Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership in a Global Economy

Mark Rivers

Webster University

MNGT 5670

18 December 2012

Servant Leadership in a Global Economy

With any form of management, a balanced approach is necessary to deal with the diverse nature of today’s business environment. However, servant leadership provides the opportunity to best manage an organization as a whole. Servant leadership model relies on four basic tenants; putting service before self interest, listening first to affirm others, inspiring trust by being trustworthy, and nourishing others to help them become whole (Daft, 2008). Research such as the Ohio State Studies and the Michigan Studies has consistently shown serving-type relationships between manager and employee to be an integral component to highly effective leadership. The studies both identified characteristics of leaders as they related to tasks and personnel. In the Ohio State Studies, these were identified as initiating and considering structures, respectively. Managers taking on a Servant Leadership role would naturally exhibit high consideration traits such as listening to and caring about employees or subordinates. These traits indicate a responsibility to the entire group rather than just the task or performance measure. The Michigan Studies, although taking a slightly different approach, also looked at task versus person and the interaction between the two. In order to achieve the greatest good for the organization, a high concern for people is necessary. According to the distinguished professor and author Peter Senge (####), “today’s innovators are showing how to create a different future by learning how to see the larger systems of which they are a part of and to foster collaboration across every imaginable boundary.” Good servant leaders recognize that the employees, the company, and they themselves are all part of a greater system within their organizational structure. As someone with several years of management...