Servant Leadership versus Authentic Leadership-critique the two and their effectiveness

Running Head: SERVANT LEADERSHIP VERSUS AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP-CRITIQUE
THE TWO AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS 1
[Servant Leadership versus Authentic Leadership-critique the two and their effectiveness]
[Institute]

SERVANT LEADERSHIP VERSUS AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP-CRITIQUE THE TWO
AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
2
INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the act of leading group of individuals within an organization.
Leadership is related to qualities like courage, discipline, intelligence, trustworthiness and
humaneness possessed by the leader. There are different types of leadership style which help
leaders in offering appropriate guidance to their team members. Some of these styles include
democratic leadership, authentic leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership and
many more. Each leadership style has its own importance, advantages and disadvantages
(Lemoine, Hartnell & Leroy, 2019). The present essay is based on difference between the servant
leadership and authentic leadership. It includes information about the servant leadership and
authentic leadership, differences between both the leadership and similarities between them.
Authentic Leadership:
According to Bob Terry, in his book “Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action”,
authentic leadership refers to the process of identifying and working on what is right and original
with respect to the leaders self, team members and companies, in addition to it, to know and act
on what is appropriate and real within the world. In addition to this, authentic leaders have
confidence, optimistic, hopeful and resilient behavior which help them in taking appropriate
decisions according to the demand of the situation and urgency of the work processes. Along
with this, authentic leaders represent high level of integrity towards their work along with the
commitment (Leroy & et.al., 2015). The strong relations, self-esteem, values and objectives of
the leader help them in making right decisions for the growth and development of their
organizations. Authentic leaders deal with the other individuals in a fair and appropriate manner.
Along with this, the leaders stay emotionally balanced and controlled all the times for taking
effective decisions. Authentic leaders know their strengths and vulnerabilities which helps them
in handling the shortcomings. This self-awareness allows authentic leaders to develop rapport
and improve their skills like communication skills, team management skills and many more
(Hoch & et.al., 2018).
The authentic leadership pays attention to the objectives, inner behavior and values of the
individuals which makes leader more trustworthy and cohesion among the team members. The
purpose of authentic leadership is to empower the workers and guide them via their work

SERVANT LEADERSHIP VERSUS AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP-CRITIQUE THE TWO
AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
3
processes in an honest manner. This leadership style also develops ability of building positive
and rewarding relationships between leader and employees (Hsieh & Wang, 2015). However, the
leadership style makes leader the ultimate decider but it provides opportunities to listen the
opinions and perceptions of the other individuals which results to develop collaborative working
environment. The leaders work in ethical and legal manner which enhances the quality of
working and productivity. Nevertheless, authentic leadership style can develop ambiguity around
some particular context leading to affect the performance and progress of the firms. In addition
to this, it is not an easy task to develop authentic leadership as one needs to get experience, self-
awareness and understanding the values which needs long time. Example of authentic leadership
includes Martin Luther King, Junior, Eleanor Roosevelt, Warrant Buffett, Ed Whitacre and many
more (Sendjaya & et.al., 2016). Steve Jobs is one of the best examples of authentic leadership
because he uses approachability, initiative, integrity, mission driven approach, result oriented
and innovation for developing creative, technologically advance and innovative products like
iphone, ipad, etc.
Servant Leadership:
Servant leadership refers to the leadership philosophy which considers major objective of
the leader is to serve. It includes set of practices which improves the lives of the team members,
develops a better firm and creates a caring world. The book of Robert Greenleaf, The Servant as
Leader also introduces servant leaders as the persons having natural inclination to serve. These
leaders like to make choices for serving their companies or communities instead of gaining
power or acquiring any materialistic possessions. In the decision making process, servant
leadership includes the whole firm rather than only leadership teams or corporate decisions. It
helps leader in taking decisions in interest of everyone who are working for the growth of the
firm (Spears & Lawrence, 2016).
Along with this, servant leadership motivates empathy within the working environment.
The helping, understanding and caring working environment make employees to work with
cooperation and coordination. Decisions in the benefits of everyone reduce conflicts and
misunderstandings and improve the performance and productivity. When the leader serve their
company over their own desires and requirements than, the customers win and get satisfied.