Saturday, September 29, 2012

Servant Leadership


Leadership is a process that can be handled in a variety of ways.  Some leaders lead their followers with an iron fist, while others are very hands off.  The key is to find the right leadership style for each leader.  No one leadership style will work with every leader.  It is for this reason numerous leadership models have been developed. 

“Psychological theories view leadership as a social influence process in which leaders use interpersonal behaviors to motivate followers to contribute to group goals”(Kaiser, Lindber McGinnis, & Overfield, 2012, p. 119).  The way in which a leader gains influence is dependent on their leadership model.  Models such as Servant Leadership are centered on the idea that the leader is to be of service to the followers and their development (Greenleaf, 1977).  This idea of a leader being focused more on the development of the follower than the actual project goal is a founding concept in servant leadership.  While this idea may seem too out of line for a leader, it has assisted in the development of other leadership theories such as Value-Based Leadership.

Value based leadership, which is found under the concept of partnerships, is maximizing the effectiveness of a group or organization by finding common values within the group members (Baloglu, 2012).  The characteristics of valued based leadership are things such as vision, trust, respect for others, and integrity.  These same characteristics are found in the servant leadership model.  The similarities between servant leadership and value based leadership are very important to understanding their commonalities.  The difference in these two models of leadership is the simple fact that servant leaders take a larger interest in their followers and the mentoring of the followers.  While value based leadership appears to have grown from servant leadership it does not focus on the development of the followers, but merely the partnering of followers.

References


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