Pros & Cons of Servant Leadership Management Style

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Servant leadership Management style
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Introduction
Leaders use diverse leadership concepts to manage people in an organization. The
common leadership concepts include leader-member exchange (LMX), transactional,
transformational and servant leadership. According to Sendjaya, Sarros and Santora (2008
p.402) leadership servant is a set of practices and philosophy which enriches people lives, build a
strong organization and creates a caring world. Robert Greenleaf founded the servant leadership
concept in 1970 (Spears 2010 p.25). The main goal of servant leadership is to serve first. The
major attributes of servant leadership include foresight, listening, conceptualization, empathy,
listening, stewardship, healing, committed to the growth of people, persuasions, awareness and
building community. In an organizational context, servant leadership management style inverts
the norm which prioritizes customer service. The concept emphases that when leader serves first,
employees benefit by acquiring personal growth. Currently, a number of diverse organizations
have adopted the servant leadership approach. Some companies have been highly ranked because
of servant leadership. (Sendjaya, Sarros and Santora 2008 p.424). Therefore, the essay seeks to
examine the pros and cons of servant leadership management style.
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Pros of a servant leadership management style
Servant leadership style develops a sense of ownership in an organization as compared to
other leadership management approaches. According to Earl and Taylor (2015 p.214), the
workforce is easily manageable when employees feel treasured and part of an organization.
Therefore, servant leadership management style is an important approach enabling employees to
share their responsibilities and sense of ownership that in turn increases their commitment and
sense of pride in their work. In addition, when the sense of ownership is highly developed,
productivity also increase as all members enjoy servant leadership benefits of working in an
environment full of trust and respect. Further research by Blanchard (2010 p.1-30) indicated that
a servant leader understands that employees must be encouraged, motivated, inspired and
supported in ways that bring them together for accomplishing organizational objectives and
goals. Therefore, through servant leadership, a conducive environment is created where
employees work as a team and see their roles and responsibility as a way of helping others
improve their performance.
Servant leadership requires leaders to set aside their desires and own wishes in order to
listen to people who are under their leadership. Compared to other leadership management
approaches, servant leadership management style is important in an organization context as it
removes ego from people in leadership positions. If there are too many egos in an organization, it
can result in team dysfunctional hence people failing to agree on any decision According to
Liden, Wayne, Zhao and Henderson 2008 p.161). Ego can also be a driving force for people who
need to be servant leaders. Furthermore, servant leadership management style is extended above
self-ego and builds a conducive climate that empowers employee feelings. Additionally, an ego
can result in personality instead of goal oriented and therefore factions and power can prevent