Servant Leadership for Minorities - Research Paper Example

of the of the Concerned 5 July 2009 Servant Leadership for Minorities As per the UN Human Development Report, diversity in nations and organizations does not hamper growth (Kaur 1). However, accepting and managing diversity is an onerous task that calls for enlightened policies and understanding. In fact, the US is the most valid example of a nation that has prospered and thrived despite its diversity. Though the US is a multicultural and multiethnic society, its inherent diversity has in no way hampered its growth. Studies have shown that organizations tend to benefit from diversity in the long run. Some of the most affluent and prosperous nations of the world, like Canada and Switzerland have been traditionally and historically multi-ethnic. In addition, there is no denying the fact that a majority of the developed countries of the world like the US and the UK are the chosen destination of immigrants from around the world. Acceptance of diversity ushers in growth, stability and peace and negates conflict and chaos. Diversity in no way retards growth and development provided the leadership tends to be more sensitive and committed. Mostly people tend to define diversity in terms of ethnicity and cultural differences. However, doing so will be to limit the concept of diversity. In reality, diversity is a very broad concept that includes within its ambit a range of attributes like differences in age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and physical and mental capabilities and disabilities. Diversity management is the most potent challenge before the leaders in the 21st century. According to Kouzer and Posner, "It's no longer possible to thrive in the business, government or independent non profit sectors by being responsive only to the world as defined by a few, elite leaders in all roles, at all levels and in walks of life, must learn to appreciate diversity (95)." Diversity has two dimensions that are primary and secondary. There are some aspects of an individual's personality that cannot be changed. Besides, such aspects of the human personality are mostly obvious and known to the people because of their being visible and easily discernable. Such aspects of diversity are called primary dimensions and they include within their ambit, attributes like age, race, gender, ethnicity, physical abilities and disabilities and sexual orientation. A gross stereotyping of the people based on their primary dimensions can cause tremendous hurt and does have the potential to give way to a conflict. Secondary dimensions are the aspects of human personality over which individuals have some control. People mostly do have the power to alter the secondary dimensions of their existence and are usually less sensitive about them. Besides, secondary dimensions are the aspects of human personality, which they can conceal or reveal as per their convenience. Secondary dimensions usually consist of attributes like work background, economic status, marital status, functional specialty, job level, religious beliefs, thinking style, geographic location, parental status, education, communication style etc. (Loden & Rosener 25). Diverse leadership teams always accrue multiple benefits to organizations. Recognition of and acceptance of diversity by the leadership in any organization improves organizational performance. Once people get assured that their diversity is acceptable and normal, they tend to spend less time in reacting to or worrying about unlawful or perceived discrimination and harassment (Parrillo 27). Acceptance of diversity enhances people's self-esteem and leads to better work place relations. A leadership sensitive to the diversity of the employees serving in an organization encourages people to bring out the best in them. This leads to a positive and favorable self-image. Acceptance and proper management of diversity tremendously improves the problem solving abilities of any organization. Besides, it also enables an organization to hire employees from a broad based and variegated talent pool. Diversity leadership is the need of the nations like the US, Canada and Australia, which have entered the information driven phase of their development (Priest 55). As per the US Census Bureau, by 2010, two third of the American citizens will trace their origins to non-Western nations. Diversity leadership makes way for a reorganization and re-allocation of the national assets and opportunities for growth and leads to social justice and all-inclusive growth. Diversity leadership is the only way to socioeconomically integrate and rehabilitate the marginalized and subaltern sections of the society. INROADS is perhaps the best example of an organization that is dedicated to the objective of diversity management and leadership (Ronald, Capasso & Daresh 67). INROADS is an organization that helps the minority youth in gaining access to and acceptance in the corporate mainstream of the United States and extends them the opportunities to prepare for corporate and community leadership (Ronald, Capasso & Daresh 67). The core objective of INROADS is to multiply and enhance the career and educational opportunities for minorities. At the same time, it enables the organizations to select and cull out their future leaders from a diverse and rich talent pool. INROADS was established with the aim of helping and assisting, capable and interested school and college students, who aspired to pursue a career in business, engineering or some other technical field. INROADS extends a comprehensive package to the minority students studying in colleges, which includes recruitment, summer training in the local corporate concerns and a continual academic and professional guidance and advise (Editors 15). Organizations like INROADS intend to metamorphose the inherent diversity of the US into a mantra for success and achievement. The timely opportunities extended by INROADS to the interns in their nascent stages enable them to understand and have a firm grip over the characteristics and attributes of the American corporate life (Editors 21). At the same time, it allows the interns to hone their professional and technical skills. This ensures a better integration and adaptation of the minority youth in the complex professional scenarios that they will be required to face. The objective of INROADS is to secure a placement for every intern in its sponsoring company. Though INROADS had humble beginnings in the year 1970, comprising of 25 interns and 17 sponsoring companies, today it has metamorphosed into a national organization that extends career assistance to more then four thousand interns sponsored by nearly 380 companies (Editors 36). The organization owes its exponential growth to a renewed commitment on the part of corporate America to come to terms with the national diversity and to make massive investments in the goal of developing leadership amongst the minority groups. The very fact that INROADS is receptive to the concerns of minority youth no way means that the organization underestimates the abilities and talent of its interns. The organization unexceptionally solicits a long-term commitment from all its interns. Interns are required to pursue a four-year college or university degree or to solicit an undergraduate degree. The interns are expected to meet the high academic standards set by the organization. They have to attend all the training activities and programs sponsored by INROADS. INROADS expect its interns to set high personal and professional goals. In addition, the interns are to participate in the community activities and to serve the community in all the possible ways. The basic objective of the organization is to enable the minority youth to cope up with the impediments that they have to face in their academic and professional life and to extend them the opportunities and resources to excel and grow (Editors 44). INROADS is also very demanding of the companies that sponsor its interns. The companies have to commit to the task of facilitating professional opportunities to the interns, each summer throughout their career. Once an intern graduates, the sponsoring company is required to consider one's candidature for full time employment. The companies are to envisage and manage a career development plan for the sponsored interns. Besides the sponsoring companies, closely monitor the progress of their interns and conduct regular performance reviews. Every intern is assigned a team comprising of a business coordinator, a business mentor and a business supervisor that helps one to come to terms with one's work environment and guides one through day-to-day responsibilities and tasks. INROADS presents a win-win situation for both the companies and the interns. While the interns get a chance to develop their career and to channelize their energies and talent in a positive way, the companies benefit from the opportunity to adopt and cultivate talented minority youth who have managerial abilities and organizational skills. The program also enables the companies to hire employees who are already conversant with their work culture and organizational objectives. This leadership program has helped augment the number of minorities pursuing a career in business and technology. Hence, INROAD has been successful in breaking the barriers that marred the growth and development of the minority youth, by resorting to the management of diversity that defines the American way of life. This not only enables the minorities to benefit from the overall economic development and growth, but also in a broader perspective, creates a corporate environment that is receptive of diversity and is apt at the task of managing diversity. At a national level, such an endeavor makes way for harmony and integration. The internship programs run by INROADS conclusively owe allegiance to the concept of Servant Leadership. Servant Leadership is in fact a principle-based program that was proposed by Robert Greenleaf. Robert Greenleaf was an eminent corporate personality who also had sound academic and professional credentials. Greenleaf served for thirty years as a Fortune 50 corporate executive. He was as much a man of contemplation as of action who spent the culminating years of his career in reflecting on the lessons he learned from his corporate responsibilities. Though, in a conventional sense, leaders are expected to be demanding and authoritative, Greenleaf concluded that those individuals who managed people through the medium of service also happen to be leaders. The basic principle behind the concept of servant leadership is that a leader aught to put the needs and aspirations of one's followers, ahead of one's personal needs and aspirations (Greenleaf 6). Such commitment and magnanimity on the part of a leader ushers in an atmosphere of credibility and reliability in an organization. Greenleaf mentioned ten principles of Servant Leadership, which included listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people and community building (Greenleaf 31). The vision of Greenleaf is fraught with credibility as it was based on his personal experience and was not the outcome of some purely utopian theory. Besides, the principles of Servant Leadership suggested by Greenleaf stand to be in consonance with the latest discoveries in the field of psychology. Greenleaf proposed seven pillars of Servant Leadership (Greenleaf 58). A Servant Leader has to be a man of character so that he may solicit the trust and respect of one's followers. A Servant Leaders always puts his followers first. Once the followers are convinced of the non-covetous propensities of a leader, they go beyond their way to assure success and achievement in the organization they serve. A Servant Leader is always astute in the art of communication, an attribute that always keeps him informed of the concerns and aspirations of his followers and allows him to steer the organizational goals and objectives in consonance with the employees' aspirations. A Servant Leader is unexceptionally a compassionate collaborator and renders all the possible help, assistance and guidance to one's followers. A Servant Leader has a clear and tangible foresight, which allows him to take correct and timely decisions. A Servant Leaders shuns selfish individuality and is always a system thinker. He perceives the organization in which he serves as a collective whole. A Servant Leaders never relies on gross power to lead and command. On the contrary, a Servant Leader always leads by personal example and moral authority (Greenleaf 42). Though the seven pillars suggested by Greenleaf tend to define and influence individual behavior, there is no denying the fact that the emotional intelligence exhibited by a Servant Leader does percolates into the organizational culture and these pillars are expressed formally in organizations that tend to serve people by adhering to the principles of servant leadership. The need of the hour is that organizational and corporate leaders should accept diversity and should try their best to allow for a smooth transition to a multicultural leadership model. Such a lofty objective makes it a must for the future managers and employees to be Servant Leaders. This will enable them to perceive themselves as the part of an extended team and will make them work together to assure the success of the organization they serve rather the aspiring for narrow personal goals and interests. This makes it must for a manager to not to be greedy and covetous. Shunning of such selfish attributes helps a manager to solicit the faith and trust of one's employees and allows for a smooth functioning of the entire organization. Such an attitude makes way for the flattening of the leadership structure in the organizations, thereby making the employees feel accepted and recognized instead of always looking towards the boss for approval and acceptance. Successful leaders are always able to get over the superficial differences that define the workforce and manage to make the employees work as one consolidated team. INROADS makes it a point to inculcate an attitude of Servant Leadership in the minority youth under its tutelage. The interns are not only expected to work hard, but are also required to be apt at forging cordial relationships with their superiors and colleagues. The interns are actively encouraged to be sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the organization in which they serve and to show utmost respect and ability for teamwork. The interns at INROADS are encouraged to cultivate astute leadership skills. They must be able to relate to the aspirations of the people serving under them and must conduct business in a way that shows ample respect for the aspirations and peculiarities of their colleagues and juniors. They should be well informed as far as interpersonal skills are concerned and must be able to relate with all types of people within and outside the organization. The interns are instructed to develop the ability to nurture meaningful and positive professional relationships. An intern must be able to extend beyond one's narrow concerns and must value and tolerate diversity and differences in others. INROADS encourages its interns to take advantage of all the learning opportunities that come their way and to cultivate the ability to gain insight and learn lessons from mistakes. Diversity is not something that is new for the United States of America. However, till date, the diversity in America had social and economic repercussions associated with it, which lead to the neglect of a considerable section of the American society classified under a broad term called 'minorities'. Organizations like INROADS are rendering a tremendous service to the American society by extending opportunities to the minority youth. However, mere concern for the academic and career side of the minority youth is not sufficient to ensure a broad based and all-inclusive growth. The minority youth must also be helped and encouraged to serve organizations and society in a spirit of Servant Leadership, which will enable them to eventually emerge as successful corporate and community leaders. Works Cited Editors, Vault. The Vault Inroads Guide to Diversity Internship Co-Op and Entry-Level Programs. New York: Vault.com, 2005. Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership. London: Paulist Press, 1983. Greenleaf, Robert K. The Power of Servant Leadership. New York: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1998. Kaur, Hardev. "Cultural diversity does not hinder progress". New Straits Times. HighBeam Research. 5 July 2009 Kouzer and Posner. Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it. Why people Demand it. San Francisco CA: Jossey Bass, 2003. Loden and Rosener. Workforce America!. 1991. Parrillo, Vincent N. Diversity in America. New York: Pine Forge Press, 2005. Priest, Robert J. This Side of Heaven, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Ronald L, Capasso & John C. Daresh. The School Administrator Internship Handbook. San Francisco: Corwin Press, 2000. Read More