Servant Leadership Style Analysis

The foundation of my personal leadership philosophy can be found in the principles of servant leadership as spelled out by Greenleaf (1970, 1977). Leadership is granted to individuals who are by nature servants. An individual emerges as a leader by first becoming a servant. Servant leaders attend to the needs of those they serve and help them become more informed, free, self-sufficient, and like servants themselves. Leaders and those they serve improve, enhance, and develop each other through their connection. A leader must also be conscious of inequalities and social injustices in the organizations they serve and work actively to resolve those issues. Servant leaders rely less on the use of official power and control, but focus on empowering those they

James A. Autry is the author of the bestselling book The Servant Leader. He has put together the fundamental skills every leader should hold in order for them to successfully run their businesses. Within thirteen chapters, the book has been divided into four categories: a foundation of character and vision, servant leader as manager: the everyday nuts and bolts, the harsh realities of organizational life, and finding the balance. The importance of developing yourself into the character of ‘servant leadership’ is identified to show how to harness productivity, creativity, courage, a nurturing nature, and handle both short and long term management situations. Although a particular purpose or mission leads every organization, all organizations are in a sense the same. The dependency on people is a dominant factor (Autry 2001, xviii).

After viewing the videos on Geoff Canada, I was greatly astonished not only by the amount of passion Canada showed towards fulfilling his goal of providing underprivileged children with a quality education, but the level of discipline he took towards achieving it. This is so as Canada displays a strong level of servant leadership by treating each of his students with an equal sense of dignity regardless of their past and views them as an opportunity for greater success. In addition, Canada keeps his ultimate goal of ensuring that every student graduates and succeeds in college at the forefront of his endeavors, which demonstrates his persistence towards achieving it. One instance of this is the fact that Canada would willing to fire teachers

I previously answered this question as being a servant of people while leading. However, following the module my thoughts have changed because it is realized that Jesus’ role on earth was that of a servant and He was the greatest leader of all. The module taught, according to the writings of Robert Greenleaf (1977), the greatness of a leader is first experienced by people who witness one as a servant. Also learned, Kathleen Patterson’s view that a servant leader’s focus is follower-focused instead of the primary focus on organizational objectives. The module revealed Patterson’s suggestion of seven virtuous constructs in the process of servant leadership. The process included Agapao, which is a Greek term for love that pursues right-doing at

This article discusses the servant leadership and its application in a work environment. The author, Bret L. Simmons, explains that the organizations can only excel when the employees go above and beyond their formal job descriptions (Simmons, 2010). Simmons has also examined a research study. The study states that the creation of a positive work environment that prioritizes to take care of the employees could help flourish the business faster. He states that expecting the employees to go above and beyond when the management treats them terribly is quite unreasonable. Simmons goes on to discuss the five steps

The concept I found most interesting from the Servant Leadership lecture was when he said that it was possible that we would not learn anything new in this class. He said that student leadership hasn’t changed, there’s nothing new and exciting about it. This was interesting to me because I did come into this with the mindset that I was going to be given new tools with which to approach the world, whereas it sounds like it may just be a place to develop knowledge we may already have.

Shannon, you give great points about why you think servant leadership should be conceptualized as a behavior rather than as a trait. You also give a great summary at the last two paragraphs about what affects servant leadership, and how this make this behavior constantly change.

The second area I need to improve is my conceptualization skills. As a servant leader, I must be able to articulate the vision for organizational and performance goals to my team (Russell, 2016). According to Spears (2010), “The ability to look at a problem or an organization from a conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day realities;” therefore, conceptualization is aligned with the servant leadership theory because it is a primary objective of the servant leader (p. 28).

The terms servant and leader are typically thought of as being contradictory terms. However, the theory of servant leadership has started gaining more and more notoriety over the last several years. Many organizations are learning that the management and leadership styles of the past are no longer inspiring or influencing the workers of today (Hunter, 1998). Servant leadership combines being able to identify and meet the needs of employees and patients by using the characteristics one poses to positively impact and influence them. Most simply put it is the combination of utilizing ones characteristics to do the right thing (Hunter, 1998). The Servant describes many characteristics that make a leader a good leader and this paper will explore a few of those characteristics and how they influence the nursing profession. Namely, commitment to the growth of others, empathy and being an active or productive listener.

I believe that the Servant Leadership Theory best exemplifies my leadership style. According to Greenleaf.org, the servant leadership theory is a “philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and ultimately creates a more just and caring world” (2015). I believe this theory applies to me because I try to practice its principles both personally and professionally. I believe the individual’s needs come before the needs of the business. Individuals that are happy and healthy make both the team and the overall organization strong and successful.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory explains the two-fold connection and the communication between a leader and subordinate. In comparison to the other leadership theories, the LMX theory is different because it focuses on the distinct relationships between the leader and each follower and the dual alliance that they share.It determines the extent to which leaders and followers have common respect for each other’s skills, personally feel a greater sense of compatible trust, and have a good sense of responsibility to each other. My questionnaire scores were in the high range for completing the questions both as a leader and a follower. My scores regarding my relationship with myleader were very high, a 35. In describing my relationship with followers, my score was in the high range, a 29. Reflecting about my scores, I wasn’t surprised about the results. I feel that in the role of leadership, I would work tirelessly to provide a positive work environment as well as positive relationships with my followers.But, there remains an area where I could improve in communicating better with followers. Being an all-inclusive leader would ensure that no followers would feel isolated. This includes to always provide a level playing field and to establish an environment where followers are not observing but instead participating. This would lead to an equitable atmosphere and would improve the major points of the leader-member theory: respect, relationships, and work ethic.

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

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.

The Leader-Member- Exchange theory (LMX) considers the interactions between leaders and followers, and assumes that key aspects of the leader follow situation can be assessed and leaders should change behaviour characteristics as required to suit the needs of the follower leadership situation. This model argues that leaders do not treat all followers uniformly (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015).

Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) –Divides relationships into: In-group: * –Special status of follower with leader: trust, liking, respect * –Work hard in exchange for opportunities Out-group * –No special status: less motivated, less competent, etc. * –Less opportunity given 5. Substitutes for leadership –Follower