Pros and Cons of Servant Leadership Management Style

This essay discusses the pros and cons of servant leadership management style in organizations. It explores how this approach promotes team building, employee satisfaction, and achievement of objectives while also facing challenges such as lack of authority and confusion in leadership goals. The essay provides recommendations for balancing employee needs and organizational goals, nurturing employees' potential, and setting appropriate boundaries to ensure the effectiveness of the management style.

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Organizational Behavior
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“A servant leadership management style is the best approach for managing people in
organizations. Discuss the pros and cons of this argument.”
Servant leadership is a leadership concept that was introduced in the 1970s by a
philosopher known as Robert K. Greenleaf (Kim, 2016, pg. 1). The servant leadership
philosophy is widely accepted and implemented by world renown advocates and
companies since its embraces the ideology that servant leaders evolve into leaders due
to their desire to serve. Servant leadership refers to an approach of leadership that
requires leaders to readily attend and manage the needs of their followers so that they
can also become servant leaders (Kim, 2016, pg. 3). The philosophy holds that a
servant leader begins by having the feeling to serve then the conscious choice to serve
brings one to aspire to lead (Kantharia, 2012, pg. 3). A servant leader is quite different
from the traditional leader since a servant leader has no unusual power drive or
increased desire to acquire material possessions.
Servant leadership assumes completeness in itself since both the words servant
and leader act complementary to each other. According to many people, servant
leadership management style appears to be the best approach for managing people in
an organization. However, in this essay, the pros, cons and the recommendations of the
argument will be covered for easy understanding.
Beginning with the pros, servant leadership management is the best for
managing people since it supports team building particularly in a diverse workplace
(Song, Park, and Kang, 2015, pg. 1751). Managing employees with an autocratic style
promote conflicts which result in increased discordance and alienation. Therefore, by
employing the servant leadership management style, a leader creates an advantageous
outcome for each member in the workplace since each member is free to contribute
freely on the basis of his or her experience. Besides, through the team building activities
and exercises, each employee in an organization is able to showcase his or her skills
hence making it more effective for the employees to collaborate in work activities
efficiently (Chiniara, and Bentein, 2018, pg. 339). This translates to increased
productivity in an organization.

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Secondly, servant leadership management style makes it possible for the
achievement of employee needs and objectives. This style of management involves the
whole team in an organization, and therefore, each employee has a vote in each
decision. This creates a positive atmosphere in the organization due to the values
promoted (Newman, at al, 2017, pg. 54). Employees are therefore able to establish their
key performance indicators. In addition, employees are empowered to make
organizational changes that allow for the long-term success of the organization. Since
employees are able to relate to the objectives as well as have a say in the achievement
of the objectives, the motivation to achieve the objectives increases exponentially. In
such a setting, employees are able to work without a supervisor because they
understand their responsibility in the organization.
Thirdly, servant leadership management style makes use of staff viewpoints in
determining the goals and mission of an organization. This means managing change is
much easier and effective. Besides, employees can manage their careers such that
they are able to achieve an appropriate life and work balance hence being able to
determine their future (Chiniara, and Bentein, 2018, pg. 342). Employees that play an
active role in evaluating and determining an organization’s transition to the new style of
operation tend to be more productive, loyal and satisfied. Their focus and direction is
also sharpened and made effective. Therefore, an organization gets to benefit much
hence being able to grow exponentially.
Lastly, servant leadership management style promotes satisfaction in the
workplace. When employees work under a servant leader, they operate for the benefit
of everyone meaning that all needs get met. Besides, employee satisfaction rates
increase continuously since every employee is recognized as a special asset for the
company as well as needs of the employees are also timely met (Li, et al, 2018, pg. 7).
However, in a democratic leadership management style, a particular group is satisfied
hence missing on the others. This may lower the employee satisfaction rate. Therefore,
in a servant leadership management style, the inclusion of employees in activities such
as decision-making guarantees more satisfaction since everyone’s opinion get heard
(VanMeter, et al, 2016, pg. 63).

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On the other hand, the servant leadership management style also includes some
cons. To begin with, the management style requires employees to change their
mentality and attitudes in order to work effectively. This may not be easy for some
employees since the style takes time to be fully workable in an organization (Yiğit, and
Bozkurt, 2017, pg. 9). Besides, it is difficult for long or large established groups to be
managed using the management style. For example, people who are led using an
authoritarian form of leadership management may find it difficult to adapt to the
responsibility that may be entrusted to them through the servant leadership
management style (Washington, Sutton, and Feild, 2006, pg. 707). This is because of
the perceived pressure that may come up with delivering on goals or objectives.
Secondly, we have a lack of willingness from the employees to adopt the
management style. Servant leadership management style basically requires an entire
institution to work in a unified manner and not each individual engaging in his activity
(Selladurai, 2014, pg. 23). However, since different departments in an organization may
resist attempts to undermine their authority by implementing servant leadership
management style, it may be difficult for the management style to be adopted fully.
Besides, in situations where administrators are caught up in the mores of institutional
life, servant leadership management style may seem as a way of decreasing their
power or authority in issuing orders effectively to the employees.
Thirdly, servant leadership management style diversifies authority since all
people in an organization share responsibilities. Therefore, there is a lack of authority.
By diversifying a share of responsibility to employees in an organization, a leader may
diminish his or her sense of authority (Hunt, and Fitzgerald, 2018, pg. 71). This then
makes it difficult to adopt another leadership approach in case of a situational change.
In addition, employees may view their leader differently since he or she may have little
or no authority. Besides, issuing of directives becomes a challenge for the leader.
Servant leadership management style inverts the normal relationship between an
administrator and employees hence if the leader exercises his mandate, the employees
may feel uncomfortable (Choudhary, Akhtar, and Zaheer, 2013, pg. 437).

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Fourthly, we have confusion in regards to the goals of leadership. Servant
leadership management style gives more importance to individual needs since the
management style tries to make employees productive trough inspiration. Besides, a
manager may be more interested in serving the needs of the employees rather than the
goals of an institution (Selladurai, 2014, pg. 25). It creates a parent-child kind of
relationship, and this may further demotivate the employees in terms of bringing
creativity and innovation into the organization. In addition, achievement of goals or
objectives may not be effective since there is no clear structure of leadership to
spearhead the attainment of the objectives. Lastly, we have limited vision. In every
organization, leaders must be distinct and at a certain percentage detached from those
being led. Therefore, if a leader is more focused on employee needs, he or she may
lack the capacity to serve institutional based needs which are ultimately there to be met
(Li, et al, 2018, pg. 9). According to critics, since humility is intrinsic to servant
leadership, humility may risk getting nothing done in an organization.
I believe servant leadership management style can be a great approach to
managing people if certain recommendations are considered. To begin with, servant
leadership should focus on nurturing others so as to achieve their full potential while at
the same time maintaining some level of authority for the administrators or leaders. This
will bring the aspect of flow of command. Some employees cannot work without being
directed or being under some form of management (Hunt, and Fitzgerald, 2018, pg. 75).
In addition, without some level of control, employees may easily reduce their
productivity or efficiency due to a lack of focus on organizational goals. However,
servant leaders should create a dynamic learning environment where employees are
recognized as well as given equal opportunities to be creative and learn from mistakes.
Secondly, emphasis on organizational goals and employee needs should be
balanced. Employees needs should not outweigh organizational goals so as to ensure
the productivity and achievement of the organization objectives. Employees are crucial
resources in an organization, however, managing them in line with organizational
directives will ensure the employees give their best in terms of productivity and creativity
(Chiniara, and Bentein, 2018, pg. 344). Besides, both the employees and the

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organization get to benefit equally hence the organizational vision empowers all people
to work for a wholesome success. Lastly, for servant leadership management style to
be a success, employees must be trained thoroughly on how to carry out their
responsibilities with much consideration so as to ensure more participation and results.
In conclusion, servant leadership management is mainly a call to trust. According
to critics, servant leadership is considered a soft approach particularly in a competitive
business context. However, servant leadership is crucial since it may help come up with
leaders among employees when appropriate boundaries are set. Besides, more is
achievable with the servant leadership management style since there is a unified
approach when it comes to the operations of an organization. However, setting
appropriate measures or boundaries can ensure the effectiveness of the management
style.

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References
Chiniara, M. and Bentein, K., 2018. The servant leadership advantage: When perceiving
low differentiation in leader-member relationship quality influences team cohesion, team
task performance and service OCB. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(2), pp.333-345.
Choudhary, A.I., Akhtar, S.A. and Zaheer, A., 2013. Impact of transformational and
servant leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of
business ethics, 116(2), pp.433-440.
Hunt, J. and Fitzgerald, M., 2018. STYLES OF LEADERSHIP. Leadership: Regional
and Global Perspectives, pp. 23-84.
Kantharia, B. (2012). Servant Leadership: An Imperative Leadership Style for Leader
Managers. SSRN Electronic Journal. 10.2139/ssrn.1980625. [pp. 1-13]
Kim, N. (2016). Servant Leadership Style: What is it and What are the Benefits and
Contrasts to Other Leadership Styles? - Masters of Public Health, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. Available at:
https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent/uuid:a1cc83d3-7395-4cb0-bc70-2b50b29a4069.
[pp. 1-50]
Li, Y., Li, D., Tu, Y. and Liu, J., 2018. How and when servant leadership enhances life
satisfaction. Personnel Review. pp. 3-9.
Newman, A., Schwarz, G., Cooper, B. and Sendjaya, S., 2017. How servant leadership
influences organizational citizenship behavior: The roles of LMX, empowerment, and
proactive personality. Journal of Business Ethics, 145(1), pp.49-62.
Selladurai, R. ed., 2014. Servant Leadership: Research and Practice: Research and
Practice. IGI Global. pp. 12-35.
Song, C., Park, K.R. and Kang, S.W., 2015. Servant leadership and team performance:
The mediating role of knowledge-sharing climate. Social Behavior and Personality: an
international journal, 43(10), pp.1749-1760.

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VanMeter, R., Chonko, L.B., Grisaffe, D.B. and Goad, E.A., 2016. In search of clarity on
servant leadership: domain specification and reconceptualization. AMS review, 6(1-2),
pp.59-78.
Washington, R.R., Sutton, C.D. and Feild, H.S., 2006. Individual differences in servant
leadership: The roles of values and personality. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 27(8), pp.700-716.
Yiğit, B. and Bozkurt, S., 2017. A content analysis of servant leadership
studies. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 6(2). pp. 7-15.