Professional Skills Report: Case Study, Servant Leadership Analysis

This report delves into the realm of professional skills, commencing with an analysis of a case study involving sales executives, Adam, Sara, and Jane, highlighting conflicts stemming from differing work styles and performance issues. It identifies the problems, reasons behind the conflicts, and potential solutions, emphasizing the importance of effective conflict management strategies for managers. Furthermore, the report explores the concept of servant leadership, defining it as a leadership approach prioritizing service to others, and outlines its key principles, such as listening, empathy, healing, stewardship, and community building. The conclusion underscores the significance of developing professional skills in managing and controlling conflict situations, advocating for motivational tools to foster a dedicated workforce.

Professional skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Task 1 : Case study analysis ...........................................................................................................3
1. Problems in the case study .....................................................................................................3
2. Reasons for the conflict ..........................................................................................................3
3. Avoiding the conflict...............................................................................................................4
4. Dealing with the situation ......................................................................................................4
TASK 2 : Servant Leadership .........................................................................................................5
1. Meaning and definition of Servant leadership........................................................................5
2.Principles of Servant leadership ..............................................................................................5
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The present report is based on professional skills and learning, in order to develop and
grow professional skills it is important to learn from the mistakes and improve the existing
knowledge or skills. The report is in context to a case related to sales executives selling holiday
packages to the customers, the individuals named Adam and Sara are main base of the case
study, the report will identify the conflict in between them, reason of the conflicts and solution
for the same. The report will determine ways in which a manager can deal with various situation
in the organisation. Furthermore, the concept of Servant leadership will be explained in the
following report along with the various principles.
Task 1 : Case study analysis
1. Problems in the case study
According to the case scenario it can be clearly identified that there serious issues among
the members of the best performing team Adam, Sara and Jane. The major issue is the declining
performance and irresponsibility of Adam which is not acceptable by Sara, the other member of
the team. This develop a conflict situation among the two members, the reason was different
types of working methods and increased work load on a single member of the team. The another
issue was that the third member of team, Jane is not performing up to the marks in recent days
and it is also heard that she is thinking to switch her job due to salary or working hour issues.
This two problems are the major issue as presented and observed in the case study, The issue can
be categorized in to three parts – Conflict among team members, demotivation and unsatisfactory
job.
2. Reasons for the conflict
There can be various reasons for the identified conflicts in the given scenario, conflict
situation raised due to the slow performance of a member Adam. Sara is a member who works
with speed or pace due to which is she remains at the leading position in her work daily.
Therefore, she did not want Adam to work slowly and wait for the deadline to complete the
work. Reason behind the conflict between Adam and Sara as observed is different types of
working methods, Adam is a member who works with a slow pace without being into hurry
whereas Sara prefers to work efficiently and quickly. The another reason is overload of work on
Sara because of Adam's slow performance which is not acceptable by Sara.

3. Avoiding the conflict
In order to avoid the conflict the team members needs to divide or distribute the work
accordingly. Each member should be given specific work that he or she needs to perform daily
with a certain deadline. Distribution of work among the members of the team can equally divide
the work load among them and each member of the team will focus on working on his or her
work effectively and efficiently. The other technique to avoid conflict among the team is to
measure performance of the team members individually not as a whole which will assist in
identifying actual performance of each and every member in the team. It is important to develop
a conflict management team which a support and resolve various types of problems or conflicts
among the team members by using various conflict management techniques team organisation or
manager can effective avoid conflicts among the different teams and team members.
4. Dealing with the situation
As a manager it is important for me to resolve the conflict situation raised in the best
performing team members. Each and every member in a team is important for the achievement
of the team objective or goal, and it is essential for the manager to resolve as well as avoid
conflicts to maintain the profitability and profitability of the business. In order to deal with the
conflict situation as a manager I will focus on the following elements -
 Conflict management – In order to limit the negative aspect of the conflict and increase
the positive aspects on conflict. I will use effective conflict management strategy to let
the team members understanding the bad and the good sides of the conflict situation as
well as support them to sensibly and fairly resolve the conflict situation.
 Motivation – I will use another most effective technique to deal with the situation of
conflict as well as for employee retention. Motivation can be useful to improve the
performance of an individual various bonuses, appraisal and other motivational tools can
help an individual to improve his or her performance it can also help in building
employee satisfaction. Jane and Sara are highly unsatisfied with the work and salary,
Motivation can help them to get encouraged and be positive for the work.
 Negotiation skills – In order to improve employee retention it is important for me to
understand the needs or demands of the employee such as Jane in the case study. She
demanded for increased salary or reduction in the working hours. In order to fulfill the
demand of the employees it is very essential for me to identify the best solution to this

issue or demand. I will try to negotiate with Jane regarding the increment in the salary, it
is important to consider equality in wages and cost of the company while fulfilling the
demand of the employees.
TASK 2 : Servant Leadership
1. Meaning and definition of Servant leadership
A servant leader is a person who serves others rather than the followers who are serving
the leaders, the servant leader is a servant first. It starts with a natural feeling that an individual
needs to serve in order to serve first (Giolito and Van,2015) The conscious choice helps in
bringing one to aspire for leading. The servant leaders is very different from the person who is
leaders first, but any other leaders they are responsible for the growth and well-being of the
followers. The individuals who are being served achieved growth as a person, become wiser,
healthier and effective.
2.Principles of Servant leadership
There are various principles of Servant leadership as described below -
1. Listening – The company can get benefited by this principle as listening helps in
understanding the situation and identifying the main reason or element responsible for it.
2. Empathy – It is important to show empathy or the employees even they are not accepting
the views of the co-workers, this will help in motivating the employees.
3. Healing – This principle focus on the process of a situation, a thing or an individual takes
time in order to repair themselves. The employees need to adjust their working methods
with time to work in co-operation and achieve the team goal easily[THE SERVANT AS
LEADER, 2016]
4. Stewardship – leaders are firstly stewards, in order to understand and resolve the conflict
situation it is important for the manager to understand the situation from the employee's
point of view which can be helpful in effectively understanding the issue and solve it.
5. Building community – It is also important to build a strong team, as a manager it is
important to develop a strong team by motivating and training them.
Conclusion
The above report concluded that a manager needs to learn and develop effective skills in
order to manage and control conflict situation in an organisation. The manager can use various

motivational tools such as bonuses, incentives and promotion to encourage employees in
building dedicated workforce.

REFERENCES
Online and Journals
Giolito, V. and Van Dierendonck, D., 2015, January. Servant leadership: influence on financial
business-unit performance and employee's well-being. In Academy of Management
Proceedings. Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510.
THE SERVANT AS LEADER, 2016. [Online].Available through:
<https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/>