Servant Leadership: the Promotion of a Sense of Community - Essay Example

Servant Leadership Servant Leadership Leadership is considered as a universal phenomenon. This implies that wherever people are involved, there should be leaders. In that context, it does not matter whether leadership differs across cultures, but the leadership styles that are involved and how they are translated across the cultures. The leadership styles may be transformational, paternalistic, or transactional leadership. In the present day, leadership comprises of fewer borders as the global corporations modify their strategies in the integration of production and value delivery worldwide. From the perspective of leadership, there is need for a leader to have the capability of working with and influencing individuals from different culture backgrounds, both in the corporation and also the outside to assist in the achievement of the corporate goals (Roberts, 2014). However, the idea of servant leadership seems to be problematic at the first glance. The problem arises in the consideration of how a person can be a servant and a leader at the same time. This paper is concerned with servant leadership in the Indian cultural perspective and the Christian viewpoint. Greenleaf, in his seminal works, makes an attempt at addressing this ostensible contradiction by conceptualizing the concept of servant leadership. In his argument, he asserts that servant leadership starts with a natural feeling, where one feels that a person wants to be a servant first before leading. Greenleaf insists that the primary focus of such leadership is to ensure that the highest priority needs of the people are being served (Greenleaf, 1977). In his conclusion, he says that the test that is best for servant leadership is whether those who are being served yet grow as persons. Again, another test is whether they become freer, autonomous, wiser, healthier, more probable themselves to be servants. He questions on the effect a person’s leadership will bear on the people who are the least privileged in the community, on whether they will not be further deprived or at least they will benefit. Evidence of servant leadership in Indian cultural perspective India has been a diverse and a fascinating country that has many cultures, castes, languages, and religions. Its present form has been shaped by several great leaders like Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi. The leadership styles of these leaders can be taken as role models for leading, and their excellent leadership qualities can be practiced and studied in the current time of change and development. In the context of servant leadership, Mahatma Gandhi has been acknowledged to be among the greatest leaders who led the non-violent movements that have ever been witnessed in the world (Hammer, 2012). Being a pioneer of Satyagraha, which resisted by civil disobedience that was non-violent, he outstood as one of the key political leaders in his era. Several other great leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. got inspiration from the non-violence philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Many writers also acknowledge Mahatma Gandhi as a servant leader. Martin Luther King Jr., according to Garrow, described Mahatma Gandhi as a servant leader due to the devotion that Gandhi showed in serving the citizens of India instead of engaging in leadership styles that comprised of command and control. Evidence of servant leadership in the religious viewpoint The servant leadership, as addressed in the Bible may be considered to be good because it promotes the crucial idea for the Christians who would become leaders, that service and leadership are not contradictory and separate terms but are the same. As Hodges and Blanchard observe, servant leadership is the real expression of the daily commitment to living out the will of God and the Word of God and hence enhance God’s kingdom ((Howieson, & Hodges, 2014). They also add that servant leadership is a mandate for the believer, but not an option. In this perspective, it can be traced back where the earliest call for the believers to serve and lead is found in the first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Bible. Here, we read that man was created by God in His own image, and He created the female and the male in His image. Being in His image, Adam and Eve were given the command to multiply and be fruitful, fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea and over all living things that move on earth. In these verses of the Bible, there is a profound truth that can be related to the Christians’ call to lead (In Day, 2014). Finch, in his viewpoint, observes that the same verses bear the clear message of the Christians to serve others because it is only by serving others where the response of commensuration with the work of God in creation, where God imprinted the heavenly image on Adam and Eve on all human beings. The Christians also view Jesus as the leader who demonstrated service-leadership. Similarities and differences between the philosophies to that of Indian culture The third tenet of servant leadership is the promotion of a sense of community. Greenleaf laments about the loss of community in the contemporary society, what he refers to as the lost knowledge of the present time. Servant-leadership questions the capability of the institution to the provision of human services and airs the argument that it is only through the community that the function of providing human services can be performed. Here, the community is described as groups of individuals jointly liable for one another as a unit or individually. This philosophy asserts that it is only through the establishment of the sense of community among the followers that an organization can achieve its objectives. This theory is similar to the philosophy of the Indian culture where the success of the country depends upon the community. Again, the theory holds that the sense of community may only arise from the actions of the servant-leaders individually(Frick, 2004) The difference only arises in the fourth tenet of the servant leadership, sharing the power in decision-making. The best evidence of servant-leadership is through the cultivation of the trait of servant-leadership in others. A more successful organization and a workforce that is motivated and more effective can be achieved by nurturing participatory, promoting the talents of followers, and availing empowering environments, by the servant leader. In the Indian culture, it is very hard to achieve this and, therefore, hard to share the power in decision-making. Similarities and differences between the philosophies to that of the Christian perspective The central tenets of servant-leadership can be presented in the form of similarities and difference in the religious contexts. The first tenet of servant-leadership is the aspect of service to others. When a leader takes the position of a servant in his interactions with the followers marks the beginning of servant-leadership. Legitimate and authentic leadership is exhibited where it arises from the basic desire to serve others, but not from the actions of self-interest or exercise of power (Ebener, 2014). As Greenleaf writes, this remains to be the simple fact the greatness of a leader. The purpose and primary motivation of a servant leader are to promote greatness in other people. This philosophy is similar to the Christian’s success of an organization. The church, being a religious organization, its success is the derived, indirect result of servant-leadership. The second tenet is the holistic approach to work. This philosophy of servant-leadership asserts that the existence of work is due to the existence of the person and the person exists for the sake of the work. It is very challenging for the organizations to think about the relationships that are found in the organizations, people, and the whole society. This theory encourages the perspective that people should be encouraged to remain to be who they are, in their individual lives as well as the professional lives (Selladurai, &Carraher, 2014). The inability of the people to rethink about these relationships makes this tenet differ with the philosophy of the Christian religious context. This philosophy tends to be more personal and based on the valuation of individuals whereas the Christian perspective encourages group performance. Examples of practices and/or values of servant leadership included in the discussion In this discussion, the servant leadership practices that have been discussed include the calling of God to the first male and female to serve and rule the world. After creating them in His image, God sent them to the world so that they could serve and conquer the world. Also, Jesus is given as an example of a servant leader. Mahatma Gandhi is given as an example of the servant leader in the Indian cultural perspective. References Frick, D. M. (2004).Robert K. Greenleaf: A life of servant leadership. San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Hammer, D. C. (2012). Servant leadership.S.l.: Pacific Creek Books. Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press. Selladurai, R., &Carraher, S. (2014). Servant leadership: Research and practice. Hershey, PA: Business Reference. Ebener, D. (2014). Servant Leadership Models for Your Parish: How and Why Servant Leadership Works. Saarbrücken: Scholars Press. Roberts, G. E. (2014). Servant leader human resource management: A moral and spiritual perspective. New York : Palgrave Macmillan In Day, D. V. (2014).The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations.New York : Oxford University Press Howieson, B., & Hodges, J. (2014).Public and Third Sector Leadership: Experience Speaks. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Read More