Traditional theories of leadership include the great man, power bases, skills approach, style approach, contingency, and path-goal theories. Those are all very objectively based, not looking at the individual’s experiences, wants, needs, and idiosyncrasies. Then the emerging leadership theories came along, viewing leaders as unique individuals, instead of positions within an organization. These theories are relationship-heavy, focusing on the interactions between the leaders and the followers as something fragile, instead of surface-level. There has been a movement within management and leadership theories over the past century that focuses on the intangibles – trust, loyalty, respect, etc. of leadership. One that is gaining …show more content…
Can someone be a nihilist and a servant leader? This would cause cognitive dissonance. By being a nihilist, an individual asserts there is nothing of value in life, nothing to be valued. Both Christianity and servant leadership place a value on serving others, in whatever way that is appropriate. There are variants of nihilism, including “Ethical nihilism…, [which] rejects the possibility of absolute moral or ethical values” (Nihilism, 2010). Since morals are nonexistent to nihilists, could those who practice transformational leadership be servant leaders then? According to The Leadership Challenge, yes. “Transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both the leader and the led” (Kouzes & Posner, 2007, p. 122). This aligns with the assertion that others should “grow as persons,… become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to be servants” through servant leadership (Greenleaf, 2002). Servant and transformational leadership could be considered siblings; they are both based on helping others, but with different phrasing. Servant leadership places focus on serving others; transformational leadership focuses on inspiring others [emphasis added] (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Could someone of another religious worldview be a servant leader? If he is a Buddhist, possibly. Although Buddhism
Originating in the seminal work of Greenleaf, servant leadership is a paradoxical approach to leadership that challengers our traditional beliefs about leadership and influence. Servant leadership emphasizes that leaders should be attentive to the needs of the followers, empower them, and help them develop their full human capacities. They build strong relationships, with others, are empathic, and ethical, and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, organizations, and the community.
In fact, a true servant leader should also be a spiritual leader” (Lynch & Friedman, 2013, p. 87). A servant leader is one who possesses the power and knowledge to lead a group of people. A servant leader is often also a spiritual leader, with Moses standing out as a notable example. Like Moses, spiritual leaders focus on fulfilling the needs of his or her society. Moses had personal motivation for leadership that enabled him to become a power full leader for his people.
Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Northouse stated that this edition of his book was written with an objective to bridge the gap between simplistic approaches to leadership to more abstract approaches. Chapter 9 of this book is entitled Transformational Leadership. It defines this model as the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. Hidden away in Chapter 14, Leadership Ethics, we find servant leadership. These models emphasize that leaders be more attentive to the concerns of their followers and empathize with them. In addition, they should take care of them. In addition, they should take care of them and nurture them.
Servant leadership is one of several models that have some basis in ethics, according to Northouse (2013), in this way servant leadership distinguishes itself from trait, path-goal or transformational models. The aim of this paper will be to examine on attribute of servant-leadership, describing how the principles might be applied, and the impact of such an approach, in a practical setting. The second part of this paper will evaluate servant leadership’s relationship with the Christian religion and ask whether the model is compatible with other belief systems.
Leaders believe people have an intrinsic value beyond tangible contributions as workers. As a result, genuine interest in the spiritual, professional and personal growth of all employees is demonstrated.
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.
From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,
I consider that is very important that a Servant Leader has very highly defined morals and values, because the whole purpose is to serve others with love and as if we are doing it to serve God. Depending on this leader’s worldview his followers will be guided, so that is why I consider of outmost importance for the Servant leader to know who he is and for what guides his journey (Blanchard & Barrett, 2011). The strengths of the Servant Leadership approach are that it unites and creates a strong and friendly work environment; it also leads to having joyful people doing their work with love and care because they feel appreciated and important. I don’t believe there is a weakness to this approach other than the servant leader may become too lenient and forgetting that he is she is there to guide and redirect the ones that are not doing things right.
Servant leadership is a type of leadership whereby the leader serves the needs of the people, empathizes with them, and involves them in solving their needs. Servant leadership is all about involving the people you are leading in your decision making, being ethical and caring for the people to enhance their personal growth at the same time improve their life. A servant leader does not simply delegate roles; he starts the work and energizes the others to join him and get the work done. According to Spears (2004), the servant leader as defined by Greenleaf is one who gets the natural feeling of wanting to serve first and then a conscious choice brings him/her to lead. This leader makes sure that other people’s highest-priority needs are take
How Servant Leaders Motivate People Servant leadership his become very important in the world today. According to Chan and Mak, servant leadership defines as the “the person who is leader first and who later serves out of the promoting of conscience or in conformity with normative expectations”. According to Boyum (2012), the term servant is defined as “one who is under obligation to work for the benefit of a superior and to obey his or her commands” (p. 33). The ultimate focus of a servant leader is the well-being & continuous development of his team or followers. Although traditional leadership involves the exercise of authority by the individual at the top management level, the situation for the servant leader is difficult. Setting the priorities
The examination of servant leadership has been well documented since the days of the Bible. The Bible tells us about some of the most influential and some of the most heinous leaders throughout its scripture. Through its teachings, the Bible also tells us how to deal with the most difficult leaders and is well-stocked with different mechanisms to do so. One of the most prominent servant leaders is Nehemiah, from the book of Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 4:22-23, Nehemiah demonstrates that he will stand side-by-side with those he was leading in their efforts. He was servant to his earthly king, and he becomes a servant in leading the people of his true King. We are all building a structure in our own lives. There are times when our efforts crumble and
In the book The Servant, the author James C. Hunter discusses Servant Leadership, and the impact it has on every aspect of life. The book begins with a middle-aged man, John, who has it all, a supportive wife and kids and an authoritative job as a manager at a glass factory. John however, feels his life is falling apart, his employees aren’t respecting him and his relationships with his wife and kids are becoming distant and negative. In an attempt to make a change, John attended a week long religious retreat that’s main focus is Servant Leadership. The attendees at this retreat were all very different, their careers varied greatly, and their views on how to be a leader were not alike either. In the end though, they all agreed on one thing, making a change to become a Servant Leader was going to reshape their lives, through both their careers and relationships.
Transformational and servant leadership are rooted in the study of charismatic leadership. An early conceptual model of "charismatic leadership" has been closely linked with the work of Max Weber, who described the leader as a charismatic person who exercised power through followers' identification with and belief in the leader's personality. Both transformational and servant leadership are both inspirational and moral.
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.