Benchmark Servant Leadership and the Greater Good
Details:
Research a servant leadership organization of your choice or one of the organizations listed on the "Individual and Corporate Servant Leaders" handout in the Topic Materials. Selections do not need to be limited to businesses. Entities such as hospitals or educational institutions are also acceptable. In a 750-1000 word paper, address the following.
1. Provide a summary of how the organization implements the principles of servant leadership in the way it interacts with or provide service to customers, hires and manages employees, and models its operations and policies.
2. Discuss specific commitments the organization makes to stakeholders and how implementing servant leadership affects not only the organization, but also the community and the common good.
3. Knowing that most organizations do not function with the principles of servant leadership as part of their operations, discuss how the concepts and behaviors associated with servant leadership might be a source of conflict or might create operational challenges within the organization. Provide examples to support your ideas and discuss specific ways the organization's leader has addressed these challenges.
4. What do you see as the greatest benefits for organizations that adopt the principles of servant leadership as their operational model? Provide specific examples to justify your opinions.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
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LDR-630-RS-Individual and Corporate Servant Leaders.docx
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Introduction:
This idea of servant leadership was put forward by Robert K.Greenleaf, and he wrote it in a book The Servant as Leader. He merely proposed that a servant-leader is a person who is a servant first and it all begins with one desiring to serve others, and later one makes a decision to lead. The two actions have to follow simultaneously and more so; it is a growth process, therefore it is cultivated in an individual. AS is one of the organizations that have implemented the servant-leadership forums. It is a software developing company, and it has a lot of employees. The adoption of servant-leadership has had many positive impacts on the processes of an organization. This paper will highlight some of these impacts through the analysis of SAS (Software and Services) Company.
Ways to implement Servant Leadership Principles:
* Encouraging listening skills. Listening skills are essential for a person who is interested in being a servant-leader. One should be able to hear others as they speak and also he or she should be able to encode information carefully in to provide the intended feedback.
* Encouraging persuasiveness is a key requirement. Servant-leaders have to focus primarily on making individuals under their governance to obey them. Obedience is to come about as a result of the good will of the heart without necessarily having to force the juniors into doing things (Gillet et.al. 2010). Things should also not be done out fear of facing the consequences such as losing a job.
* Teaching about the importance of stewardship is also key. For stewardship, the primary virtue of relevance is trust. Servant-leadership requires an individual, to be honest in all doings. It also requires openness in every situation.
* It would be of great benefit to training leaders in the organization to engage in the development of community within the region of work since it would give them a reason to serve one another.
* Training the staff on foresight would be necessary because it would help the aspiring servant-leaders to use the past to correct their future by avoiding repeating of the mistakes. It would enable them to predict the outcome of the present decisions in the service of others.
* Servant-leaders need to be trained to be good at conceptualization. It involves the officials using their ideas in a way that would help the organization. It would encourage the juniors to be creative and innovative since they see it from their leaders.
* The servant-leadership scheme should aim at focusing on the growth of other workers in the organization in other areas apart from profession related aspects.
Effects of servant-leadership implementation
* Servant-leadership is being used in most institutions since it encourages group work in making and implementing ideas and it also emphasizes on the influence of persuasion. It also motivates employees of the organization (Cen...