Acid test for the servant leader
Introduction
What is a leadership?
Merriam-Webster defines leadership in three ways: a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc., the time when a person holds the position of leader, and the power or ability to lead other people. In an organizational or business all of these apply. However, the final definition of ability applies most to this answering this question for purposes of this review. Leadership is often identified in the traits and characteristics necessary for what society views as a leader. These characteristics and traits often point to the ability to create or increase effectiveness and efficiency throughout an organization. If we quantify leadership in to a process of inputs to …show more content…
Often practiced and publicized, the discipline of servant leadership is understudied when compared to leadership as a whole. (Parris & Peachey, 2013) Parris and Peachey’s “Systematic literature review of servant leadership in organization contexts” attempts to address the state of understudy by reviewing studies related to servant leadership theory. The focus of their review is on empirical as opposed to anecdotal theory. Post Greenleaf, studies by Russell and Stone in 2002, Barbuto and Wheeler in 2006, and Van Dierendonck in 2011 focus on attributes that characterize a servant leader. In Parris and Peachey’s conclusion it is admitted that servant leadership is hard to view operationally and theory remains primarily anecdotal with variations from study to …show more content…
The article touches on transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and spiritual leadership as comparisons. (Reed et al., 2011) Of key note in their article is the theory of the ethical leader. With this theory leaders are to be honest, caring, and principled while making fair and balanced decisions. It appears to have the closest ties to servant leadership and to a degree the two theories can work hand in hand. Similarities and differences of what is commonly viewed in servant leadership are compared against the aforementioned theories. Reed and Vidaver-Cohen break down servant leadership into five factors that include interpersonal support, building community, altruism, egalitarianism, and moral integrity concluding that leaders have great power and that power can be harmful. Servant leadership is also viewed more as a development for leaders to balance against this
Introduction
What is a leadership?
Merriam-Webster defines leadership in three ways: a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc., the time when a person holds the position of leader, and the power or ability to lead other people. In an organizational or business all of these apply. However, the final definition of ability applies most to this answering this question for purposes of this review. Leadership is often identified in the traits and characteristics necessary for what society views as a leader. These characteristics and traits often point to the ability to create or increase effectiveness and efficiency throughout an organization. If we quantify leadership in to a process of inputs to …show more content…
Often practiced and publicized, the discipline of servant leadership is understudied when compared to leadership as a whole. (Parris & Peachey, 2013) Parris and Peachey’s “Systematic literature review of servant leadership in organization contexts” attempts to address the state of understudy by reviewing studies related to servant leadership theory. The focus of their review is on empirical as opposed to anecdotal theory. Post Greenleaf, studies by Russell and Stone in 2002, Barbuto and Wheeler in 2006, and Van Dierendonck in 2011 focus on attributes that characterize a servant leader. In Parris and Peachey’s conclusion it is admitted that servant leadership is hard to view operationally and theory remains primarily anecdotal with variations from study to …show more content…
The article touches on transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and spiritual leadership as comparisons. (Reed et al., 2011) Of key note in their article is the theory of the ethical leader. With this theory leaders are to be honest, caring, and principled while making fair and balanced decisions. It appears to have the closest ties to servant leadership and to a degree the two theories can work hand in hand. Similarities and differences of what is commonly viewed in servant leadership are compared against the aforementioned theories. Reed and Vidaver-Cohen break down servant leadership into five factors that include interpersonal support, building community, altruism, egalitarianism, and moral integrity concluding that leaders have great power and that power can be harmful. Servant leadership is also viewed more as a development for leaders to balance against this