What is Servant Leadership?

Effective leadership is the key to the success of an organisation because the leader focuses on both internal and external factors which influence the performance of the company before forming strategies (Yukl, 2012). The corporations are able to address key challenges which affect their productivity based on effective leadership approach. It provides a competitive advantage to the company which resulted in sustaining the growth of the enterprise. Type of leadership style has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the business which enables the company in avoiding key internal and external issues (Nixon, Harrington and Parker, 2012). As the importance of talented and skilled employees increases on a global level, the leadership styles have changed as well. Many leaders implement servant leadership style in the organisation which is focused on fulfilling the needs of employees to keep them satisfied in the workplace. This essay is focused on defining the servant leadership management approach and how this leadership style is used by leaders to manage their organisation. Various pros and cons of this leadership approach will be discussed in this essay to understand this leadership style. Lastly, a conclusion will be drawn, and recommendations will be given for leaders.

Servant leadership management style is referred to philosophy and set of practices which are followed by a leader in order to enrich the lives of individuals, building better corporations and creating a more just and caring business world (Choudhary, Akhtar, and Zaheer, 2013). Although it is a timeless concept, however, the phrase “servant leadership” was first used in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay. As per this leadership approach, the leader focuses on serving the servant first with natural feeling that one wants to serve with. These leaders attract trust of employees which resulted in improving their credibility of the company. The servant leaders are focused on developing positive corporate culture in the workplace, and they also correct any prevailing negativity in the culture (Jones, 2012). The objective of this leadership approach is to encourage and motivate employees to improve their performance and building strong relationships at the workplace.

This leadership approach is opposed to power leadership in which the leader uses his/her authority for personal ends and manipulates others to achieve the objectives. On the other hand, the servant leaders focus on putting services before leadership, and they focus on fulfilling needs of others (Parris and Peachey, 2013). There are key qualities of a servant leader that distinguish them from power leaders. For instance, the servant leaders give higher value to the diverse opinion of employees. The leaders value everyone’s contribution to the organisation, and they seek out opinions to ensure that they are able to contribute to the decision making process. The servant leaders cultivate a culture of trust in the workplace, and they also develop other leaders rather than stopping them from personal development. They also engage with employees to resolve their life issues, and they encourage them to improve their performance through proper support (Duff, 2013). Based on this leadership management approach, there are various pros and cons which affect the parties involved.

Key Qualities of Servant Leaders

The first advantage of servant leadership management approach is that service is the centre of this style based on which the leader has to set aside his/her desires and wishes in order to listen to employees. In this approach, the decisions are made in the best interest of everyone in the company rather than for the benefit of one or two people (de Wall and Sivro, 2012). Many times, ego become a key factor which drives the decision making of a leader, however, it is not the case in servant leadership approach. It means that the leader is likely to lead the way while thinking and caring about others in the workplace. The second advantage of servant leadership style is removal of a disciplinarian atmosphere because the policies are implemented by employees rather than administrators. Each employee believes that he/she has the responsibility for the outcome of the project since the engage in the decision making which avoids the requirement of disciplinarian environment (Choudhary, Akhtar, and Zaheer, 2013). Managers take request from employees to understand what they consider the best for the business which avoids the requirement of strict discipline-related policies and imposes responsibility on employees.

The third benefit of servant leadership approach is linked with the second advantage; in this approach, the employee gets a sense of ownership in the work since they are engaged in the decision making. It enables them to feel a sense of responsibility which encourages them to improve their productivity and dedication towards their work. It builds a connection of trust and respect between the employees and the management which create a positive working environment (Shekari and Nikooparvar, 2012). The fourth advantage of this approach is diversity in the operations because employees have different personalities, traits, attitudes, cultures, and talents, and the servant leader embraces the diversity in the workforce to foster innovation and positive attitude at workplace. Equality is established in the workplace where discrimination is restricted by the leaders which avoid biases, and it creates a fraternity of people who are diverse which promote innovation in the workplace. This approach builds strong bonds between employees, and it encourages a sense of fulfilment among parties (Zhang, Lin, and Fong Foo, 2012). Another key advantage of this leadership style is that people who are best served are more likely to best serve the customers as well. It also helps the staff members grow and develop their skills which help them become effective leaders in the future.

Along with a wide range of pros, there are some cons related to implementing a servant leadership management approach in the organisation as well. One of the key disadvantages is it that this leadership approach ‘takes time’ to effectively promote productivity in the workplace (Jones, 2012). The leader is required to change attitudes and mentalities of employees in order to build a strong connection with them which takes time. Building a strong bond with trust takes time, and it could be difficult with those employees who used to being led by authoritarian manner to ensure that they adopt as per these changes. The second disadvantage is the lack of willingness to implement this strategy by leaders. Leaders have to change their attitude and increase their engagement with employees which increases resistance in the workplace (Parris and Peachey, 2013). Therefore, implementation of servant leadership is difficult in those areas where administrators are too much caught up o institutional life.  

Advantages of Servant Leadership

This leadership approach resulted in diminishing the authority of a leader due to sharing of responsibilities between all members of a group. The leader has to diversify and delegate its authorities to employees that create challenges if the situation changes and the leaders are required to establish their authority on employees to achieve corporate goals (Boone and Makhani, 2012). The decisions take longer to make in this approach because the leader has to collect the feedback from all members and incorporate them into decision making. Many times, the leaders who implement this approach are considered as weak since they are not able to maintain an administrative approach on the parties. Similarly, corporations also find it difficult to find leaders who are willing to implement a servant leadership management approach (Kool and van Dierendonck, 2012). It creates challenges for the organisation, leaders, and employees which makes it difficult to implement this leadership approach in the organisation.

In conclusion, the servant leadership management approach has become popular in modern organisations with the growing demand for attracting and retaining talented employees in the workplace. These leaders engage with employees to build trust and strong bonds with them; they resolve their personal issues and provide them personal development opportunities. There are various advantages of implementing this approach such as strong bonds and connect with employees, lack of disciplinarian atmosphere, involvement of employees, embracement of diversity, and sense of ownership among employees. However, there are some disadvantages as well such as long time to make decisions, lack of willingness to adopt this strategy, lack of sense of authority of leaders, and leaders are perceived as weak. Following are various recommendations which corporations should comply with while implementing a servant leadership management approach in the organisation.

The leaders should implement this approach in companies where the number of employees is limited and specific skills, and knowledge is required among employees to perform operations. The demand of talented employees has increased, and it has become easier for them to receive higher salary, however, they will be attracted towards a company which offers a servant leadership approach since they will feel a bond with the workplace. They will feel a sense of responsibility which will assist the leaders in attracting and retaining them in the organisation. The leaders should also implement policies of efficient decision making by making it easier for employees to make their contribution. They should delegate the responsibility of decision making in various groups which will increase efficiency since the manager of specific group will require collecting feedback from limited number of employees. Lastly, the leader should not delegate all powers to ensure that he/she is able to take charge of the workplace when needed. This will ensure that the company is able to adopt servant leadership approach to sustain their future growth without facing any issues. 

References

Boone, L.W. and Makhani, S. (2012) Five necessary attitudes of a servant leader. Review of Business, 33(1), p.83.

Choudhary, A.I., Akhtar, S.A. and Zaheer, A. (2013) Impact of transformational and servant leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of business ethics, 116(2), pp.433-440.

de Waal, A. and Sivro, M. (2012) The relation between servant leadership, organizational performance, and the high-performance organization framework. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 19(2), pp.173-190.

Duff, A.J. (2013) Performance management coaching: Servant leadership and gender implications. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 34(3), pp.204-221.

Jones, D. (2012) Does servant leadership lead to greater customer focus and employee satisfaction. Business Studies Journal, 4(2), pp.21-35.

Kool, M. and van Dierendonck, D. (2012) Servant leadership and commitment to change, the mediating role of justice and optimism. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 25(3), pp.422-433.

Nixon, P., Harrington, M. and Parker, D. (2012) Leadership performance is significant to project success or failure: a critical analysis. International Journal of productivity and performance management, 61(2), pp.204-216.

Parris, D.L. and Peachey, J.W. (2013) A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of business ethics, 113(3), pp.377-393.

Shekari, H. and Nikooparvar, M.Z. (2012) Promoting leadership effectiveness in organizations: A case study on the involved factors of servant leadership. International Journal of Business Administration, 3(1), p.54.

Yukl, G. (2012) Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(4), pp.66-85.

Zhang, Y., Lin, T.B. and Fong Foo, S. (2012) Servant leadership: A preferred style of school leadership in Singapore. Chinese Management Studies, 6(2), pp.369-383.