A Comparative Analysis of Servant and Authentic Leadership (BUS500)

This literature review, completed for a BUS500 assignment, provides a detailed comparison of servant and authentic leadership styles. The paper begins with an introduction to leadership strategies and their application within organizations. It then defines and explores the characteristics, advantages, and implementation of both servant leadership, emphasizing service to the organization, and authentic leadership, which focuses on leader self-awareness and ethical behavior. The review examines the impact of each leadership style on employee engagement, motivation, and overall organizational performance. The paper concludes with a comparative analysis of the two styles, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, and discussing their implications for organizational success. The paper draws on various academic sources to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The leadership strategies that are applied within the firm refers to the research areas and
the practical skills encompassing the capability of the concerned individual or the concerned
organizational activities which are required for leadership or the guidance of the other
individuals, the teams and at times the entire organizations. The servant leadership as have been
implemented within the organization assists the resolution of the issues that are highlighted in the
commitment towards the professional as well as the personal growth of the followers within the
given organization as well. The authentic leadership involves the high amount of the self-
reflection on the part of the concerned leader. This helps in the proper understanding of the
matters that are highlighted by the staff as well as the involvement of the leaders in terms of the
issues that are highlighted in the operations of the company. The paper highlights the
effectiveness of the servant leadership strategies that are practices within the firm. The paper
further continues to discuss the authentic leadership strategies that are practices within the
organization. The paper nears a conclusion with the comparison of the servant and the authentic
leadership practices that are followed within the firm.
Servant leadership
As defined by Seto and Sarros (2016), servant leadership refers to the leadership
philosophy wherein the concerned leader aims to serve the concerned business organization. The
servant leadership as is maintained within the organization helps in the emphasis on the
facilitation and the assistance to the organizational workforce in highlighting the growth as well
as harnessing the maximization of their potential. This in turn is observed to have been assisting
in the overall empowerment of the team members as well as the company as a whole. Hoch et al.
(2018) states that the servant leadership within the organization deals with the traits of listening,

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sympathizing, development of foresight, the obligation to the growth as well as the progress of
the workforce and the building of the community. Newman et al. (2017) seconds the fact that the
employment of the servant leadership helps in the sharing of the power within the organization
as well.
Ford and Harding (2018) state that the servant leaders who have been present within the
organizational workforce tend to demonstrate certain characteristics that help in motivating the
staff of the organization in delivering the best of their practices within the given organization.
The servant leaders tend to help in the entire growth of the business organization in the global
markets as well. The servant leadership within the given organization also helps in the overall
development of the organizational workforce as well. DeConinck, Moss and Deconinck (2018)
opines that servant leadership within the organization tends to implement the persuasive
strategies in the development of the persuasive strategies within the given workforce. This assists
the development of the employee engagement within the organization which leads to the overall
development of the performance of the various departments within the organization. As stated by
Liden et al. (2015) the servant leadership within the organization helps in the highlighting the
issues that are presented in the matters of the commitment towards the professional as well as the
personal growth of the followers within the given organization as well. The major advantages of
the application of the servant leadership within the given organization refer to the ability of the
concerned leaders to oversee the future of the actions that have been undertaken by the
concerned managerial body within the organization. This aids the resolution of the issues that are
emphasized within the organization as well. The empathy on the part of the leaders aid the
development of the engagement of the employees within the concern thereby leading to the
increase in the motivation of the employees within the organization which in turn leads to the

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improvement of the performance of the business concern. The leaders who have been abiding by
the servant leadership strategies tend to have a proper understanding of the various issues
emphasized by the employees within the organization as well. The proper understanding on the
part of the leaders of the organization helps in the understanding of the desires of the concerned
organizational workforce. The awareness of the organizational leaders helps in the all-round
progress the workforce within the given organization. This understanding on the part of the
leaders helps in the comprehension of the several strengths and the weaknesses of the employees.
The proper awareness on the part of the organizational leaders help in the developing the various
strategies that are required for the motivating the employees of the organization in delivering to
the best of their abilities. The employment of the servant leadership strategies within the given
organization aids the building of the community conditions within the organizational workforce
that would in turn lead to the development of overall growth.
Authentic leadership
On the other hand, Leroy et al. (2015) defines authentic leadership as the leadership
strategy that implements a greater emphasis on the development of the legitimacy on the part of
the leaders with the help of the truthful relationship that is maintained with the followers. The
implementation of the emphasis results in the proper valuation of the input information that is
incorporated within the business activities on the part of the employees thereby leading to the
development of the ethical foundation of the various leadership strategies as have been
implemented within the enterprise. Banks et al. (2016) opine that the authentic leaders are
generally observed to be positive people who own a truthful self-conceptualization. Avolio,
Wernsing and Gardner (2018) further state that the authentic leaders within a given organization
tend to assist the promotion of the openness within the organization as well. As highlighted by

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Regan, Laschinger and Wong (2016) the authentic leaders tend to demonstrate four major
characteristics in their day to day activities. The leaders tend to have a high amount of self-
awareness. This helps them in the understanding their own strengths and weaknesses and thereby
devise the strategies that would help in the development of the situation within the given
business enterprise as well. The other major characteristic that is demonstrated by the authentic
leaders refer to their honesty and straight-forward nature while dealing with the other members
of the workforce serving the organization. This helps the followers to have a clear
comprehension of the issues that are confronted by the organization as a whole as well as assists
in the clarification of the absence of the hidden agendas. Lyubovnikova et al. (2017) argues that
the effective nature of the authentic leaders is demonstrated through their capability of
judgement of a given scenario before embarking on a certain course of action. The proper
discussion on the various benefits and the challenges of the concerned decision would help in
undertaking the apt decision that would be beneficial to the operations of the concerned business
organization as well as aid the development of the competitive advantage of the business concern
at the global markets. The last but one of the most important skills as have been demonstrated by
the authentic leaders tend to help in the overall development of the implementation of the ethical
factors within the organization as well. The major area that is observed to be in focus in the all-
round growth of organizational performance refers to the implementation of the ethical factors
and the fairness in the actions that are employed by the concerned managerial body within the
organization as well. Fallatah and Laschinger (2016) further argues that the authentic leadership
involves the high amount of the self-reflection on the part of the concerned leader. This helps in
the proper understanding of the issues emphasized by the employees as well as the involvement
of the leaders in terms of the issues that are highlighted in the operations of the company. The

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greater knowledge base and the self-reflection on the part of the authentic leaders tend to help in
motivating the staff of the organization in delivering the best of their capabilities towards the all-
encompassing progress of the company as well. The execution of the authentic leadership within
the company helps in overall developing the positivity within the company as well. This in turn
helps in the enhancement of the employee engagement within the business enterprise. This
further helps in development of the motivation among the organizational staff and thereby
highlighting the growth in the organizational performance as well. This in turn affects the
progress of the competitive advantage in the global markets.
Comparison between authentic and servant leadership
The servant leadership as is maintained within the organization helps in the emphasis on
the facilitation and the assistance to the organizational workforce in highlighting the growth as
well as harnessing the maximization of their potential. This in turn is observed to have been
assisting in the overall empowerment of the team members as well as the company as a whole.
Green et al. (2016) states that the servant leadership within the organization deals with the traits
of listening, sympathizing, development of foresight, the commitment towards the growth as
well as the expansion of the workforce and the building of the community. As stated by Winston
and Fields (2015) the servant leadership within the organization aids in the resolution of the
issues that are highlighted in the development of the commitment towards the professional
alongside the personal growth of the followers within the given organization as well. The major
advantages of the employment of the servant leadership refer to the ability of the concerned
leaders to oversee the future of the actions that have been undertaken by the management of the
business concern. The incorporation of the servant leadership strategies within the given business

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concern helps in the building of the community conditions within the organizational workforce
that would in turn lead to the progress of overall growth.
Hirst et al. (2016) argues that the effective nature of the authentic leaders is demonstrated
through their capability of judgement of a given scenario before embarking on a certain course of
action. The proper discussion on the various benefits and the challenges of the concerned
decision would help in undertaking the apt decision that would be beneficial to the operations of
the concerned business organization as well as aid the development of the competitive advantage
of the business concern at the given international markets. Fusco, O’Riordan and Palmer (2015)
state that it helps in the proper understanding of the issues emphasized by the employees as well
as the involvement of the leaders in terms of the issues that are highlighted in the operations of
the company. The greater knowledge base and the self-reflection on the part of the authentic
leaders tend to help in motivating the staff of the business concern in delivering the best of their
capabilities towards the all-round growth of the company as well. The application of the
authentic leadership within the company helps in the progress of the competitive advantage
within the industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion to the above discussion, it might be stated both the various leadership
strategies that are implemented within the organization aids in developing the employee
engagement within the business concern. The servant leadership within the given organization
refer to the ability of the concerned leaders to oversee the future of the actions undertaken by the
concerned managerial body of the organization. This further aid the resolution of the issues
emphasized within the organization as well. The empathy on the part of the leaders assist in
developing the engagement of the employees within the organization thereby leading to the

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increase in the motivation of the employees within the organization which in turn leads to the
increment of the performance of the organization. The proper discussion on the various benefits
and the challenges of the concerned decision would help in undertaking the apt decision that
would be beneficial to the operations of the concerned business organization as well as assist the
development of the competitive advantage of business concerns at the international markets. This
further helps in enhancing the motivation among the staff of the business concern and thereby
highlighting the growth in the competitive advantage as well.

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References
Avolio, B. J., Wernsing, T., & Gardner, W. L. (2018). Revisiting the development and validation
of the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire: Analytical clarifications. Journal of
Management, 44(2), 399-411.
Banks, G. C., McCauley, K. D., Gardner, W. L., & Guler, C. E. (2016). A meta-analytic review
of authentic and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership
Quarterly, 27(4), 634-652.
DeConinck, J. B., Moss, H. K., & Deconinck, M. B. (2018). The relationship between servant
leadership, perceived organizational support, performance, and turnover among business
to business salespeople. Global Journal of Management and Marketing, 2(1), 38.
Fallatah, F., & Laschinger, H. K. (2016). The influence of authentic leadership and supportive
professional practice environments on new graduate nurses’ job satisfaction. Journal of
Research in Nursing, 21(2), 125-136.
Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2018). Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and
illusion. Leadership, 14(1), 3-24.
Fusco, T., O’Riordan, S., & Palmer, S. (2015). Authentic leaders are... conscious, competent,
confident, and congruent: A grounded theory of group coaching and authentic leadership
development. International Coaching Psychology Review, 10(2), 131-148.
Green, M. T., Rodriguez, R. A., Wheeler, C. A., & Baggerly-Hinojosa, B. (2016). Servant
leadership: A quantitative review of instruments and related findings. Servant
Leadership: Theory & Practice, 2(2), 5.

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Hirst, G., Walumbwa, F., Aryee, S., Butarbutar, I., & Chen, C. J. H. (2016). A multi-level
investigation of authentic leadership as an antecedent of helping behavior. Journal of
Business Ethics, 139(3), 485-499.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and
servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A
meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
Leroy, H., Anseel, F., Gardner, W. L., & Sels, L. (2015). Authentic leadership, authentic
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Lyubovnikova, J., Legood, A., Turner, N., & Mamakouka, A. (2017). How authentic leadership
influences team performance: The mediating role of team reflexivity. Journal of business
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Newman, A., Schwarz, G., Cooper, B., & Sendjaya, S. (2017). How servant leadership
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Regan, S., Laschinger, H. K., & Wong, C. A. (2016). The influence of empowerment, authentic
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Seto, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2016). Servant Leadership Influence on Trust and Quality Relationship
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