The field of business management continues to evolve as organizations engage in the ever-changing global market. After years of unscrupulous corporate leaders managing and leading some of the world’s biggest corporations to failure, researchers and business leaders realize the need for ethical and sound leadership. The need for ethical and sound leadership helps to facilitate and manage daily operations and to sustain their competitive advantage within the global economy. However, with this evolution, numerous research studies add to the understanding of leadership theories and the effects on organizational climate and culture.
The following findings concentrate on research limitations, ethical standards, analysis of data and conclusions
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Two of the most recent theories to emerge within the 21st century involve servant and transformational leadership styles.
Servant and Transformational Leadership Styles
In research conducted about servant leadership, researchers gave divergent views on the style and actual outcomes pertaining to organizational climate and culture (Parris & Peachey, 2013; Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013). In a study conducted by Parris and Peachey, the reporting method of research utilized previous studies and articles about servant leadership and the underlying connections versus other methods (2013). With a synopsis of various studies collated the findings revealed variances in definitions of servant leadership, measurements as they pertain to data analysis and varying degrees of limitations in research and conclusion of effectiveness (Parris & Peachey, 2013). While the authors conducted a method of research dependent on previously written articles and data, the limitations of actual data and findings lessen the potential of skewed data and probable questions of ethical standards (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). Limitations revealed the lack of a clear definition pertaining to servant leadership, the attributes and organizational effectiveness.
However, in a study conducted by Choudhary et al., (2013), research examined the impact of servant and transformational leadership as catalyst in sustaining corporate competitive advantage. The research considers the importance of
Simply, servant leaders hold a view as a servant first and leader second (Owens & Hekman, 2012). Moreover, servant leaders emphasize personal responsibility for the organization and all internal and external stakeholders (Peterson, Galvin, & Lange, 2012). As stated, expressing a genuine concern and care for people are a basis of servant leadership. In addition, servant leadership also focuses on the growth of
Michelle’s life embodies the idea of a person who has the x-factor, she shows that leadership is something that is developed over time and learned through experiences. The x-factor is when individuals in a society spark creativity, it is a multi-discipline that borrows and synthesis existing intellectual resources to generate new ones and approach causation. (Burns, 2003). Michelle is a prime example of the ideals of the x-factor that crates a leader.
Those that follow a transformational leadership framework believe that leaders possess many of the aforementioned qualities, but the focus is on one’s ability to inspire and empower others (Ross, Fitzpatrick, Click, Krouse, & Clavelle, 2014). These leaders literally ‘transform’ their followers by inspiring enthusiasm and performance towards a
Servant leadership is an effectual way to motivate the employees. Its unique emphasis on concern for
In addition, Burns et al., (as cited by Lavoie-Tremblay, et al., 2015) defined a transformational leader as “a leader who can extend and elevate the interests of staff, who can facilitate the commitment of staff to the mission and values of the organization, and who can lead staff to rise above their personal interests” (p. 582). Further, Broome (2013) identified transformational leaders as “proactive and hold core beliefs about the potential for development of both individuals they work with and their organization” (p. 327). Samad et al.(2015), connecting transformational leadership to servant leadership and authentic leadership reported, “transformational leadership is also congruent with regards to fostering higher levels of motivation among the followers’ and leaders’ ability to visualize the unforeseen” (pp.
Over the course of my career, I have tried to model various leadership behaviors based upon successful leaders that I have worked with or for. This has led me to incorporate different styles into my own. Considering my current leadership strengths and how I view successful leaders I will use a servant leadership theory to analyze my own competencies. Servant leaders have 9 different aspects comprised of: emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood (Boone & Makhani, 2005, pg. 86). The aspects of a servant leader are those that I personally value and identify with. In addition to this, it is my belief that servant leaders, because they are people oriented, are more effective in a variety of environments and situations.
The two theories that I chose to do my self-assessment by are the authentic leadership theory and the servant leadership theory. The authentic leadership theory was chosen due to my desire to stay true to who I am and what I stand for. However, the servant leadership theory was chosen because of my desire to meet the needs of others while doing what I can to help others succeed as well as meet their set goals. Being a servant while being authentic are the traits I want in my style of leadership and are assessed throughout this paper along with my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership.
There are many advantages to practicing servant leadership to be experienced by all stakeholders. A balance is required of either incorporating other styles when the situation calls for them or there should be a good mixture of leadership styles among the leaders within the organization. This blend of leadership styles allows for all levels of employees to feel they play an important role in the success of the organization while continually
Servant Leadership is “an approach to leadership with strong altruistic and ethical overtones that asks and requires leader to be attentive to the needs of their followers and empathize with them; they should take care of them by making sure they become healthier, wiser, freer and more autonomous, so that they too can become servant leaders” (Valeri, 2007). Although there is not many servant leaders in this world but the concept of servant is one of the most leadership approach leaders today struggles with. Servant leadership is mainly about the leader helping to grow their followers or members personally and professionally through empathy, listening skills and compassion. The concept of servant leadership which was proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 writing indicated that servant leadership is a theoretical framework that advocated a leader’s primary motivation and role as service to others.
This paper will respond to three questions, “Are all managers leaders?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 425) “What are some common barriers preventing leaders from behaving ethically and how can these barriers be overcome?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450) And “Is it possible for leadership substitutes to be effective?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450)
In the process of interviewing a servant leader, this paper investigates the defining behavior of servant leadership from a practical and philosophical standpoint. There are practical behavioral characteristics that can be uniformly integrated into the business infrastructure that is founded upon Biblical principles yet not used as a pool to proselytize. Through research and group discussion boards, this paper analyzes the institutional applications and the interpersonal relationships
Servant leadership is a theory based on Robert K Greenleaf’s belief that all men have a primary motivation to serve others and through this service they aspire to lead (Parris & Peachey, 2012). Although this leadership model has very little in common with charismatic and situational does however compare to transformational leadership in several areas. The main area of commonality between the two can be found as transformational leaders serve as stewards to change enable the followers to accept the change and move forward with the organization (Tichy & Devanna, 1990, p. 75). In essence, servant leadership becomes the long-term transformational approach to life and work.
Transformational leadership is defined as having four conceptually distinct elements: charismatic leadership/idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Bass, 1996). Servant leadership has
Transformational leaders are proactive, inspire, provide individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and idealized influence to their staff. Learning opportunities are created, encouragement to solve problems and development of strong emotional bonds are tools transformational leaders provide. Finally transformational leaders possess integrity, vision, rhetorical and management skills, and motivate staff to aspire to goals beyond self-interest. Transactional leaders focus on setting objectives or goals and creating a reward system upon attainment of the goals. Google exhibits the transformational style of leadership that comes in part from their servant leadership style. Smith (2004) defines six components of servant leadership: valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, sharing leadership the style adopted by Google leadership
This review acknowledges that additional empirical research is needed on servant leadership especially its current and potential future role in organisations. The authors state that Greenleaf warned that servant leadership would be extremely difficult to apply in an operational setting such as a company.