Servant Leadership Philosophy Research Articles

Barriers and bridges: Exploring the introduction of meditation and mindfulness training into Canadian policing

Canadian police organizations are under significant pressure to enhance the health and wellness of their employees. Growing research suggests that training in meditation and mindfulness can contribute to the well-being of police personnel and may even be a catalyst for police reform. Limited research, however, has been conducted that seeks to understand how these practices should be introduced into Canadian police organizations. This article contributes to this understanding by sharing results from an exploratory study that asked 11 Commissioned Officers, who regularly practice meditation, to identify the key factors that should be considered when introducing mindfulness practice into their large Canadian police service. Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and guided by a reflexive thematic analysis approach, six themes were developed. These can be viewed as both barriers (invincibility and stigma; overworked and overstressed; and checkbox cynicism) and bridges (credible champions; the whole person perspective; and the philosophy of servant leadership) to the successful introduction of meditation and mindfulness practices into Canadian police organizations. This study advances the literature on introducing mindfulness to policing as it is one of the first to focus on the perceptions of mindfulness practicing Commissioned Police Officers. It also offers practical suggestions for police leaders, and leaders from other public safety professions, to consider when contemplating the introduction of these mental practices into their organizations.

A Millennial’s leadership perspective: reflections on a decade of mentorship from a servant leader

PurposeThis article illustrates the transformational nature of servant leadership and its capacity to empower and develop others. In it, I recount my close relationship with a high school mentor who embodied the key tenants of Greenleaf’s (1970) servant leadership philosophy. I also advocate for others to provide mentorship and support in a similar fashion.Design/methodology/approachThis Origins contribution was constructed as a reflective narrative in response to a mentorship experience earlier in my life.FindingsA mentorship experience from my youth profoundly shaped my approach to leadership and teamwork that I still embrace to this day. Readers are asked to consider the power of servant leadership in their own lives.Originality/valueStudents of leadership can utilize this reflective essay as a touchstone for further classroom discussion.

Analysis of Understanding Education Digitization Concept during the Pandemic in North Sulawesi Province

This study intends to ascertain how private university lecturers in North Sulawesi understand digitalization in order to enhance their performance. The performance of private university professors will improve with knowledge of the servant leadership philosophy. This study focused on North Sulawesi-based private university lecturers. Purposive sampling is used to support the descriptive research methodology. In this study, the participants were professors at private universities in North Sulawesi. Thirty PTS lecturers in North Sulawesi who were known to be PTS teachers had their samples collected. The findings demonstrated a favourable correlation between lecturers' participation and their comprehension of digitalization in education. However, the lack of PTS leaders' involvement in providing their staff with opportunities for growth, encouragement, trust, and service undermines their potential, sense of pride, and capacity to uphold the tridharma of higher education. The organisational culture's value alignment does not promote the best teaching, volunteerism, or research in fields like community pride. Lack of leadership and a culture that supports the role of self-efficacy and work spirituality as performance intervenors are the root causes of the failure to carry out education and teaching, research, and community service.

Vigorous Activity Usage of Self-Identified Leaders: A Descriptive Quantitative Analysis

The aim of the study was to conduct original research to better understand the relationship between participation in vigorous physical activity and the frequency in use of five servant leadership characteristics. The relationship between vigorous physical activity participation and self-reported servant leadership characteristics was evaluated in 162 women and men with a median age of 36 ± 9 years. Participants’ self-reported vigorous physical activity participation was evaluated with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and self-reported servant leadership characteristics were evaluated using the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ). Vigorous physical activity participation was not statistically related to self-reported servant leadership characteristics. Participants in this study on average participated in approximately 43 minutes of vigorous physical activity each day of the week. These participants had much higher vigorous physical activity participation rates than the national average. Participants’ perception of their servant leadership characteristics was also high. Findings suggest that the exclusive use of servant leadership philosophy to promote vigorous physical activity participation is not needed, leaving open the possibility that any type of leadership approach could be used to promote physical activity participation.

The Clay Feet of Servant Leadership

The modern philosophy of servant leadership was introduced 50 years ago. Since that time it has been developed into a much-studied leadership theory. It has also enjoyed substantial adoption by businesses and other organizations, and its adoption has been found to correlate with several positive outcomes. At the same time, some in the Christian community have come to identify servant leadership with Christ, Christianity, and the Bible. A few have gone so far as to claim it is a biblical mandate for Christian leaders. In this article, the author will investigate whether such identification is warranted. The author will analyze the theory’s origins, exegete two Bible passages often cited in support of identifying servant leadership with Christ, and compare some of Christ’s actions against certain published requirements of servant leadership theory. The author will conclude that identifying servant leadership with Christianity is unwarranted and may cause Christians to accept the theory without critical review. This uncritical acceptance could potentially undermine both further development of the theory and the performance of Christian leaders.

A Response to “The Clay Feet of Servant Leadership”

The paper “The Clay Feet of Servant Leadership” (Locke, 2019) brings forward an interesting question about the validity of the Christian community to adopt the modern philosophy of servant leadership. This is an interesting and timely perspective. My reflection will center on three points that I feel deserve more emphasis: the image of God, the example of Jesus Christ, and a modern Christian leadership perspective.

The Prospects and Challenges of Adopting Servant-Leadership Philosophy in a Tanzania Public Leadership Context

The main objective of the study was to assess the prospects and challenges of adopting Servant Leadership Philosophy (SLP) in a Tanzania public leadership context. A total of 278 respondents; 109 Members of Parliament (MPs), 90 Respondents from the General Public (RGPs) and 79 key informants selected from different constituencies and localities across the country using a non-probability approach of snowball sampling were involved. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis were employed. The primary and secondary data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, observations and documentary review. The key findings revealed that there are many prospects in adopting the principles of SLP in addressing public leadership deficiencies and there are several challenges to be encountered in the due process of adopting this philosophy. Thus, the study recommends, among other things, enhancing the Public Leaders Code of Ethics Act of 1995 and other established ideals for public leaders in Tanzania by adopting the principles of SLP; training public leaders on SLP and including SLP in school curricula topics with a view of grooming patriotic and ethical leaders of the next generation.

The Extent to Which Servant-Leadership Philosophy Relates to Public Leadership Code of Ethics and Other Established Ideals for Public Leaders in Tanzania

The main objective of this research paper was to examine the extent to which Servant Leadership Philosophy (SLP) relates to the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act (PLCEA) of 1995 and other established ideals for public leaders in Tanzania. A total of 278 respondents: 109 Members of the Parliament (MPs), 90 Respondents from General Public (RGPs) and 79 key informants selected from different constituencies and localities across the country using a non-probability approach of snowball sampling were involved. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis were employed. The primary and secondary data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, observations and documentary review. The key research findings revealed that that SLP relates a little bit to PLCEA and other established ideals for public leaders in Tanzania for they both have ethical characteristics intending to set controls over public leaders. A number of difference were established during the study to justify why they were a little bit related. The major difference based on the premises that the philosophy of servant leadership seems to embody socialistic and spiritual characteristics with a major focus on elevating followers to the same status of the leader while PLCEA and other established ideals are mainly based on a legal compliance approach. The other established differences basically focused on personal qualities of a leader in each category. Thus, the study recommends, among other things, enhancing PLCEA and other established ideals for public leaders by adopting the principles of SLP; training public leaders on SLP and including SLP in school curricula topics with a view of grooming patriotic and ethical leaders of the next generation.

Áherslur stjórnenda árangursríkra fyrirtækja og hugmyndafræði þjónandi forystu

Síðustu árin hefur orðið viðhorfsbreyting til forystu og stjórnunar í takt við nýjar rannsóknir um að aukið vægi leiðsagnar, jafningjabrags og sameiginlegrar framtíðarsýnar geti skilað betri árangri gagnvart starfsfólki og fyrirtækinu í heild samanborið við fyrirskipanir með áherslu á völd fárra. Fáar rannsóknir fjalla um hvaða þættir einkenni fyrirtæki sem ná góðum árangri en meðal kannana á þessu sviði er könnun Verzlunarmannafélags Reykjavíkur (VR) um fyrirtæki ársins. Þjónandi forysta byggir á sjálfstæði starfsfólks, skýrri framtíðarsýn, ábyrgðarskyldu, hlustun og stuðningi stjórnenda. Markmið þessarar rannsóknar er að kanna áherslur stjórnenda og leiðtoga hjá fyrirtækjum sem eru í hópi fyrirtækja sem endurtekið hafa fengið viðurkenninguna „fyrirmyndarfyrirtæki“ hjá VR. Jafnframt er markmiðið að kanna hvort og þá hvernig áherslur þeirra endurspegli hugmyndafræði þjónandi forystu. Framkvæmd var eigindleg rannsókn og tekin viðtöl við sjö stjórnendur Fyrirmyndarfyrirtækja VR til að varpa ljósi á mikilvægar áherslur leiðtoga fyrir árangur fyrirtækjanna. Greind voru lykilatriði í stjórnun og forystu viðmælenda og dregnar fram áherslur sem skipta máli fyrir árangur fyrirtækjanna og koma fram í þremur þemum. Fyrsta þemað er stjórnun sem stuðningur og samspil ólíkra hlutverka, annað þemað er hagur starfsmanna og jafningjatengsl leiðtoga og starfsmanna og þriðja þemað er framtíðarsýn og virk upplýsingagjöf. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar eru í takt við niðurstöður nýrra rannsókna um mikilvæga þætti leiðtoga sem tengjast árangri og ánægju starfsfólks. Þá sýna niðurstöður að áhersluþættir í stjórnun viðmælenda eru í takt við megineinkenni hugmyndafræði þjónandi forystu og styðja fyrri rannsóknir um tengsl þjónandi forystu við starfsánægju og árangur skipulagsheilda. Rannsóknarniðurstöður gefa áhugaverða innsýn í áherslur stjórnenda sem náð hafa sérstökum árangri og hvernig þær endurspegla hugmyndafræði þjónandi forystu. Rannsóknin er framlag til þekkingar á sviði þjónandi forystu og hefur hagnýtt gildi fyrir fyrirtæki, stjórnendur og starfsmenn.

Parents as Mentors: Addressing Contemporary Childrearing through a Servant Leadership Philosophy and the Application of Mentorship Mottos

The motivations of parents within an ominously competitive society can be mediated through a servant leadership philosophy in order to nourish a supportive ecosystem within the home and community context for children. The ancient motif of the shepherd will be explored as a lens to understand mentoring, along with practical steps assisting parents to mentor by implementing mentorship mottos that emphasize embodying integrity, promoting an emboldened lifestyle, modeling education, and providing meaningful recognition.

Baahubali’s Kattappa: servant leadership in practice

Subject area Leadership and team building, Human resource management, Organizational behavior. Study level/applicability The case may be most useful for MBA or any other PG level courses, particularly in human resource management, team leadership, motivation and morale. The Case could also be appropriate in the courses that cover General Management or Business Management, Executive Education Programs. This case can also be taught to the middle level and senior level managers in Management Development Programs. Case overview The case study describes the leadership lessons drawn from the role of Kattappa in the movie Baahubali. He took bold decisions to save the Mahishmati kingdom from Bijjaladeva. Being a slave and agile swordsman, he obeyed all the orders of the king of the realm. He made strategic decisions which resulted in positive outcomes for the kingdom. His leadership style can be linked with the theories of servant leadership style. The case tells us about some selected instances from the movies Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which had happened with Kattappa which can be used to understand the different principles and philosophy of servant leadership. Expected learning outcomes The expected learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the different dimensions and essential skills of servant leadership; to analyze and learn the servant leadership style from the role of Kattappa; and to evaluate the appropriateness of servant leadership in context to other leadership styles. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Test of a mediation model of psychological capital among hotel salespeople

PurposeThis paper aims to propose and test a research model that examines psychological capital as a mediator of the effect of servant leadership on lateness attitude, intention to remain with the organization, service–sales ambidexterity and service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered from hotel salespeople using a three-wave design with a two-week time lag between each wave in Iran. In total, 26 supervisors assessed salespeople’s service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used in the assessment of the direct and mediating effects.FindingsThe findings reveal that psychological capital functions as a full mediator of the influence of servant leadership on the aforementioned outcomes. Specifically, servant leadership fosters salespeople’s psychological capital. Such employees in turn display reduced lateness attitude and express an increased intent to remain with the organization. They also have favorable perceptions of service–sales ambidexterity and exhibit service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors at elevated levels.Practical implicationsTop management of hotels should be committed to the philosophy of servant leadership because salespeople under the umbrella of this leadership style are high on psychological capital. Under these circumstances, such employees can exhibit service–sales ambidexterity by contributing to delivery of exceptional service and enhancing customer satisfaction. They can also contribute to the organization’s competitive advantage via service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors.Originality/valueThis study makes a significant contribution to the extant hospitality research by testing psychological capital as a mediator between servant leadership and the previously mentioned consequences.

Measuring the Readiness of Administrative Leaders to Adopt the Servant Leadership Philosophy: Exploratory Study in Karbala University

The current study aims to discover the willingness of the leaderships in Karbala University to work by the servant leadership philosophy through the (226) employee points of view survey. Through a questionnaire (Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011), it reached a group of conclusions; one of it was that there is a weakness in the readiness of Administrative Leaders to adopt servant leadership philosophy. The originality of this research is that the findings will help leaders in Karbala University to understand that they need to enhance their readiness to adopt servant leadership so that they can help their followers do their job effectively and efficiently.

Is Servant Leadership Useful for Sustainable Nordic Health Care?

The philosophy of servant leadership receives a growing interest in academia and among clinical health care leaders. Few European studies are available about the importance of this philosophy for p...

Fostering Growth and Development of Recovering Students in Higher Education Through Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is a leadership style complementary to a lifestyle of recovery from a substance use disorder. Across the country, thousands of students in recovery from substance use disorders are pursuing higher education. Support for students in recovery is increasing, primarily through collegiate recovery programs (CRP) that are being implemented to support student recovery, education and personal development. Servant leadership has been used successfully by many business, organizations, religions, and educational systems. In the 1960s, Robert Greenleaf brought new attention to the concept when he began writing about his observations and experiences in the business world. According to Greenleaf, many businesses and organizations had lost sight of their role and responsibility to serve others. The main philosophy of servant leadership is service to others, and through service, others will look to the one serving for leadership. This article is intended to share elements of servant leadership and how these elements can be implemented into a CRP to promote and foster the growth and development of students in recovery.

The Relationship between Personality Type and the Servant Leadership Characteristic of Empowerment

There is an increasing interest in spirituality in all facets of life including the workplace. Spirituality and its association with workplace leadership is a compelling issue for management professionals. Leaders who practice principles of servant leadership address spiritual development in themselves and others. Lewis, Spears, and Lafferty (2008) emphasized that “organizations are the way they are because of the personalities of the leaders” (p. 15). The principal purpose of the subject research was exploration of the intersection between Jungian analytical psychology formulated in personality type theory and Greenleaf's servant leadership philosophy; specifically the behavioral characteristic of empowerment. Personality preference was represented by four predictor variables per the four dimensions of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®). Servant leadership empowerment was measured by a subscale of the Servant Leadership Profile - Revised©. Four demographic control variables were used in the study. Hypothesized relationships were tested using multiple hierarchical regression on data collected from a sample of 107 participants. After assuring that the transformed data met the analytical requirements, a regression model was constructed to assess the hypothesized relationships between servant leadership empowerment

How interoperability fosters innovation: The case for servant leadership

What is the relationship between interoperability and innovation? While a relationship likely exists, according to the literature, it is seen to be very hard to prove. Furthermore, what role does (servant) leadership play? In order to address these questions, this research paper is based upon three research efforts, undertaken in Portugal: 1) An exploratory in-depth survey concerning servant leadership, administered to students finalizing their BSc Management Degree (54 valid responses); 2) An in-depth survey on servant leadership, interoperability and innovation administered to executives in various industries (55 valid responses from nine different industries); 3) A case study of Infosistema, an innovative Portuguese firm which exemplifies the servant leadership philosophy. Our results show that servant leadership leads to interoperability and both are seen to be antecedents of innovation. However, the servant leadership philosophy is a distant reality from most organizations in Portugal and this may mean less free-flowing communication and thus less organizational innovation as a consequence. Some culture change may first be necessary so that servant leadership may become more widespread. We also use the Business Narrative Modeling Language (BNML) at various points in the discussion, thus combining the narrative and visual content to communicate key management concepts. Key words: Servant leadership, innovation, interoperability, survey, case study, business narrative modeling language.

Servant leadership: a phenomenological study of practices, Experiences, organizational effectiveness and barriers

The subject of leadership is complex, and one of the main issues facing organizational leaders today is how to motivate employees to actively participate in the efforts that lead to accomplishing organizational goals. This study gathered lived experiences of 15 organizational leaders who practice the servant leadership philosophy, and explored how business leaders link their servant leadership practices to their organization’s effectiveness. The qualitative responses obtained during this study indicated that the perceived organizational barriers that prevent the servant leadership practices are the organization’s culture, the fear of change, and the lack of knowledge regarding the servant leadership philosophy. This study also gained insight into the impact that these organizational barriers have on one’s ability to practice servant leadership

Servant Leadership: A Phenomenological Study Of Practices, Experiences, Organizational Effectiveness, And Barriers

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The subject of leadership is complex, and one of the main issues facing organizational leaders today is how to motivate employees to actively participate in the efforts that lead to accomplishing organizational goals. This study gathered lived experiences of 15 organizational leaders who practice the servant leadership philosophy, and explored how business leaders link their servant leadership practices to their organization’s effectiveness. The qualitative responses obtained during this study indicated that the perceived organizational barriers that prevent the servant leadership practices are the organization’s culture, the fear of change, and the lack of knowledge regarding the servant leadership philosophy. This study also gained insight into the impact that these organizational barriers have on one’s ability to practice servant leadership.</span></span></p>

Serve, Teach, and Lead: It's All About Relationships

Once a person assumes the mantle of teacher, one becomes a leader, first, in the classroom and then in the school (Crippen, 2005). With this position comes a delicate power and responsibility to the moral imperative. As such, this issue is critical as a component of teacher preparation programs. Goodlad (2004) sounds the alarm that our teacher preparation programs are remiss in responding to the need for moral literacy in our schools. The following paper will introduce the philosophy of servant-leadership, a moral way of serving, as defined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1970/1991) and will respond to Goodlad‘s call with possibilities for preservice teachers that help them examine and define their role in contributing to the common good through servant-leadership.