Management
BMAL 700 Discussion Board 2
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership positions itself alone from other leadership approaches with its stout focus on leader behaviors that prioritize and gratifies followers’ needs (Greenleaf, 1977). The literature has shown that servant leadership has useful outcomes for followers (Chen, Zhu, & Zhou, 2015) and organizations. The significance of servant leadership is evident in meta-analytic findings indicating that servant leadership predicts a range of organizationally relevant outcomes beyond transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and ethical leadership. Which prompted some scholars to conclude that servant leadership has “more promise as a stand-alone leadership” than other leadership approaches (Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, & Wu, 2018).
Over the years, numerous searches have conducted to assist and point businesses and various organizations to the right leadership approach that best suits their structure. We find out that during this research, there has not been a perfect one without cons. So, while research still goes on, we are left to consider past reports theories that best fit our organization in making the organizational decision that will bring about success and achievement of goals. While empirical research on the effect of servant leadership has traditionally been varying limited, it has gained momentum in recent years (Hunter et al., 2013, p.316).
The concept of servant leadership, as we know, was learned from Robert Greenleaf (Greenleaf 1970), and the idea behind this concept first is that we are here to serve the organization. There is no general agreement on a definition of servant leadership, but the servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the essential feeling that one wants to serve first. Then awareness brings one to aspire to lead. The higher the organization’s ladder, the more people we are there to serve, and not the more people who are there to serve us. The scholar Merida puts it this way “treasure God above all, and serve others faithfully” (2015, p.62). As honest as it may sound, this concept may pose challenging for many, especially for those who genuinely do not possess a servant leadership attitude. The scripture made it clear in Matthew 20:28 (New Living Translation), ” For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ramson for many.” Therefore, we should have the same mind in Christ to serve and lead the organization and the people right. Hence, it is essential to note that people have different ideas about what truly is servant leadership.
As Sendjaya (2015, p.73) highlights, “Servant leaders accept others not by selecting perfect people, but by seeing imperfect people perfectly.” Also, servant leadership emphasizes employee emotional well-being than other leadership theories do (Newman et al. 2017). Unlike most leaders devoted to maximizing personal or organizational interests, servant-leaders devote to employee needs and development. They are fully aware of employees’ emotional, spiritual, relational, and other needs, all of which they support equally (Yoshida et al. 2014; Sendjaya 2015). Attention, support, and care from servant leaders, in turn, help employees express their “true selves, develop their sense of well-being and shape their emotional maturity” (Liden et al. 2008, 2014; Sendjaya 2015; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015). For these reasons, servant leadership is more likely to help employees improve their interpersonal acceptance and emotional well-being.
The research established that “servant leadership is expressively associated with better job attitudes, less turnover, better organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), creativity, and increased performance” (van Dierendonck 2011; Liden et al. 2014; Feng et al. 2015). Specifically, servant leaders not only bring their authentic selves to work, but also encourage employees to express themselves in ways that are consistent with feelings and thoughts. When employees feel safe, they are willing to express their feelings more freely instead of suppressing them or regulating their facial expressions (Rego et al. 2015).
Servant leaders exist in public and non-profit organizations to serve others and help them live a better life. Therefore, it is necessary for leaders in these organizations to embrace servant leadership as they regard serving others as the top priority, whether for staff, customers, clients, or community. Dimock (2016) considered the non-profit organization an appropriate place to conduct and develop servant leadership. In contrast to for-profit organizations, public organizations are not motivated for profit, and they often provide public services under limited resources and other difficulties. Thus, leaders of public organizations are forced to focus on mission and limited resources (such as human resources or budgets). As a result, this may render servant leadership unable to stand for an extended period in its development (Patrick Lo et al., 2018, p.251).
Reference
Chen, Z., Zhu, J., & Zhou, M. (201). How does a servant leader fuel the service fire? A multilevel model of servant leadership, individual self-identity, group competition climate, and customer service performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100: 511-521.
Chenwei, L., Hun, W. Lee., R, E. J. (2020). Serving you depletes me? A leader-centric examination of servant leadership behaviors.
Feng, X., Verdorfer, A. P., & Peus, C. V. (2015). Thriving in turbulent times: Servant leadership as a pathway to employee well-being and retention. In Academy of management proceedings.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis.
Heidi Paesen, K., Wouter, & Jeroen, M. (2019). Servant leader, ethical followers. The effect of servant leadership on employee deviance.
Sendjaya, S. (2015). Personal and organizational excellence through servant leadership.
Van, D., & Patterson, K. (2015). Compassionate love as a cornerstone of servant leadership: An integration of previous theorizing and research.
Lord, R. G., Day, D. V., Zaccaro, S. J., Avolio, B. J., & Eagly, A. H. (2017). Leadership in applied psychology:
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452.
Martin, L. (2020). Can servant leaders fuel the leadership fire? The relationship between servant leadership and followers, leadership avoidance.
Merida, T. (2015). Christ-centered exposition. Exalting Jesus in 1 &2 Kings.
Northouse, P. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th eds). Sage Publications Inc.
Patrick, Lo., Bradley, A., & Na, Wang. (2018). Servant leadership theory in practice: North America’s leading public libraries.
Rego, A., Júnior, D. R., & e Cunha, M. P. (2015). Authentic leaders promoting store performance: The mediating roles of virtuousness and potency.
Junting, Lu., Zhe, Z., & Ming, J. (2018). Does servant leadership affect employees’ emotional labor? A Social information‑processing perspective.
4 Sep 2020 23:46
****student 1 RAY Replies 250 words
*****student 2 RACHEL replies 250 words
These need to be separated out and not merged at all these are two seperate replies
GRADING RUBIC
Replies: Grammar, Spelling, APA formatting, word count 4 point
This course utilizes the Post-First feature in all Discussion Board Forums. This means you will only be able to read and interact with your classmates’ threads after you have submitted your thread in response to the provided prompt.
250 words per student separate out
Ray Zuniga
Situational Leadership Theory
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RAY A. ZUNIGA
BMAL 700
Leadership Theories: Situational Leadership Theory
There are many leadership theories in practice. Five of the most well-known styles are authoritarian, transformational, servant, moral, and situational (Smith, et al, 2018). The situational leadership style is applicable in the today’s world as it was in 1969 when it was first introduced by Paul Hershey and Ken Blanchard (Smith, et al, 2018).
The theory’s premise is that there is no single, best leadership style, but instead different styles that are used depending on the situation (Chapman, 2018). Leadership development and success using this theory is based on “the ability and the willingness of the individual or group” (Chapman, 2018) the leader is interacting with and attempting to influence. In other words, leaders alter their style to fit the needs of their followers and the situation. Situational leadership theory is based on a leadership life-cycle model that has four categories based on the leadership style needed and the willingness and ability of the followers (Wright, 2017). The four categories are: (1) telling or directing, (2) selling or coaching, (3) participating or supporting, and (4) delegating (Wright, 2017) (Smith, et al, 2018). A leader would analyze the situation or “readiness” (Wright, 2017) by evaluating his/her follower or group of followers and determine how willing or enthusiastic they are to accomplish a task along with the ability or skillsets of the follower(s). The leader then tailors their leadership accordingly.
A group that has low willingness and low ability will require a directive leadership style where the leader is providing specific instructions while also motivating and training throughout the task. A group that has low willingness but high ability would require a more coaching or selling leadership style. Here, the team or group has a high aptitude but needs to understand why the task is important and the leader is influences in order to accomplish goals. Followers who have high willingness but low ability call for using participating or supporting style where the leader guides and trains the followers but doesn’t need to motivate as much. Lastly, a group who has a high ability and high motivation doesn’t need the leader’s involvement to same extent that the previously mentioned categories and thus can alter his/her leadership to a delegation style. The ultimate goal along the situational leadership life-cycle would be for the leader to grow their followers to the point where the delegation style is used. Through training, influencing, and confidence building the leader develops their followers to the point that the leader need only describe the task or goal and then delegate accomplishment of that goal to a well-established, skilled, and passionate group that requires little direction or motivation.
The situational leadership model is common in the military world. Military leaders often tailor their leadership styles based on the type of group they are leading. Leaders of basic trainees or cadets will use a more directive style while that same leader who then commands an organization of experts or more senior members will adjust his/her leadership accordingly using a more coaching or even delegating style. This model is applicable within any organization. As a leader, it is critical to be able to analyze a given situation, the experience of employees, while recognizing the nuances of internal and external factors that affect that situation. The leader must then tailor and adjust his/her style to various levels, sectors, or individuals based on those factors within the group that is their charge. This model is applicable in any sector or industry. It is a popular in human resources development and used in by professionals and trainers alike (Wright, 2017).
The situational leadership theory focuses on development of the leader in order to increase their leadership skillsets to have an extensive set of tools to pick from and apply to any given situation. There is no one-size-fits all leadership theory (Chapman, 2018). Therefore, a successful leader must have a wide-ranging set of skills and understanding on how to adjust him/herself for the given situation.
