Annotated Bibliography Essay

The idea of injecting a servant leadership approach within a society riddled with thoughts and desires to be #1 is counterintuitive to not only the culture, but the very nature of man. We would all agree that modeling the behavior that Jesus exhibited in the upper room isn’t what we all aspire to do—at least on a very basic, natural level. However, this is the very idea and hallmark that author James Hunter is trying to instill in others in his book The Servant. That is, that we should lead people the way that we would want be lead ourselves—that the essence of ultimate leadership can only be expressed through love. Points such as others’ centered leadership, values for individual development as a leader and how these expressed

Those that follow a transformational leadership framework believe that leaders possess many of the aforementioned qualities, but the focus is on one’s ability to inspire and empower others (Ross, Fitzpatrick, Click, Krouse, & Clavelle, 2014). These leaders literally ‘transform’ their followers by inspiring enthusiasm and performance towards a

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.

James A. Autry is the author of the bestselling book The Servant Leader. He has put together the fundamental skills every leader should hold in order for them to successfully run their businesses. Within thirteen chapters, the book has been divided into four categories: a foundation of character and vision, servant leader as manager: the everyday nuts and bolts, the harsh realities of organizational life, and finding the balance. The importance of developing yourself into the character of ‘servant leadership’ is identified to show how to harness productivity, creativity, courage, a nurturing nature, and handle both short and long term management situations. Although a particular purpose or mission leads every organization, all organizations are in a sense the same. The dependency on people is a dominant factor (Autry 2001, xviii).

There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.

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

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

Servant leadership begins when a leader is selfless and understands the nature of being a servant. The term servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in “The Servant as Leader” essay which was published in 1970. The mindset of a servant leader is one who wants to give back to others first and believes in selfless service. The ability to lead and aspire to be selfless is a skill every leader does not have. Over time, servant leaders like Nelson Mandela and Angela Merkel have been seen in their perspective countries. From childhood to young adults, both Mandela and Merkel has should servant leader qualities in their demographics.

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.

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).

Tyner, A. R. (2015, July). Ten motivational quotes on servant leadership. GPSolo eReport, 4(12). Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2015/july_2015/ten_motivational_quotes_on_servant_leadership.html

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

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.

Transformational leaders are proactive, inspire, provide individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and idealized influence to their staff. Learning opportunities are created, encouragement to solve problems and development of strong emotional bonds are tools transformational leaders provide. Finally transformational leaders possess integrity, vision, rhetorical and management skills, and motivate staff to aspire to goals beyond self-interest. Transactional leaders focus on setting objectives or goals and creating a reward system upon attainment of the goals. Google exhibits the transformational style of leadership that comes in part from their servant leadership style. Smith (2004) defines six components of servant leadership: valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, sharing leadership the style adopted by Google leadership

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.