Stewardship Models for Organization

This article discusses stewardship models for organizations, focusing on Wilson's model of stewardship. It analyzes the pros and cons of the model and its practical application. The article also discusses the implementation of the model in CARE Australia.

Running head: STEWARDSHIP MODELS FOR ORGANIZATION
STEWARDSHIP MODELS FOR ORGANIZATION
Name of student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Steward leaders consider society as an important stakeholder for their business
because they are using resources from the society so these leaders feel that they have a
responsibility towards the society (Bordas, 2016). Steward leaders have been confused with
servant leaders but the scope of a Steward leader is much more than the servant leader Sense
of stewardship is important for leaders because the organization may be growing but still may
not be successful without the help of stewardship (Hayek et al., 2015). Wilson and block have
given models of stewardship. The main of the study is to understand the two models of
stewardship as given by Wilson and Block and then select any one model to analyze it
properly through its pros and cons. It is also focused on understanding the working of these
models in an organization.
Wilsons model of stewardship focuses on the importance of nonprofit leaders and
mentions that these leaders are completely different from the business leaders because the
main goal of the business leaders is on earning profits and growing and consider this as a
priority to any other objectives (Wilson, 2016). The nonprofit leader on the other hands wants
to do good for others and earning profits is a secondary objective thus stewards leadership is
important for these leaders. Wilson has clearly defined the meaning of steward leadership and
says that it is based on five main concepts. The main purpose of managing resources
stewardly is for growth and efficiency (Bernstein, Buse & Bilimoria, 2016). The leader does
both influencing people and also managing the resources properly. He does not own the
resources because he feels that the resources belongs to others and if it has been taken from
them it is the duty of the leader to manage and convert the resources for others benefit. The
leader in case of steward leadership feels that he is only working for the benefit of others and
acting as a servant. The owners objectives is what the leader wants to accomplish. Wilson has
mentioned that servant leadership is a part of the steward leadership and he substantiates the
same through various historical and biblical references. Peter Block Suggests that

2STEWARDSHIP MODEL FOR ORGANIZATION
stewardship is a broader term that includes a fundamental change for the purpose of
managing the organization properly (Waldkirch & Nordqvist, 2016). He says that service is
more difficult to define. Service can be completed only when both language and experience
of service are there. However, the main problem is that language service can be achieved but
experiencing service is lacking most of the times. It is because we choose our service – such
as we lack interest in the concept and so does the organizational setting. He says that
stewardship is a choice- first a choice for having sustainability and second a choice to do
something good for people with lesser power. This choice can lead to success and
commitment in the organization without practicing control and other strategies. This happens
because the employees feel that the leaders are doing good for others and so they feel more
committed to the organization. He also believes in the interconnection of stewardship leaders
and servant leadership (Spears & Lawrence, 2016).
Wilsons model is selected as the model of stewardship for this study. Wilsons vision
for steward leadership is to change the perception of people about the nonprofit leaders by
giving the concept of steward nonprofit leadership a totally new direction in the eyes of all-
the stakeholders, the board members and the society. This concept of stewardship is emerging
as new field of leadership that can be dated back to more than thousand years. Wilson said
that non-profit organizations do not mean that the organization is not doing business it is
doing business but it is not selling goods or service. It is focused on providing better human
beings. These organizations have a few characteristics as these leaders are not focused on
earning profit and are concerned with providing better services to others, they are exempt
from many taxes and many other benefits (Waddock, 2015). Wilson has tried to define the
role of steward leader through two main phases’ first he associates it with historical and
biblical instances and in the second phase, he conducted interviews and surveys to find out
the characteristics of the steward leaders. Wilsons suggests that all steward leaders should

3STEWARDSHIP MODEL FOR ORGANIZATION
believe that the resources belongs to god and it is their duty to return these resources to the
society for the betterment of human beings. These leaders should believe that they have
responsibility and accountability for properly marinating the resources of people. He suggests
that these acts of stewardship are not just for the nonprofit leaders to follow but business
leaders can do it as well. The main characteristics of the steward leaders can be defined with
the help of five concepts. The first concept is that the management of resources for the
benefit of others is aimed at overall growth and efficiency. The second concept says that
these leaders can help the organization by leading it in the right direction and managing the
resources in the most effective manner. The third concept discusses that the resources in an
organization is not to be used by these leaders as if these resources belonged to them but
these resources belong to all the stakeholders and henceforth he needs to use it in the most
optimum way. The steward leadership covers servant leadership that means they should keep
the objectives of the organizations owners before theirs (Lawson, 2016). The last concept
discusses that these leaders need to achieve the goals of the organizational owners (Spears &
Lawrence, 2016). He also suggests in his model that these leadership styles will be most
beneficial for pastors of church who are looking for transforming the lives of people.
Business leaders can use it in the sense that they can carry out their activities after
considering the society of which it is a part than they will be more sustainable. The main
disadvantage of this model is that the concept is explained theoretically and its practical
application has not been done yet. Another disadvantage of Wilson’s model is that it does not
show the main difficulties those nonprofit leaders in real life. His model is focused on servant
leadership which is not the only model given in the bible so he could have used some other
leadership models also because servant leadership has a few disadvantages (Kgatle, 2018). It
reduces the authority of the leaders, the employees are not always motivated to work and a
few others (Peterlin, Pearse & Dimovski, 2015).

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CARE is an Australian based nonprofit organization that provides support the victims
of disaster relief, undertakes mitigating poverty and empowerment of women (CARE
Australia., 2019). The main aim off the organization is to strengthen individuals so that they
can help themselves, providing economic support to the victims of disaster and for providing
mitigating the sufferings of poverty. It aims at giving immediate relief to the victims with the
help of various their professional teams by providing them with food, support and shelter and
it is focused at removing discrimination from the society. This model of stewardship can be
implemented by this organization so that they can get a team of committed employees than
they will be able to overcome even more problems than they are doing right now (Simpkins
& Lemyre, 2018). There can also be disadvantages of this model because CARE operates at a
large scale. The motivation of different employees is different some may like to serve the
society and be self-motivated others may not.
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Wilson’s model of steward
leadership is one such model that can transform the perception of stakeholders about the
steward leaders. The non profit organizations need to follow this model because of the
numerous advantages that it offers. The leaders can manage the resource in such a way that is
beneficial for both the organization and the society and stakeholders, it is best suitable for the
Christian leaders and pastors because they considers others needs over oneself and since it is
a new field of study thus it has a lot of scope. In case of business organization, also if they
can adopt even an apart of stewardship it can create an organization that values commitment
of employees. However, there are a few disadvantages also such as this model is theoretical
and lacks the practical approach. Non-profit organizations do not get the respect they deserve
for that the thinking of the stakeholders needs to be changed. By applying the Wilsons model
people’s perception can be changed. The organization needs a steward leader who can who
can manage the resources of the organizations like a trustee and then use it in a way that the

5STEWARDSHIP MODEL FOR ORGANIZATION
stakeholders and society can benefit from it. The organization will be able to meet its
objectives faster when it has a team of committed employees who work not for earning profit
but serving the society has to be there main aim. The steward leadership requires followers
who can follow the leader without questioning him and can help the leader achieve his goals
in serving the society.

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References
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