momentum among scholars and practitioners in the past 20 years (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). Twenty-first century scholars presented the servant leader as one moving beyond being transformational. These servant leaders possess the intent of transforming those served to grow personally and professionally, become more autonomous, and increase the likelihood of becoming servants themselves (Spears & Lawrence, 2004). Studies have shown a relationship between implementing principles of servant leadership and positive organizational climate (Ehrhart, 2004; Hunt, 2002; McCowan, 2004).
In Good to Great, Jim Collins (2001) describes the highest level of leadership as a Level 5 leader, who is a servant leader. Collins also contends the companies that evolved from good to great had Level 5 leaders and that the transformational power of the servant leader and the effect that he/she has on a group of employees and colleagues to lift an organization from mediocrity to greatness is astounding.
Greenleaf (2002) defined servant leadership as leaders who are servant leaders who aspire to serve first, and then choose to lead. Greenleaf identified some common servant leadership characteristics as being love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empower and service. Shaw & Newton (2014) made a statement that the practice of servant leadership in schools could have a similar impact, particularly as it relates to teacher satisfaction and retention.
The Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study
A servant leader must listen to a person fully without interrupting or judging them. While doing my service at the animal shelter there were two other people doing service. They were prisoners wearing the orange jumpsuit. Although most people would assume they are bad and not to talk to them, me and my group had a conversation with them about the dogs. They showed a lot of compassion about what they were doing. Although it was work they were forced to do they gave it their all. I listened and communicated with them the entire time without judging whatever they might have done. This was showing servant leadership in one of the hardest
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.
Servant Leadership is a leadership style that primarily focuses on the people side of leadership. It was developed by Robert Greenleaf in the early 1970s.
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.
Servant leadership, as it applies to the modern world, is a concept that Robert Greenleaf defined in his influential 1970 essay, The Servant as Leader. Greenleaf’s essay explains that servant leadership is an amalgam of concrete leadership styles and “fragments of data” that came to him through “intuitive insight” (1970). Having worked at AT&T from 1926-1964, he accumulated a number of leadership qualities throughout his professional career. After retirement he began teaching at Harvard Business School, but became distressed by younger generations and their rebellious attitudes. After careful consideration, he decided institutions were doing a poor job of serving, so they were doing a poor job of leading. His
Servanthood is to serve the needs of the people in the best way possible and bring forth the greatness these individuals have to offer their community. Being a servant leader also means being selfless. Leaders are placed in certain organizations and a position to bring forth the calling and vision God has for His people. Servant leadership in it entity is to motivate and encourage individuals to turn away from self-serving. Wilkes, author of the book, Jesus on Leadership, says it the best, “A servant leader serves the mission and leads by serving those on the mission with him”
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
Servant leadership breaks the tradition of top down leadership. According to Schwartes (2015), there are ten characteristics an effective servant leader should follow. The effective leader utilizes active listening and thoughtful responses with their followers. They use empathy; they listen without demonstrating judgement. The environment should be safe and the leader should feel that they are a whole person. The leader is aware of the surroundings; they are the expert in their environment. The leader utilizes persuasion and conceptualization; the followers are free to express their thoughts without repercussions and that problems will be solved proactively. The leader also demonstrates a commitment to their community by showing that they serve the overall need of the servants and environment.
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.
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
In the contemporary world, large-scale application of servant leadership in existent organizations remains uncommon. That is for sure given the large proportion of institutions, which are yet to implement this concept despite the efficacy depicted in the current state of evidence. Understanding of the barriers to implementation of servant leadership is inevitable.
One of the goals of servant leadership is to replicate servant leadership qualities and behaviors in others. The authors present an empirical investigation using a survey developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006), to determine if servant leaders can create a corporate culture where this is possible. This article points to the organizational level at which the tone or overarching direction is set and the key element of service and employee empowerment that impacts cooperation, learning and customer relations. It also reinforces the position that many of the research on this subject have stated, that employee fulfillment, leading by example and role modeling set the stage for servant leadership to be accepted and mimicked by employees. Participants in this study were interviewed to
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.
Servant-leaders must reinforce these important skills by making a deep commitment to actively listening to others. Servant-leaders seek to identify and clarify the will of a group. They seek to listen receptively to what is being and said (and not said) among others. By listening with intent, followers feel understood and valued, even under pressure, the servant leader demonstrates a sense of empathy and compassion by taking the time to understand what one's body, spirit, and mind are communicating.
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.