Discussion Response

Reachel Omobude
BMAL 700 Discussion Board 2
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership positions itself alone from other leadership approaches with its stout focus on leader behaviors that prioritize and gratifies followers’ needs (Greenleaf, 1977). The literature has shown that servant leadership has useful outcomes for followers (Chen, Zhu, & Zhou, 2015) and organizations. The significance of servant leadership is evident in meta-analytic findings indicating that servant leadership predicts a range of organizationally relevant outcomes beyond transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and ethical leadership. Which prompted some scholars to conclude that servant leadership has “more promise as a stand-alone leadership” than other leadership approaches (Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, & Wu, 2018).
Over the years, numerous searches have conducted to assist and point businesses and various organizations to the right leadership approach that best suits their structure. We find out that during this research, there has not been a perfect one without cons. So, while research still goes on, we are left to consider past reports theories that best fit our organization in making the organizational decision that will bring about success and achievement of goals. While empirical research on the effect of servant leadership has traditionally been varying limited, it has gained momentum in recent years (Hunter et al., 2013, p.316).
The concept of servant leadership, as we know, was learned from Robert Greenleaf (Greenleaf 1970), and the idea behind this concept first is that we are here to serve the organization. There is no general agreement on a definition of servant leadership, but the servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the essential feeling that one wants to serve first. Then awareness brings one to aspire to lead. The higher the organization’s ladder, the more people we are there to serve, and not the more people who are there to serve us. The scholar Merida puts it this way “treasure God above all, and serve others faithfully” (2015, p.62). As honest as it may sound, this concept may pose challenging for many, especially for those who genuinely do not possess a servant leadership attitude. The scripture made it clear in Matthew 20:28 (New Living Translation), ” For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ramson for many.” Therefore, we should have the same mind in Christ to serve and lead the organization and the people right. Hence, it is essential to note that people have different ideas about what truly is servant leadership.
As Sendjaya (2015, p.73) highlights, “Servant leaders accept others not by selecting perfect people, but by seeing imperfect people perfectly.” Also, servant leadership emphasizes employee emotional well-being than other leadership theories do (Newman et al. 2017). Unlike most leaders devoted to maximizing personal or organizational interests, servant-leaders devote to employee needs and development. They are fully aware of employees’ emotional, spiritual, relational, and other needs, all of which they support equally (Yoshida et al. 2014; Sendjaya 2015). Attention, support, and care from servant leaders, in turn, help employees express their “true selves, develop their sense of well-being and shape their emotional maturity” (Liden et al. 2008, 2014; Sendjaya 2015; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015). For these reasons, servant leadership is more likely to help employees improve their interpersonal acceptance and emotional well-being.
The research established that “servant leadership is expressively associated with better job attitudes, less turnover, better organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), creativity, and increased performance” (van Dierendonck 2011; Liden et al. 2014; Feng et al. 2015). Specifically, servant leaders not only bring their authentic selves to work, but also encourage employees to express themselves in ways that are consistent with feelings and thoughts. When employees feel safe, they are willing to express their feelings more freely instead of suppressing them or regulating their facial expressions (Rego et al. 2015).
Servant leaders exist in public and non-profit organizations to serve others and help them live a better life. Therefore, it is necessary for leaders in these organizations to embrace servant leadership as they regard serving others as the top priority, whether for staff, customers, clients, or community. Dimock (2016) considered the non-profit organization an appropriate place to conduct and develop servant leadership. In contrast to for-profit organizations, public organizations are not motivated for profit, and they often provide public services under limited resources and other difficulties. Thus, leaders of public organizations are forced to focus on mission and limited resources (such as human resources or budgets). As a result, this may render servant leadership unable to stand for an extended period in its development (Patrick Lo et al., 2018, p.251).

Reference
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