As with the companies in the case studies, United Service Automobile Association (USAA) illustrates different facets of servant leadership (Northouse, 2013, p.236). The company displays servant leadership based on a mixture of a few of the ten characteristics of servant leadership (Spears, 2002) and the four of the seven servant leadership behaviors (Liden, Wayne, et al.’s, 2008). The characteristics are empathy and listening. The behaviors displayed are putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically, and creating value for the community. Servant leadership is seen in USAA from the creation of the company in 1922 to present.
USAA was started on the basis of empathy. “Empathy is “standing in the shoes” of another person and attempting to see the world from that person’s point of view” (p. 221). This was displayed when 25 Army officers agreed to insure each other 's vehicles when no one else would. The felt the heartache of not being able to find anyone to insure their automobile, so after discussing the issue with each other they came up with a way to insure each other to drive within the legal perimeters of the law. These Army officers started the company for personal reasons and now USAA provides services and products to over 10 million members (n.d, 2014). The company is more than just an automobile insurance company. They provide a variety of services that include: insurance, banking, investing, real estate, retirement planning, health
Overall, support and conscientious behaviors associated with organizations establishing a culture of servant leadership seem to prove their strategy through the test of time of market recessions and gains. Likewise, servant leadership appears in areas that include pay administration, employee empowerment, training, and employee development in additional companies, such as Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and TDIndustries (Jones, 2012). The servant leader provides the follower with everything needed to achieve success, as well as the opportunity to flourish through their servant leader illustration. Furthermore, in Jones’ (2012) research of leadership styles he noted greater profits were not the underlying reasons for implementing and sustaining
Servant leaders puts their followers first versus the goals and objectives of the organization, which limits organizational strategy and processes and lacks continuous improvement of core competencies; therefore, there is no research to date that proves this leadership style increases organizational performance (de Waal & Sivro, 2012). In contrast, as a positive, communication strategies of servant leaders are rewarded with employee loyalty and decreased staff turnover which increase patient outcomes and satisfaction due to staff feelings of appreciation and compassion from the servant leader (Marquis & Huston,
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
Servant leadership is an effectual way to motivate the employees. Its unique emphasis on concern for
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 article poses a very vital question to the perspective leader. It simply asks, “Do you have what it takes to be a servant leader?” The authors of the article introduce servant leadership by asking a series of questions, which causes the reader to determine if they may be a perspective servant leader. Next, the article focuses on 11 characteristics that identify a servant leader. Some of
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
Fortune 500 company, United Services Automobile Association (USAA) began as a small group of 25 U.S. Army officers in 1922. Nearly 90 years later, it is now an organization with more than 7.4 million members, offering banking, investing, retirement and insurance services worldwide. Since its inception, USAA has expanded membership eligibility to include all members of the Armed Forces and their family. What makes USAA stand out is that it is not a corporation, but an inter-insurance exchange. This allows each member to be insured by every other member concurrently, yet only liable for the premiums which they have paid in. Since
Boone, L. W., & Makhani, S. (2012). Five Necessary Attitudes of a Servant Leader. Review Of Business, 33(1), 83-96. Retrieved from: http://wguproxy.egloballibrary.com/login?user=true&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=heh&AN=86286635&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This paper is based on my personal philosophy the art of servant leadership within organizations, and in the community. According to the author Aubrey Malphurs, he asserts “that there are leaders who “have the ability to lead, influence others based on certain leadership characteristics, strengths and weakness.” It is within these leadership strengths and weaknesses, there are benefits and opportunities to empower others. However, there are good and great leaders, a great leader is much more desirable, in that great leaders are driven to lead and serve their followers. Great leaders have the characteristics to be effective and empower their followers, this is the art of Servant leadership, the art of knowing how to care for others in the most
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,
Dr. Kent M. Keith was a presenter on behalf of the Greenleaf Seminar on Servant Leadership at the 53rd annual conference for the Arizona School Boards Association in December, 2010. He correctly pointed out that servant leadership is about serving others, about becoming distinguished through the altruistic desire to serve, and about the "…universal recognition of the importance of serving others" (Keith, 2010).
What type of servant leader behaviors did Herb Kelleher exhibit in starting the airline? What about Colleen Barrett?
By being a servant leader, I will put the needs of my employees first to ensure that my company is socially responsible through quality customer service rendered by me and employees. Since leadership is considered a critical force in producing positive outcomes in organizations through the performance of employees, it is very important to take servant leadership seriously (Grisaffe, VanMeter, Chonko 2016). My main and foremost priority as a servant leader is to serve others with real selflessness before aiming for profit. For instance, as a non-medical owner of a care
The Leadership Theory presented in this document is Servant Leadership. The article summarised herein is “A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts” published in the Journal of Business Ethics, pages 113(3), 377-393, written by D.L. Parris and J.W. Peachey in 2012 but published in the 2013 Journal.