sidelined.
Leader-Member Exchange theory stipulates that leaders and followers establish distinct relationships per their respective social exchanges and the value of the transactions, which could affect employee outcomes (Northouse, 2016). Essentially, President Biden identified the prevalence of in-groups and out-groups in the United States, mainly based on racial grounds in the justice system. Using the Leader-Member Exchange theory, President Biden addressed the issue by taking critical steps that would render racial justice. For instance, on January 26, 2021, President Biden provided a directive to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to redefine the discriminatory policies and the Department of Justice to cease private incarceration facilities, alongside curtailing xenophobia against marginalized groups (Crowell, 2021). The move would be progress towards bridging the disparity between the in-groups and out-groups in the United States.
Crowell, C. (2021, February 4). Biden’s Racial Equity Initiative: Moving Marginalized Communities Toward America’s Bounty. The Washington Informer. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/bidens-racial-equity-initiative-moving-marginalized-communities-toward-americas-bounty/
Gurchiek, K., & Gurchiek, K. (2021, June 29). President Biden Signs Executive Order to Promote DE&I in Federal Hiring, Training. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/biden-signs-executive-order-to-promote-dei-in-federal-hiring-training-.aspx
LaFraniere, S., & Weiland, N. (2021, May 4). Biden Shifts Vaccination Strategy in Drive to Reopen by July 4. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/us/politics/biden-vaccination-strategy.html
Smith, R. (2021). Biden administration ushers in most diverse leadership in history. Wkyc.com. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/politics/new-administration-ushers-in-the-most-diverse-leadership-in-history/95-8b6a5075-cb60-4c62-890e-2c18e87cd21b