Servant Leadership: Contingency And Situational Approach To Servant Leadership

Leadership Approaches

Servant Leadership Servant leadership is a set of practices or a philosophy that have a focus of enriching the lives of others. Servant leadership also focus on building better organizations and creating a world that is caring and just. Although servant leadership is considered to be a timeless concept by some, the phrase “servant leadership” was thought of by Robert K. Greenleaf’s essay that was titled The Servant as A Leader, published in 1970. Robert Greenleaf believed that the servant leader all started from the individual person having a natural feeling of being one that wants to serve first. Robert Greenleaf believed that a choice in which the leader made which he referred to as a conscious choice, is what aspires

These common set of characteristics hypothetically are considered to be characteristics that are proved to be elusive. Contingency and situational approaches are two popular situational approaches that are used by leaders. The two both examine the fit between the actual leader and also on the situation. The two provide effective guidelines for leaders to achieve the effective fit or the effective resolution in resolving the issues. Contingency and situational approaches have many similarities but are also yet opposite of one another. They are similar in that they both stress the importance of situations. They are opposite in that they both hold completely difference expectations from the leaders. According to Northough (2013), “ The situational approach have standards and beliefs that the leaders should adapt to whatever situation they may have at hand.” According to Northough (2013), “The contingency approach have belief that the right leaders should match the right situation that is going on at that time.” Leaders determine which leadership style is most appropriate based on the situation they are being faced with. Leaders make adjustments to their decision making and motivational approaches based upon many unique combinations of factors that may arise in the

According to Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson (2013), “Task oriented is a controlling or structuring leadership approach and people oriented is a more passive, considerate leadership approach (p.441).” Task oriented involves the structuring of the subordinates in which their behavior increases the performance of the group. Task oriented approaches are directives that are given in order to get things done and also to ensure that the goals of the organization are met. People oriented approach shows empathy for the employees’ feelings and these employees are generally treated with respect. Leaders that follow the people oriented approach are people that genuinely care about the well-being of others that are under their leadership. These individuals generally demonstrate their concern in the decisions that they make and also through showing their concern for others. After researching it was discovered that both approaches overall can be beneficial in some way to the organization for different purposes. Leaders that follow the people oriented approach, the employees will generally be more satisfied and will react towards their leaders in a positive manner. However, leaders that follow the task oriented approach, their focus is more so on being productive. Working under a leader that has high levels of task oriented approaches, this could possibly cause the employees to become burned