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Essay on servant leadership theory
Essay on servant leadership theory
Servant leadership theoretical framework
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The basic philosophy of servant leadership can be traced back through centuries. From Greek philosophers like Plato, to religious figures such as Jesus, all have been credited as sources that servant leadership has drawn from. Even Sir Francis Bacon was quoted “Men in great place are thrice servants, servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame and servants of business.” (valeri) While there are traces of servant leadership all over ancient coulters, Robert K Greenleaf is credited as the first modern philosopher introducing the topic we identify as servant leadership. (valeri) Through Greenleaf’s writings, we now have a clear text that lays the groundwork allowing us to understand what a servant leader is.
A servant leader is a person
Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text
Servant leadership is a designation coined by Robert Greenleaf in 1970 in an essay entitled The Servant as Leader. In this essay, he describes the servant leader and a servant first contrary to one who is a leader first. The difference is the servant chooses to put others needs before his own while the leader first may later become a servant from the promptings of a sense of right and wrong or simply because they are coerced in that direction (Greenleaf, 1991).
"The servant-leader is servant first... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions...The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types” (Greenleaf). Servant leadership is all about the “servant’s heart”; it is about recognizing and meeting the needs of others. Servant leadership focuses on the desire to serve. Like relational leadership, servant leadership focuses on certain principle factors. These factors are understanding, acceptance, empathy, perception, persuasion, self-healing, and rebuilding community. Groups use servant leadership because, for example, employees that practice servant leadership tend to go above and beyond their formal job descriptions for they have a desire to serve and always strive to do their best making a harmonious working environment for themselves and those around them. If all the employees only did what was expected of them all the time, the company these employees worked for would be uninspiring at best and would never achieve their
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.
The Servant Leader discusses the importance of leaders who adopt a service oriented attitude in which they care for the needs of others before their own. A servant leader need not be an actual servant or have ever been a servant to become a servant leader. Rather, a servant leader is born with or adopts an “others first” disposition. Climbing through the ranks may help to create a servant leader, though it is not necessary. When leaders choose to see that the needs of their followers or their organizations are the highest priority they become servants.
After reading over the book entitled, “The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle—How to Become a Servant Leader”, by James C. Hunter, I have learned that in order to lead one must serve. This book has provided me with the necessary principles needed to assist me as a Senior Executive Director at the UCF Community Care Center (UCCC). I like how the author specifically states that his book is not a way to teach one how to lead, rather it provides one with the path to take to be an effective leader. The book has assisted me the last few months in making a positive difference in the organization, especially being newly employed here at UCCC. My new employment here at UCCC has allowed me to have the character that one can know to respect, and has allowed me to slowly build authority, not through only
Servant leadership is becoming a more “sought-after” concept in today’s society, but what exactly is servant leadership? Does it mean different things to different people? Although the three books, The Servant as Leader, The Servant, and Lead Like Jesus, all center around servant leadership, each author takes a different perspective on the meaning of being a servant leader. Robert Greenleaf addresses leadership from a straight-forward stance; saying that a good leader must be a servant-first by finding the will within themselves to put the needs of their group before their own. James Hunter discusses servant leadership through a story involving everyday people that the reader can relate to. He uses Jesus as a guide to explain how to initiate character development that will, in turn, fashion servant leadership. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges offer a new perspective on servant leadership by bringing Jesus into the picture on an even deeper level than Hunter. They explain that by knowing Jesus Christ and developing an intimate personal
After reading various essays and commentaries on servant leadership I thought about a criticism of the theory that wasn't addressed in the readings. Are servant leaders taken advantage of and in certain instances seen as pushovers rather than true leaders? If we review the basic concept of servant leadership, my definition would be a leader who does what’s necessary to ensure his followers are successful. Is this what you really want from a leader? In my opinion that answer is no, you want a leader to exhibit these “I will help you by all means” characteristics in certain situations, but not all of the time. If this is done all of the time I see this “leader” as a targeted pushover. The lesson commentary referenced the role of parenthood as an example of servant leadership. “Parents serve their children’s needs so that the children can develop into healthy adults…so that they can help their own children develop” (Lesson 11 Commentary, p. 2 Houston). For us parents out there, we know that this can be a slippery slope. If you always come to the rescue of the child, they will not learn ...
Servant leadership is a perplexing theory. It takes on radical ideas like a lifetime employment policy, or employee-wide furlough, to illustrate how putting the leader at the service of their employees can result in efficient leadership. “When individuals engage in servant leadership, it is likely to improve outcomes at the individual, organizational, and societal levels (PSU, 2014)". The servant leadership actions of Charlie Kim and Bob Chapman depict how the proper use of servant leadership creates trust, and inspires productivity; benefiting their organization, their employees, and
Becoming a leader requires the ability to offer oneself as a clear, trustworthy and supportive individual that inspires others by servicing those in the surrounding environment. A servant leader works to empower others through encouragement rather than power. Although the name servant leadership may seem like a paradox, those that work to serve others ultimately blossom into leaders that others are more willing to follow and trust. Servant leadership is composed of several different qualities that are melted together in order to become a successful leader. Robert K. Greenleaf constructed the term “servant leadership” in order to describe a leader that puts others before themselves while empowering and inspiring others to act as their best selves
Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf(1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his essay on his belief that a servant leader is a servant first, and explained that it would begin with the natural urge to serve and then the leader would make a conscious choice to become a leader, in doing so he makes the choice to ensure that others needs are met first (2005 ). As a servant leader develops he should always keep aware of those who he serves and strive to ensure that they are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, have an increase in autonomous, and are become more like servants themselves (2005). Leaders and organizations can use the principles of servant leadership to frame decisions, and service that include focus on the community, care of others and quality services (Waterman, R., 2011). Watermen states that working to higher purpose increases standards, integrity and should lead the followers through supports, shared visions and bring followers together in toward a common purpose to provide service to others.
The Servant, written by James C. Hunter, is an intriguing book about the realities of leadership we oftentimes unconsciously face and overlook. The narrator (John), is the general manager of a rather large company. He believes he has everything life has to offer, yet something is still missing. After arriving hesitantly upon his wife’s suggestion to a “retreat” at a Christian monastery for those in leadership positions, John skeptically began his week long journey towards new understanding.
Servant-leadership is a way of life that evolves and matures with the passage of time. This way of life transforms spiritual people, with strong and stable emotions, into someone who has a deep understanding of truth and the world around them.
Every quality leader possesses a serving heart. According to Malphurs (2003), “A Christian leader is a servant” (p. 31). The Bible declares, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). Moreover, the Bible shows us many leaders that were great leaders and servitude was a key ingredient in doing so. Of course, Christ exemplified servitude to the highest degree. “The following are some noteworthy examples: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, David, Daniel, Paul, and Peter” (Malphurs, 2003, p. 33). My heart’s desire is to always remain in a servant posture. By during this, it demonstrates the heart of God, knowing that I am grace by Him. “Divine grace
As a servant leader, it is my primary duty to investigate, examine and make the right decision through strengthening the facility which will helps to improve society as a whole. Servant leadership has influence a lot of people, including myself and teach them how to become a better leader. In today’s modern society, quite a few people have experienced servant leadership, however, not a lot of people get to experience it first-hand. When it comes to leading a group or a company, some managers tend to manage the group instead of leading them by using their natural qualities and talents because of this, some companies or organization tend to fail or lose a lot of money. Individuals who are managers and do not understand the concept of being a servant leader, tend to use their power and authority to take advantage of others instead of sharing power in decision-making, put the needs of others first and help their group or employees to develop and perform as highly as possible which will help the company or facility to become more