Servant Leadership Behavior Analysis

In the article “The Relationship Between the Servant Leadership Behaviors of Immediate Supervisors and Followers’ Perceptions of Being Empowered in the Context of Small Business”, Barbara Van Winkle, Stuart Allen, Douglas De Vore, and Bruce Winston, from Laverne and Regent Universities, made important observation in servant leader behavior.

“the power of servant leadership lies in the leader’s ability to unleashed the potential and thus empower those around them.” ( ). Unlocking the potentials of their followers should be the major responsibility of the leader. “a transformational leaders’ primary focus is the organization’s goal, while the servant leader’s primary focus is developing the followers.” ( )

The servant leadership benefit

Servant leader’s impact extend beyond the boundaries of their organization, they use their position of power to create a better society. “We live at a time when holders of power are suspect, and actions that stem from authority are questioned.” ( )

“follower empowerment in servant leadership occurs at the point which leaders subdue or eliminate their ego and embrace the notion of primus inter pares, first among equals, followers become collaborators.” (Buchan, 1998). Empowering followers has become necessary in the global environment, as Spreitzer puts it; “interest in empowerment comes at a time when global competition and organizational change have stimulated a need for employees who can take initiative, embrace risk, stimulate innovation, and cope with high uncertainty.” As quoted by (pg. 3). He went further to categorize empowerment into two, namely;

- Structural empowerment: environment designed to enable followers access information, support, and resources, necessary to complete task, and provide growth opportunity for both knowledge and