Servant Leadership | Organizations and Leadership

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Running Head: OAL 0
Organizations and Leadership
Leadership Theories: Servant Leadership
(Student Details: )
3/31/2020
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OAL 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Organizational Leadership.........................................................................................................2
What is SL..............................................................................................................................2
The History of SL Theory......................................................................................................2
The main aspects of SL Theory.............................................................................................3
What Is SL Theory?...........................................................................................................3
How SL works and helps us to overcome the challenges faced by contemporary leaders 4
The key Principles of SL Theory.......................................................................................4
Servant leadership characteristics......................................................................................5
Pitfalls of SL Theory..........................................................................................................6
Identification of leadership skills: emotional intelligence, strees management and self
awareness...............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9
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OAL 2
SL Theory
Introduction
The paper is based on research about famous leadership theories with the help of
choosing one well-known leadership theory as ‘Servant Leadership’ (SL) which has been
covered in this unit. In this context, the key aspects of leadership theory will be covered in
this discussion. In general, servant leadership refers to a leadership philosophy into which the
major goal of the leader is always serving their subordinates (Burke, Koyuncu, Wolpin,
Yiriks., & Koyuncu, 2015). It is worth knowing that SL theory is highly different from
traditional leadership theories as to the main focus of the leader in the thriving of their
organization. While talking about SL theory, the discussion is going to identify as well as
explain the key aspects of SL theory (Alapo, 2018). The paper will narrate how SL theory can
help us to overcome the key issues faced by today’s leaders within the international business.
Apart from this, two leadership skills associated with servant leadership will be identified as
stress management and emotional intelligence as they were discussed in this unit. Such skills
are of high importance as they highly contribute to the current leadership practice of an
individual. Furthermore, after discussing the two aforementioned leadership skills, the
leadership skill of self-awareness will also be discussed well. Finally, a summary is included
based on the aforementioned key aspects of SL theory.
Organizational Leadership
What is SL
Firstly, understanding about what servant leadership is. SL refers to the leadership
philosophy in which the leader interacts with as well as serves others for the purpose of
achieving authority over the power. The servant-leader usually does this either in a fellow
employee capacity or in a management system. In addition, a system in which a servant
leader works embodies a distributed organizational structure (Burkus, 2010). In other words,
it can be said that the leader always aims promoting the well-being of people all around. To
know what SL is, it has been found that SL theory involves a person demonstrating the
characteristics such as listening, empathy, stewardship, as well as the commitment to
personal growth en route for others (Burkus, 2010).
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OAL 3
The History of SL Theory
It is worth knowing that the term “servant leadership” was first used by Robert K.
Greenleaf in the year 1970 (Centre for servant leadership, 2020). It was mentioned in the first
published essay by Robert Greenleaf that, a servant-leader always focuses mainly on the
development and well-being of the communities and people to which they belong. As per
Greenleaf, any servant-leader is servant first and the leadership provided by him begins with
the natural feeling that an individual wants to serve others (Snyder, 2010). On the other hand,
the traditional leadership typically involves the accumulation as well as the exercise of power
from an individual at the top of the pyramid whereas servant leadership is a completely
different concept and theory of leadership. The servant-leader often helps people grow,
develop as well as perform as efficiently as possible. Also, it was mentioned by Robert that a
servant-leader shares power while putting the needs of others first (Burkus, 2010).
The main aspects of SL Theory
This section is going to identify and thereby explain the main aspects of servant
leadership theory, then discuss it in detail (Carter, Ulrich, & Goldsmith, 2012). In this
context, the major aspects of servant leadership theory may include the following:
What Is the SL Theory?
As described by Robert Greenleaf, this theory is a contemporary theory of leadership
which argues that the true and effective leaders are the servants of their followers. The
servant leadership theory suggests that servant leaders acquire desired outcomes for the
organization with whole-hearted attention towards their people as well as followers’ basic
needs (Centre for servant leadership, 2020). It has been found that SL theory mainly
emphasizes trust, ethics, empathy, and collaboration. It is worth noted that a leader should
always be a servant leader and serve others while leading from a wish to better serve others.
The focus of a servant leader as per the theory is never to attain more power and influence
others. The key assumption of SL theory is that when leaders emphasize on the desires and
needs of followers, then followers will reciprocate with deeper engagement, enhanced
teamwork, improved productivity as well as better performance (Colquitt, Lepine, Wessaon,
& Gellatly, 2011).
In addition to that, SL is one of the greater famous leadership theories, particularly
amid Christian leaders (Cooren, Kuhn, Cornelissen, & Clark, 2011). However, its
effectiveness in companies remains being debated. In this way, the servant leadership
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OAL 4
principle has an area in the spectrum of leadership theory, as it denotes the resilient emphasis
upon followers of any idea (Gleeson, 2017).
How SL works
Here, to know how SL works are essential to identify how it helps us to overcome the
key challenges faced by modern leaders in this competitive edge. In this global business
environment, servant leadership theory always helps contemporary leaders to overcome key
challenges such as conflict management, team-working problems and other problems
(Goetsch & Davis, 2014).
It has been found that SL majorly seeks to move management as well as personnel
interaction away from the controlling activities. In this way, it can be said that SL works
toward a more synergistic relationship all across the followers. On the other hand, traditional
leadership styles always focus on authoritarian relationships amid modern employers and
employees (Goldman, 2012).
The SL is helpful in the modern business environment to solve complex problems
effectively (Goldman, 2012). It is because the servant leader typically approaches critical
situations within organizations from the perspective of a servant first while looking to give
their presence for resolving and addressing the needs of their organization and thereby others
(Jones, 2013). The complex business issues are easily resolved or addressed by the servant
leaders in this scenario as they seek to address the needs, desired and requirements of the
firms as their priority whereas leadership to be pursued secondarily (Hales, 2018).
It is worth knowing that this leadership theory can help to overcome the challenges
faced by leaders in the modern business environ through developing as well as mentoring the
team members following their instructions, or the customers’ and clients’ needs. The
challenges faced by an organization and its management are usually solved by servant
leadership while taking precedence over personal elevation (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009). Post
attaining a position of authority and governance, a servant leader always encourages the
followers to look to serve others while not focusing on personal benefits. In order to resolve
and address team conflicts in the modern business environment, a servant leader aims to
share power with others and hence he or she encourages the development as well as the
growth of employees and employer too (Rouse, 2018).
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OAL 5
The Key Principles of SL Theory
Based on the theory given by Robert Greenleaf, there are some key must-have
principles of servant leadership theory. These SL principles are as follows:
Building a community: this principle suggests that a servant leader should share their
company’s mission and goals with their followers (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009).
Listen first: a servant leader always listens effectively and on priority over speaking.
It helps servant leaders to embrace SL activities as well as actions like seeking the
views of their team members on important organizational decisions while considering
relevant feedbacks (Panmore Institute, 2018).
Support the team: it is the most important principle of servant leadership as a
leader’s success is always depends on their team and team members’ success only.
Thus, a servant leader typically supports their team irrespective of any conditions. It
helps the servant leader to ensure that their team members are having all the support,
skills, resources and knowledge which they need to complete their jobs assigned by
the leader itself.
Growing people: servant leaders are committed towards the growth of their people
hence they encourage their professional as well as personal development in every
possible way (Northouse, 2013).
Reflect and learn: it has been observed several times that reflect and learn principle
is the foremost weapon of a servant leader. It is because it allows them to learn from
their past experiences. In this way, as per this principle, a servant leader always learns
and reflects both as an individual and as a team ( Nolan, 2015).
Servant leadership characteristics
As discussed above, servant leadership always puts other people’s desire first and
then shares power with them, thus there are some key SL characteristics as follows:
Awareness
Empathy
Effective listening
Emotional healing
Persuasive
Conceptualization
Stewardship (Management Study Guide, 2017).
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OAL 6
Community building
Foresight
Lastly, committed to the growth of others
Pitfalls of SL Theory
While servant leadership helps modern leaders to overcome challenges of today’s
global business environment, it also has some major pitfalls. For instance, it is often difficult
to encourage shared responsibility among people (Rouse, 2018). It has been found that in
times of crisis or even tight deadlines it may be difficult to consult with everyone or rely on
group agreement. In addition to that, cultivating servant leadership in an organization often
requires a large shift in individual employees’ attitudes and at the same time the overall
organizational culture. Therefore, the challenges for the servant leader may include time,
dedicated resources, and support from people to actively work for promoting servant
leadership theory at every level of a company (Burkus, 2010).
Identification of leadership skills: emotional intelligence, stress
management, and self-awareness
Generally, modern followers usually desire a leader who can foster their emotional
and spiritual well-being which ultimately indicates that servant leadership needs to
demonstrate effective emotional intelligence skills. In this way, through taking an active role
in order to promote the mental as well as emotional strength of the employees, contemporary
servant leaders should always inspire an extraordinary level of faith and trust from others
(Lamarco, 2018). Apart from this, stress management is also another essential skill required
in a servant leader. It is because stress management is an important way to control an
individual's level of stress, as well as for the aim of enhancing the everyday functioning of
their followers. With better stress management skills, a servant leader can manage their teams
efficiently and their dedication towards work. If a servant leader is able to manage stress in
his or her life along with the followers’ life, then the leader is having stress management
skills which are important for the overall growth of an organization (Kenton, 2019).
It has been found that the aforementioned leadership skills include stress management
and emotional intelligence always contributes to servant leadership practice of an individual.
In addition to that, a stress-free leader communicates more freely and efficiently with his
team contributors and superiors, accordingly enhancing the entire running environment
(Livesey & Kate, 2008). The leader is also able to make observations for overall performance
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OAL 7
value determinations greater objectively and speedy, which makes him a better leader and
saves him time and power in the technique (Rouse, 2018).
Therefore, the contribution of these two leadership skills towards servant leadership
practice can be explained as below:
These two leadership skills provide better motivation for teams
The two leadership skills always help to boost productivity in an organization
The chosen leadership skills help to improve the servant leader’s relationship with the
rest of the team members
These two leadership skills provide an ability to resolve all kind of modern issues in
the modern era
There are two leadership skills allow retaining the size of the team by the servant
leader (Goldman, 2012).
On the other hand, there is another important leadership skills needs to be
demonstrated by a servant leadership practice; self-awareness. Based on the above discussion
and analysis, I have identified these leadership skills to develop my personality in the near
future. Thus, I would like to mention that I wish to develop self-awareness so as to become
an effective leader in the future workplace. I also found key lessons about self-awareness as it
is who we pay attention to the way we think, feel, as well as behave (Rothwell, 2010).
In this context, I am sharing an outline of how I have planned to develop self-
awareness for future personal and professional development, as follows:
I will always try to learn from my past experiences.
I will find out my strengths and weaknesses with the help of past experiences,
I will embrace my failures.
I will ask others for honest feedback.
I will use personality tests to become self-aware.
I will develop a coaching culture.
I will take adequate time to evaluate myself
Conclusion
In whole, with this discussion so many important aspects of servant leadership theory
have been explored well. This discussion is depicting that servant leadership is different from
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OAL 8
other leadership theories. While discussing the key aspects of servant leadership, the paper
has presented how servant leadership works as well as helps the modern leaders to overcome
key barriers as well as challenges faced by them in the modern business era. In addition to
that, this paper has also identified the key characteristics and attributes of servant leaders so
that readers can become an effective servant leader in their future with the help of studying
and understanding this paper. Apart from this, two key leadership skills have been identified
for the current leadership practice of servant leadership as emotional intelligence and stress
management. In this context, it is found that both of these leadership skills contribute a lot to
the successful implementation of servant leadership practice. In addition, with the help of this
discussion, the self-awareness concept has been introduced well from the future career
endeavor perspective.
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OAL 9
References
Nolan, R. L. (2015). Executive Team Leadership in the Global Economic and Competitive
Environment (1st ed.). new york: routledge.
Alapo, R. (2018). Organizational Power Politics and Leadership Experiences on the View
and Use of Power in Organizations. Management, 6(1), 30-36.
Burke, R., Koyuncu, M., Wolpin, J., Yiriks., & Koyuncu, K. (2015). Organizational
Empowerment Practices, Psychological Empowerment and Work Outcomes Among
Frontline Service Employees in Five-Star Turkish Hotels. Effective Executive, 18(1),
42.
Burkus, D. (2010). SL Theory. Retrieved from Davidburkus:
https://davidburkus.com/2010/04/servant-leadership-theory/
Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. (2012). Best practices in leadership development and
organization change: how the best companies ensure meaningful change and
sustainable leadership . New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Centre for servant leadership. (2020). Start Here What is servant leadership. Retrieved from
Greenleaf: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/
Colquitt, J., Lepine, J., Wessaon, M., & Gellatly, I. (2011). Organizational behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace. London: McGraw-Hill
Irwin.
Gleeson, B. (2017). The Future Of Leadership And Management In The 21st-Century
Organization. Retrieved from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2017/03/27/the-future-of-leadership-and-
management-in-the-21st-century-organization/#11afd1ae218f
Goetsch, D., & Davis, S. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. New
Jersey: Pearson.
Goldman, E. (2012). Leadership practices that encourage strategic thinking. Journal of
Strategy and Management, 5(1), 25-40.
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OAL 10
Hales, J. (2018, 10 12). THE PROS AND CONS OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP. Retrieved
from http://blog.zingtrain.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-servant-leadership
Jones, G. (2013). Organizational theory, design, and change. London: Pearson.
Kenton, W. (2019). SL. Retrieved from Investopedia:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/servant-leadership.asp
Lamarco, N. (2018). The Concept of Empowerment in Leadership. Retrieved from Chron:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/concept-empowerment-leadership-15371.html
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. California: Sage Publication.
Rothwell, W. (2010). Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and
building talent from within. UK: Amacom.
Rouse, M. (2018). servant leadership. Retrieved 12 10, 2018, from
https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Servant-Leadership
Snyder, N. (2010). Vision, values, and courage: Leadership for quality management. New
York: Simon and Schuster.
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