Servant Leadership
Human Resource Management, Spring 2010
Introduction
In the first major paper on stakeholder theory, Edward Freeman and David Reed state that a stakeholder is "Any identifiable group or individual on which the organization is dependent for its continued survival." (Freeman and Reed 89) Given that these groups' input are all vital part of an organization's success, creating solutions that benefit all stakeholders is important for long term success. Solutions that conflict with the interest of one of the stakeholders, could result in that stakeholder withdrawing the support that the organization needs to survive. When leaders of an organizations are servants first, when they "make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served" (Greenleaf , “The Servant as leader” 3), then the organization's stakeholders will be invested in the organization's continued success and as a result will be more likely to lend it their support.
Servant Leadership Theory
After reading Journey to the East Robert Greenleaf was struck by how one of the major character’s a man named Leo, functioned in the book both as a servant and a leader (2). Leo was a servant by nature, and by excelling in this role, became a leader (2). Out of the reading emerged an idea for Greenleaf, that the most effective leaders are those that enable others and help them grow (6). Greenleaf felt that in the future organizations would only succeed if they focused on nurturing their people, and growing them, which is why servant leadership would be increasingly important (3). There are 11 major traits of a servant-leadership: The leader has a calling, has empathy, listens, works to heal, is aware, is persuasive, nurtures an ...
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...ders are largely concerned with company direction and sustainable profits (Kenneth). With support from all the stakeholders, the company will have a solid base. The happy employees should contribute to a concentration of skills and low replacement costs. Finally, the focus on growth and foresight should help the company grow to be even more successful in the future.
Communities
Communities benefit from servant leadership in two main ways. First, servant leadership promotes community, and actively tries to improve the community in which it operates (The power of servant leadership, 9). Secondly, servant leadership focuses on growing people within the organization, and since those members of the organization are members of the larger community benefits indirectly as well.
By focusing on servant leadership, a company can meet the needs of all stakeholders.
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
Several traits and abilities contribute to the making of the servant leader and are discussed with equal importance in the essay. However there are some that seem to stand out more than others, not only as advice to leaders but also as advice in living a high quality life.
purpose for this book is dual. First goal is clearly defining servant leadership and second one is
Servant leadership consists of leaders helping their followers become leaders themselves. The use personal skills such as empathy, compassion and listening to help their followers succeed. It is not necessarily the most popular form of leadership but, it has been proven successful b those leaders who implement it in their work practices. Servant leaders typically have a strong bond with their team. They are the base and the foundation of their teams.
In order to be a great servant leader, one needs the following qualities; listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, growth, and building community. Leo from the Journey to the East had all of the ten qualities that are described. He is the steward of the organization, Leo helps build and grow the community, and has the foresight and persuasion to help guided the group without forcing them or feeling as if they have to. In the later part of the story Leo helps the narrator Hermann Hesse, by listening what HH had to empathizing and healing Mr...
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
The two most intriguing leadership styles presented in the readings were transformational leadership and servant leadership. Both leadership styles are relationship-oriented, that is, in order for these leadership styles to be effective, positive relationships must exist between leaders and followers. Also, both leadership styles reject the role of leader as being reserved for those individuals in designated positions of power, but rather a quality that may be exhibited by any individual (Kelly, 2012, pp. 10-11). However, the differing goals of each leadership style is the seemingly critical factor that separates transformational leadership from servant leadership.
Servant leadership, as defined by Spears (2010) “Servant leadership seeks to involve others in decision making, is strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and enhances the growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of organizational life”. Spears (2010) goes on to describe ten pillars of servant leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. Listening is not only listening with purpose to the employee but also communicating the views and goals of the organization to the employee. Empathy is about understanding and accepting employees as well as recognizing employee efforts. Healing aids in helping employees on an emotional level, employees go through turbulent times throughout their career; therefor the servant leader is a liaison within the relationship. Awareness, self-awareness strengthens the leader values and ethics, awareness aids the leader in looking at problems from a more integrated approach. Persuasion is seeking to convince rather than coerce employees or persuading employees rather than using an authoritarian approach. Conceptualization is looking beyond day-to-day problems and dreaming big, while day-to-day operations are important for the organization, leaders must keep their eye on the bigger
Many leadership styles exist. The determining factor if a leadership style is effective or not is often how it is carried out and if it is appeasing to those, the leader is attempting to lead. One of the leadership styles that has become popular is Servant leadership. Although Greenleaf developed servant leadership more than thirty-five years ago and he identified ten characteristics that pertain to servant leadership. (book p. 56) Servant leadership has been successful in various industries and its popularity continues to increase.
Servant leadership is a leadership style that is more democratic instead of autocratic. The employees are the center of this model. This leader is one that assesses the employee in the professional and personal growth. Servant leader follow the model established by Robert Greenleaf in 1977. Using Mr. Greenleaf’s ten characteristics, those will show the benefits of this type of leadership for both the company and employees. Does this style really do want is said of it. Yes, based on the research, this style is more beneficial toward the employees making them into employees that are more productive and want to stay with that company. When more companies follow this style, the retention of their employees will be higher as they would have
Before reading about characteristics of servant leadership, I tried thinking about what I already knew about this type of leadership. Some of the thoughts I had were: leaders put others before themselves and leaders go beyond their responsibilities to help others. When I read Chapter 7 from The Special Education Teacher as a Servant Leader, I found that I was correct but did not have the full answer.
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 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 concept continues to grow in its influence and impact. In fact, it has been witnessed of an unparalleled explosion of interest and practice of servant-leadership. In several ways, it can truly be said that the times are only now beginning to catch up with Robert Greenleaf’s visionary call to servant-leadership. The purpose of this literature review paper is to understand the effectiveness of Greenleaf’s “servant-leadership” philosophy. Through motivation to lead, a need to serve, and empowering and developing people. This is caused by displaying and expressing a positive attitude, humility, a trust for others, fairness, and social responsibility that focuses on helping organizations become stronger on a corporate
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. They acknowledge people’s perspectives, and give them the support needed to meet their goals. Servant leaders involve members when decisions are appropriate helping build a stronger commitment within the team. Strong qualities of servant leadership are trust, appreciation for others, and empowerment. Honesty and integrity form the moral foundation of effective leadership through the four values of truth telling, promise