Servant Leadership Research and Application Paper
Kim Harrington
Grand Canyon University: LDR - 630
November 8, 2015 Servant Leadership Research and Application Paper
Introduction
There are many leadership an organization can used to help improve their organizations, the main focus for this paper will be on Servant leadership and it will contrast and compare them it to tow other leadership models. Servant leadership is a model that is becoming more and more popular in modern leadership environments. Servant leadership can be used to help many organizations change their processes and make improvements to make it a better work environment for the staff and clients. By using the servant leadership model to help the organization meet their mission and vision to take them to the next level in their organization.
Concept of Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership first developed in the 1970’s by Robert K. Greenleaf. According to Greanleaf, servant leaders are leaders who put other people’s needs, aspirations and interests above their own (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). In this model leaders are expected to serve their employees first before they lead. They want to be able to grow their employees, motivate them and help them become the best that they can be. This concept is very different from other models whereas it puts the employees first above themselves. This can be a hard concept for some leaders. According to Northouse, 2013, servant leadership emphasizes that leaders be
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.
Servant Leadership is defined as a leadership that is based on serving others altruistically. Servant leaders put the wellbeing of their followers ahead of their own needs in order to see them grow to their fullest potential. The leader makes sure that their followers grow as persons, become wiser, healthier, freer, and more likely to become servant leaders themselves (Northouse, 2013).
“Servant Leadership” throughout history has always been a vital concept to grasp as leaders, however the actual term was not coined until the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf in his essay The Servant as a Leader. Greenleaf depicts the concept of servant leadership as being a servant first meaning the leader is always willing, ready, and eager to assist those around them in order to create the best environment for everyone to work towards achieving goals.
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
The phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as a Leader, an essay he first published in 1970 ("What is servant," ). The servant leader serves first, while aspiring to lead second. The servant leader serves the people that he or she leads, implying employees are an end in themselves rather than a means to organizational purpose or bottom-line. Servant leadership is meant to replace a command and control, top-down, model of management. Servant leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment. A few famous examples of servant leaders are George Washington, Gandi and Caesar Chavez.
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.
The servant leadership theory is an idea first presented by Robert K. Greenleaf. It is to be understood as a sort of leadership ideology where the leader of a group interacts with his or her subordinates as almost a friend or equivalent. The objective is to achieve
Servant leadership begins when a leader is selfless and understands the nature of being a servant. The term servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in “The Servant as Leader” essay which was published in 1970. The mindset of a servant leader is one who wants to give back to others first and believes in selfless service. The ability to lead and aspire to be selfless is a skill every leader does not have. Over time, servant leaders like Nelson Mandela and Angela Merkel have been seen in their perspective countries. From childhood to young adults, both Mandela and Merkel has should servant leader qualities in their demographics.
Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf(1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his
The term, “servant leadership” was first coined in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The concept was introduced in Greenleaf’s essay, The Servant as Leader (Greenleaf, 1991). In Greenleaf’s essay he mentions that a servant leader focuses on the growth, as well as the wellbeing of the people and the communities that they belong in (Greenleaf, 1991). A servant leader helps others work at their best, which I believe results in authority for the servant leader. Hunter’s book mentions this when a student discovers that the right to be called a leader starts out with having the proper will. With the proper will, comes the decision to love others (Hunter, 1998). He defines “loving others” as the ability to meeting the needs of the subordinate, this leads to
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
Leadership theories and practices are quite numerous, many leaders start out with one style and over the years adopt various styles and practices based on the organization and the situation that they are faced with. However, throughout the years two important aspects of leadership has remained constant. (Ferch & Mitchell, 2001, p. 81) pointed out that “leadership is a relational phenomenon that occurs between people, and the fundamental goal of leadership is to remain as effective as possible”. Servant leadership is one theory that I predominantly identify with because it focuses on the relationship with a goal of improving an individual or an organization.
*The name of the individual has been changed to protect his privacy When I think of leadership, especially servant leadership, one name stands above the rest from my personal experiences. My dean of students at the university where I received my undergraduate was an exemplary model of a servant-leader. The best leaders put the organization and those working within that organization above their own personal goals and well being. Luke was a walking definition of servant-leadership.
As written in the lines above, employee engagement has a significant impact on an employee and their engagement. Although there has been many articles and research written about leadership and servant leadership, in this study, it will provide and overview, key traits and influences that servant leaders use in collaboration to address significant problems with strategy and other individuals. Therefore, how do managers and leaders facilitate the engagement of their employees? Leaders do this through their leadership style. In 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf identified servant-leadership, which was different from the traditional views of leadership. According to Greenleaf, “The servant-leader is a servant first. Servant
The authors of the review state that they focused on providing an informed answer to how servant leadership works and how it could be applied in organisations. A systematic literature review was conducted with a final tally of 39 studies deemed appropriate for the exercise.