Selfish or Servant Leadership, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Leadership could be considered to be both complex and critical especially that it has great impact on how organizations and communities develop accordingly. With institutions gaining great control on how societies develop, leadership plays a great role in determining the ways by which such institutions are going to mark the overall progress of the people and their lifestyle in the society being affected by the organizations. Through times and years, the creation of different leadership styles have been given attention to especially in the hope of dealing with the changing tides of attitudes developing among human individuals. Among the developed changes in approaching the concept of leadership in organizations include the ideal process of applying servant leadership. This form of leadership calls for the need of transferring attention from being the one in control to being the one in the leading ground as the one who follows through. Setting the ground as means of being a model who defines and shows through action what is needed by the organization and how the tasks ought to be done.

Taking its ground from a more religious roots, this concept of leadership has been observed to have come from Christ’s way of leading the people. Although the term servant-leadership has not been developed yet during the time, the idea of becoming a part of the team instead of simply guiding or controlling it has long been given attention to as an effective way of leading. However, although considered effective, servant leadership also has its flaws, especially in relation to how the people being lead responds to the said concept of guidance. In the discussion-presentation that follows, a distinct indication on what servant leadership is and how it is applied as well as whether or not it is still a practical way of leading at present shall be given attention to. Through the use of evidential precursors to the matter, explaining what servant leadership is shall be given specific definition herein.

Personal Understanding of Good Leadership Concepts

Following the ideals of normative leadership I do feel that transactional leadership does a great impact on improving the camaraderie between team members and the way they recognize and follow the policies established by their leader. On the other hand, while I do see servant leadership as somewhat problematic in form, I do feel that its proper application could help well in motivating everyone else to follow through rules and become more involved in the process of organizational development based on their contributions and the ways by which they consider themselves as major parts of the community they are involved with.

Servant leadership has its good term especially in the aspect of getting the people to move according to what the expectation of the organizations are on them. Notably, these expectations are designed to determine the path of growth that each individual is supposed to take into account. However, when it comes to determining the ways by which each person is motivated to follow through the distinct requirements of the organization, it is the leaders’ responsibility to take note on how they are likely to empower each person and give them the proper initiative to respond accordingly to each task that are presented for them to complete.

In considering the application of servant leadership into the picture, it is rather essential to note the fact that the leaders are to motivate the people through their personal examples. This means that they are expected to model the way, to define the process through their own approach and make sure that their team members would follow through accordingly. With proper examples, the people being led are expected to give attention to their own course of completing their tasks, as they take the path that the leaders have set for them to follow. The servant leaders are not only expected to give attention to what the team members need to follow but are also expected to make sure that the orders from upper administrational command does not get set aside, but remains to be among the primary elements that make up the overall goal of the entire team as a group that is dedicated to making sure that the demands of the organization gets completed as needed.

It could be realized though that servant leadership, as it tries to please both the administration and the team members at the same time, could be a bit problematic especially in the process by which the demands of both parties are being responded to. The leaders need to see to it that the administrator’s requests ought to be given serious attention to. Making sure that these requests are responded to according to the capacity of the team to give attention to such demands. Lining up the talent and skills of the team members towards the right tasks that need to be completed, the leaders need to give attention to the fact that each person must be given the right task that he can complete accordingly. Servant leaders however also need to make sure that the demands of the team members get responded to according as this response to their needs and expectations would improve the way by which they are motivated to accomplish the goals set for them by the organization and those of the goals that they have set for themselves as well.

On the other hand, transformational leadership takes in a different path than what servant leadership is aiming to accomplish. In this aspect of leadership, the guidance comes in a more authoritative manner, which usually involves the need to create policies that are designed to help the people become more efficient in seeing what needs to be given attention to thus empowering them to act based on their personal initiative even when they are not being shown how to do what they need to do. This point of leadership trusts the fact that everyone has something to offer, something new and different that might not necessarily be according to what is expected.

Instead of showing the people what they have to do or how they are supposed to do it, transformational leadership recognizes the capacity of each person to offer something different that would likely be best for the task being completed. What makes such approach effective is that of its capacity to expand the possibilities of bringing out the best out of each team member. While some might see this approach as rather pressuring on the part of the team members, it does create a better option of developing the uniqueness of each team member based on what they can do and not simply on how they are expected to perform for the organization and its goals.

Personal Leadership Assessment Test

Based from the results of the questionnaire, I do feel that my persuasive characteristic carries the upper strength in my personal leadership. Having the right wisdom to share with my teammates, I am confident enough that the trust they are willing to give me would not be put to waste. Perhaps this is also the reason why I have more confidence in making sure that they follow through the process even when they may not be fully aware of the situation they are involved in. My emotional capacity to feel for others and be more involved in how they feel regarding particular matters increase my capacity to understand how to motivate people around me, to work further towards the most positive approach possible that could push them to do what is right and what is needed for the completion of the goals that have been set for them to accomplish.

The altruistic concept of seeing how matters occur gives me a sense of how to deal with situations based on what changes are occurring in the environment. Although I scored low on this aspect of servant leadership, I do feel that I can still improve my flexibility on situations through gaining better experiences through time. This is the reason why I see myself to be applying the concepts of transactional leadership better instead of applying servant leadership.

Conclusion

Leaders are expected to take the initiative to become the source of empowerment in organizations especially when it comes to motivating the people and giving them the chance to embrace development as means of their personal growth. Through the comparison of what servant leadership and transactional leadership is about, it could be analyzed that my personal results on the tests and survey I have taken into account evidently shows how I am more of a transactional leader than a servant one.

My capacity to guide and motivate people comes from the ideal pattern of leadership that involves creating policies that are best able to respond to the different demands on how people are supposed to be given the chance to improve their ways especially in the hope of meeting organizational expectations. Considerably, my attitude towards other people marks my leadership to lean more on the transactional side as I desire to empower more through direction rather than modelling the way, which is a required matter when dealing with people through the servant leadership approach.

Overall, this research and personal analysis activity taught me to become more concerned about how I handle my responsibilities as a leader and as an individual to whom others are largely depending upon. The desire to make amends on how I react to situation is strong enough that I would want to gain more experience in line with the idea of creating a more effective approach of leadership that I can follow through.

References

Gillet, J., Cartwright, E., & Van Vugt, M. (2010). Selfish or servant leadership: Testing evolutionary predictions about leadership in coordination games. Personality and Individual Differences.

Scouller, J. (2011). The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skill. Cirencester: Management Books.

Howell, Jon P. (2012). Snapshots of Great Leadership. London, GBR: Taylor and Francis. pp. 16–17.

Kickul, J., & Neuman, G. (2000). “Emergence leadership behaviors: The function of personality and cognitive ability in determining teamwork performance and KSAs”. “Journal of Business and Psychology”, 15, 27–51.

Baumeister, R. F., Senders, P. S., Chesner, S. C., & Tice, D. M. (1988). “Who’s in charge here? Group leaders do lend help in emergencies”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 17–22.