Leadership Approaches in World Vision International

This essay explores the leadership approaches used by World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian organization, to communicate its values, mission, and vision. It discusses the organization's mission, vision, and values, as well as the leadership theories that are relevant to its leadership style. The essay also suggests steps that can be taken to motivate members towards the organization's values, mission, and vision.

Running Head: LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP

2LEADERSHIP
Introduction
The purpose of the present essay is to demonstrate different theories and approaches
included within a Christian worldview. “Christian worldview is important for Christians for
successfully engaging and influencing their culture." A Christian worldview is referred to as
a framework or the beliefs and ideas held by the Christian community for interacting with the
world.1 There is much organization which leads from a Christian Worldview and follow
biblical principles within the spheres of professional practice. World Vision is one such
organization which have been chosen to study within this essay and discuss how the leaders
communicate with the values, mission and vision for the company. Also, the essay will
outline several steps that can be considered for motivating others towards the values, mission
and vision of the organisation.
Body
World Vision International is an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, advocacy
and development organization. The organization was established by Robert Pierce in 1950 as
a service-based organization to meet with the emergency needs of missionaries. The company
is currently active in 100 countries which collects revenue including product, grants and
foreign donations of two billion dollars2. Also, the company believes in presenting itself as an
interdenominational organization however employ its workforce from non-evangelical
Christian denominations.
Mission, Vision and Values of World Vision
World Vision is a global Christian humanitarian organization and their mission is to
partner with children, families along with communities to help them reach their full potential
by tackling the causes of injustice and poverty. Further, the mission statement of the company
is set by an international partnership of Christian who follows the Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ in order to work with poor and oppressed for promoting justice, enable human
transformation, and bear witness for the good news of the God’s Kingdom3. This mission is
achieved through holistic, integrated commitment towards community based and sustainable
transformational development especially for children, emergency relief to the people affected
1 Wagner, Richard. "The World Health Organisation: a time for reconstitution." In Fighting
the Diseases of Poverty, pp. 267-326. Routledge, 2017.
2 https://www.worldvision.org/about-us/mission-statement#1470680944790-0d7368bb-0679

3LEADERSHIP
by disaster, promoting justice among the poor, partnering with churches for contributing
towards social and spiritual transformation and witnessing to Jesus Christ by deed, life, word
and sign which encourages people to respond to Gospel.
The vision statement of the World Vision organization is given by "Going to the ends.
Where no one else goes. Because Jesus is alive in the hardest places to be a child." Also, the
company sets its value by stating "We are a Christian organization working to help
communities lift themselves out of poverty. For Good." Every member of the organization
holds a strong value by believing all people are created and loved by God. As a result, they
give priorities to the people before money, systems, structure and any institutional machinery.
Furthermore, each member of World Vision acts in ways that respect uniqueness, dignity and
intrinsic worth of every person including the staffs, volunteers, boards the donor and the
poor's4. They believe in celebrating the richness of diversity in human culture, personality and
contribution.
Leadership theories communicating with the model of values, mission and value of World
Vision
Following the leadership style of the company, it can be related to various leadership
theories. The most common type of relatable theories is transformational leadership,
democratic leadership and servant leadership. Transformational leadership is a style where a
leader simultaneously engages and motivates members while assisting them in their
leadership development. These leaders empower and inspire other people to engage in
achieving organizational objectives and provide with their suggestions and insights about
how to achieve the objectives5. This is a reason due to which leaders are able to create a high
3 Wagner, Richard. "The World Health Organisation: a time for reconstitution." In Fighting
the Diseases of Poverty, pp. 267-326. Routledge, 2017.
4 Ademola, E. O. "Application of reframing model to a religious organization." IOSR Journal
of Business and Management 18, no. 11 (2016): 11-20.
5 Carleton, Erica L., Julian Barling, and Melissa Trivisonno. "Leaders’ trait mindfulness and
transformational leadership: The mediating roles of leaders’ positive affect and leadership
self-efficacy." Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du
comportement 50, no. 3 (2018): 185.

4LEADERSHIP
level of trust among its employees and motivate them to achieve a shared end goal. World
Vision is led by a team of leaders who believe in continuously striving towards the
betterment of the poor especially children by motivating the organizational workforce to
follow Jesus in contributing, collaborating and thriving towards recognizing people's gifts.
The teams are responsible for delivering significant investments of talent, time and treasure
which further results in positive changes for the children and poor families around the world.
According to the servant leadership theory the main goal of the leader is to serve and
it abides by the philosophy to serve first and lead second. The main focus of these leaders is
to channel their energy into prioritizing the needs of other people before their own and
always focus on developing and elevating the people who follow them6. This leadership
theory is recognized for building a high level of trust and boosting the morale of the
employees and creating a positive company culture. Similarly, for the organization, the
leaders along with the people involved love into engaging with people of all faiths and
cultures to improve the well-being of the children around the world. The organizational core
value under this leadership considers the resources at their disposal through donors as a
sacred trust from God to help the poor especially the vulnerable children. The leaders serve
not only to maintain the supporter trust but doing what is ethical to God. Also, democratic
leadership or participative leadership theory produces a similar notion within the
organizational leadership style. The leaders emphasize on working together and also
encourages every team member to participate within the decision making process7. World
Vision is open to ideas and inputs from their members that actively contribute toward the
organizational goal which means more of a collaborative approach is adopted within the
leadership culture.
Steps to be undertaken for motivating others
There are several steps that can be undertaken to motivate the members of World
Vision towards the values, mission and vision of the organisation. Among them the most
important is personalizing the management style, encouraging creativity and holding people
6 Roberts, Gary E. "Servant leadership across cultures." The Palgrave Handbook of
Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment(2018): 271-299.
7 Iqbal, N., S. Anwar, and N. Haider. "Effect of leadership style on employee
performance." Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review 5, no. 5 (2015): 1-6.

5LEADERSHIP
to the same ethical standards. The leaders are expected to foster innovation within their
operational strategies by challenging the assumptions about what can or cannot be done8.
Further, the leaders should provide support and adequate resources and also remove any
barriers to change. The members should approach every problem or situation of serving the
people as learning opportunities. The work culture should be created where serving people
comes first as per the company’s mission and vision statement. Each individual members
should be encouraged to inquire about the feelings of the underprivileged and one should
acknowledge their needs with empathy9. Every poor children and family should be perceived
as worthy and valuable by the members and the members should be empowered for taking
decisions within the group. When World Vision members are collectively working together, a
creative environment must be fostered to encourage and support the innovation from each
team members. Within such a leadership approach, the members are most likely to succeed in
a Christian worldview organization which supports and nurture the culture of serving before
self.
Conclusion
The essay thoroughly studied the leadership approaches undertaken by World Vision
International which follows biblical principles or Christian worldview as a framework within
the professional practices. The mission, vision and value of the company are aligned towards
providing value to the underprivileged or poor families around the world especially children.
World View believes all people are created equal and loved equally by God and therefore
every member thrives in providing advantages to the underprivileged children and families
around the world. The leadership theories that are found to be more relevant and practised
within World Vision are transformational leadership, democratic leadership and servant
leadership. Leaders within these styles simultaneously engage and motivate members while
serving people of all faiths and cultures to improve the well-being of the children and poor
around the world. Finally, the study revealed few steps that can be undertaken by the
8 Ademola, E. O. "Application of reframing model to a religious organization." IOSR Journal
of Business and Management 18, no. 11 (2016): 11-20.
9 Ademola, E. O. "Application of reframing model to a religious organization." IOSR Journal
of Business and Management 18, no. 11 (2016): 11-20.

6LEADERSHIP
Christian worldwide organization to motivate the members towards the values, mission and
vision of the organisation.

7LEADERSHIP
Bibliography
Ademola, E. O. "Application of reframing model to a religious organization." IOSR Journal
of Business and Management 18, no. 11 (2016): 11-20.
Carleton, Erica L., Julian Barling, and Melissa Trivisonno. "Leaders’ trait mindfulness and
transformational leadership: The mediating roles of leaders’ positive affect and leadership
self-efficacy." Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du
comportement 50, no. 3 (2018): 185.
https://www.worldvision.org/about-us/mission-statement#1470680944790-0d7368bb-0679
Iqbal, N., S. Anwar, and N. Haider. "Effect of leadership style on employee
performance." Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review 5, no. 5 (2015): 1-6.
Roberts, Gary E. "Servant leadership across cultures." The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace
Spirituality and Fulfillment(2018): 271-299.
Wagner, Richard. "The World Health Organisation: a time for reconstitution." In Fighting the
Diseases of Poverty, pp. 267-326. Routledge, 2017.