Servant And Authentic Leadership Theories

Robert Greenleaf and Christianity call for people to serve. They argue that power comes from giving it away and putting oneself in a position to serve others. This essay discusses the similarities and differences between Greenleaf and Christianity’s views of servant leadership. The Christianity’s views are based on Matthew 20: 20-28 .

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

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.

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.

3. Servant leadership is when a leader works not out of his own self-interest, but that of his followers. This is, as claimed by many, the best form of leadership that all should follow. It has been present in the military, specifically the Marine Corps, but

As an ethical theory servant leadership looks at the duties of leaders and the consequences of leadership actions. The approaches to examine the decisions and consequences of ethical leadership include ethical egoism, making decisions that act for the good of the leader; utilitarianism, making decisions that provide benefit to the greatest number; and altruism, actions are only deemed moral if they show primary concern for others. Looking at this set of approaches, it can be seen that servant leadership can be assessed in these terms. The leadership model is described as primarily focused on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong (What is servant leadership n.d.). The servant-leader believes in power sharing, putting the needs of others before himself and helping team members develop and perform as highly as possible. The servant leadership model is made up of the following key

Servant-leadership is widely researched and discussed from a secular and Christian worldview (Fischer, 2010; see also Blanchard & Hodges, 2005). A Christian is called to follow God in all he does but life experiences can be conflicting in dealing with the spiritual and secular context; however, Christ wants his followers to operate within the context of the secular world. True servant-leadership is to emulate how Jesus led those around him - with complete selflessness and by serving others. Moreover, it is challenging for humans to be servant-leaders as they often desire

Organizational consultant S. Chris Edmonds defines servant leadership as “a person's dedication to helping others be their best selves at home, work, and in their community." I totally agree with this philosophy, as I believe an employee will benefit his team and company the most if he can perform the best he can.

Since the beginning of recorded history, leadership has been one of, if not the most important elements in the success or failure of an endeavor. This is whether it involved a prehistoric hunting party or ruling the Roman Empire. Today, leadership is recognized as a vital factor in an organization’s quest to be productive and profitable. For an organization to be competitive and achieve optimum success in the 21st century, it is vital that they employ effective leaders that will be able to communicate their vision and goals, motivate their employees and develop trusting and loyal relationships with its stakeholders. There is no one or best way to accomplish this mission. There have been numerous leadership theories and styles which have been developed over time which can enable leaders to choose which method would be most effective for them in establishing collaborative working relationships and a respectful team environment in a group setting (Landis, Eric A; Hill, Deborah; Harvey, Maurice R, 2014).

Servant leadership can be defined as the skill of empowering others towards a common goal through service to them (Hunter, 2014). The theory of servant leadership was initially written about by Greanleaf in the 1970s even though it has existed for hundreds of years (Parris and Peachey, 2012). Greanleaf believed that servant leadership was brought about by individuals reflecting on personal growth rather than providing a step by step manual on how to be a servant leader (Parris and Peachey, 2012). More recent researchers include in the definition of leadership various attributes such as altruistic calling, service, empowerment,

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,

Greenleaf (1977) states that servant leadership “begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first, then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” (p. 13). This type of leadership can be described as working outside the leaders own interests and instead focusing on opportunities that allow employees to improve and progress. In his essay, Greenleaf clearly specifies that in servant leadership, service comes before leadership and focuses on putting the needs of others first as the primary goal of leadership. It is also implied how caring for our many organizations, and each

Effective Leadership Theories In Organizations Leadership in organizations has been widely discussed, researched and analyzed. Methods of leadership have been developed and theorized. An effective leader has the ability to identify each employees level of capability, allowing them to select the optimum leadership avenue to guide their staff in attaining their objectives. This paper examines the four primary theories in leadership; Situational, Transformational, Servant and Authentic, and how they contribute to the effectiveness of leadership in organizations.

Healing. “One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one 's self and others. Many people have broken spirits and have suffered from a variety of emotional hurts. Although this is part of being human, servant-leaders recognize that they also have an opportunity to "help make whole" those with whom they come in contact” (Spears,

Since this article was a systematic literature review, the authors did not provide their own definition of servant leadership and thus the theory remains under-defined. Parris and Peachey note that most researchers quote Greenleaf’s definition of servant leadership verbatim.