Category: unit 4

Servant leadership 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. The phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay,

Greenleaf said: “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

According to Spears (2002), there are 10 major characteristics of servant leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.

Servant leadership works best when leaders are altruistic and have a strong motivation and deep-seated interest in helping others. In addition, for successful servant leadership to occur, it is important that followers are open and receptive to servant leaders who want to empower them and help them grow.

Criticism.

The servant leadership approach also has limitations. First, the paradoxical nature of the title “servant leadership” creates semantic noise that diminishes the potential value of the approach. Second, no consensus exists on a common theoretical framework for servant leadership. Third, servant leadership has a utopian ring that conflicts with traditional approaches to leadership. Last, it is not clear why “conceptualizing” is a defining characteristic of servant leadership. Despite the limitations, servant leadership continues to be an engaging approach to leadership that holds much promise.

Southwest Airlines president Colleen Barrett attributes the success of their airline business to their business model of giving the utmost priority to the employees followed by the passengers and then by the shareholders. They preferred and practiced treating the team equally. Colleen B. believed in motivating people. Their principle has been to treat people the way you want to be treated and everything will fall into place. But the foundation for all that, she said, has been making the satisfaction of employees and customers the highest priority. (Video)

Martin Luther King, Jr.  did not always want to be the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the US, but he just knew that there was a need for equality. By putting other people’s needs first, he was able to leave a legacy, which proves that anyone can make a difference through a humble and serving perspective. Until today, some of King’s speeches are still listened to regularly, as people see them as having a ring of truth (https://futureofworking.com/5-famous-servant-leaders/).

References

Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (2016). What is servant leadership? Retrieved from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication

Barrett, C. (2008, July 9). Southwest Airlines’ Colleen Barrett on ‘Servant Leadership’. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TgR95vnM0c

Maxwell, J. (2015, August 30). John Maxwell 5 Levels of Leadership Full Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe6XacmIZms

Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. https://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf)

For Burns (1978), leadership is quite different from power because it is inseparable from followers’ needs. Transformational leadership moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. They become motivated to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the group or organization (Bass & Avolio, 1990).

Bass (1985, pg.no. 20) argued that transformational leadership motivates followers to do more than expected by (a) raising followers’ levels of consciousness about the importance and value of specified and idealized goals, (b) getting followers to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the team or organization, and (c) moving followers to address higher-level needs.

People who exhibit transformational leadership often have a strong set of internal values and ideals, and they are effective at motivating followers to act in ways that support the greater good rather than their own self-interests (Kuhnert, 1994).

Transformational leaders set out to empower followers and nurture them in change. They attempt to raise the consciousness in individuals and to get them to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of others. They listen to followers and are not intolerant of opposing viewpoints. A spirit of cooperation often develops between these leaders and their followers. Followers want to emulate transformational leaders because they learn to trust them and believe in the ideas for which they stand.

Transformational leadership has several weaknesses. One criticism is that it lacks conceptual clarity. It is difficult to define exactly the parameters of transformational leadership. Some studies have challenged the validity of the MLQ, which is the most widely used measure of transformational leadership is the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Transformational leadership treats leadership as a personality trait or personal predisposition rather than a behaviour that people can learn (Bryman, 1992, pg.no 100–102). Researchers have not established that transformational leaders are able to transform individuals and organizations (Antonakis, 2012). Transformational leadership is elitist and antidemocratic according to some (Avolio, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1993). A final criticism of transformational leadership is that it has the potential to be abused.

Despite the weaknesses, transformational leadership appears to be a valuable and widely used approach. A leader that comes to my mind with transformational leadership qualities is Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill portrayed several characteristics, traits, and behaviours of a charismatic and transformational leader which enabled him to adopt a vision and concentrate on the bigger picture, which helped him to claim victory for his nation. When much of Britain was in despair, he excelled and through his inspirational speeches, encouraged people to have faith in him and it enabled him to achieve the goals of the country and lead a democratic nation to victory over Nazi Germany. He was and still is a true inspiration to others. (Eduardo Li).

Referance

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

https://www.supplychain247.com/article/six_leadership_traits_of_sir_winston_churchill)

https://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf)

Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management 37(4), 1228-1261. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0149206310380462

Transformational innovations always depend on the interest of people involved in the work. Interest on work is directly coupled with the satisfaction attained from work. Do what we like and like what we do; if someone does his/her job without any interest then it is like a machine switched on. It is noticeable and many of us know that; all findings and innovations are from the people driven by their passion. They could get the satisfaction from their work. However, majority of the people run normal life and their first preference is to have basic salary to run daily life. But, when life grows, they realize that happiness is more important so, they run from east to west to find happiness. People who have no interest in their job often are depressive and I believe that the percentage of depression increases every year. Here comes the importance of having happiness at work.

In the story by Thomas Carlyle from Light from Many Lamps, “A man must get his happiness out of his work” (pg.no 134) is true in my concept too. This writing unfolds the mentality of majority of the people, as they spend notable hours at their work on daily basis. If the job is not interesting, they carry their unhappiness or tension at work towards home and it will reflect as a negative impact at home atmosphere. End of the day, everyone must come back home and should have peace of mind. Therefore, the tensions at work should not be carried forward. Infact, someone cannot be a good leader without any interest towards his job. Interest towards job creates passion, and skilful leaders are driven by this passion. Thomas Carlyle, himself is a good example for his statement “Blessed is he who has found his work’’ (pg.no 135) as he had to give up many opportunities until he found a work which suits and satisfies him- writing. In our daily life we find many people searching for new opportunities until they get a work which gives ultimate job satisfaction.

Being a nurse, I enjoy the job satisfaction because it was completely my discretion to opt this field since I wanted to do what I love. However, the above statement by Thomas Carlyle has more significance as I personally know many people who have selected this field by looking other aspects, their job becomes a headache and are not able to handle the pressure created by this dissatisfaction. Therefore, it’s our own decision to dream for a fruitful life for that we should know our likes and dislikes and choose the right actions and implement so that it leads the destiny to a happiest one. But I wonder, is this possible for everyone to go for it in this highly competitive life?

Reference
Watson, L.E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York: Simon and Schuster, pg.no 134- 136.