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SERVANT LEADERSHIP
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(60%), with about 15% reporting a minority ethnicity and just under 20% unknown
(IRR, 2014). Demographics such as these are impossible to control for, but play an
important role in participants inputs going into any development program.
Beck (2014) found several predictors of servant leadership. First, individuals
in a leadership position for a long period of time showed servant leader behavior
more frequently than those with less leadership experience. Servant leaders were
also more likely to volunteer at least an hour a week. Individuals who value
relationship building, as well as those with an altruistic mindset, acting in the best
interest of others (Beck, 2014, p. 307), also exhibited higher levels of servant
leadership behavior. These predictors were identified through a qualitative inquiry,
so there is no instrument to easily measure these levels pre-intervention.
Servant leadership should thrive in any educational non-profit environment,
as the tenants of the leadership theory align with the universitys service missions
for education and research. George Mason University particularly would be a
conducive environment for these ideas. The universitys vision statement aligns
with many key points found in servant leadership theory, such as creating value for
the community, conceptual skills and behaving ethically (GMU, 2012). The focus on
relationship building, team work and flattening hierarchies evident in servant
leadership also align with GMUs institutional goals. Provost Wu has also placed an
emphasis on what he calls the 60/40 rule. This idea states that individuals should
spend 60% of their time on work for their own unit, with the other 40% spent
helping other units succeed (Wu, 2015). This emphasis on the needs of others also
aligns with servant leadership.
Outcomes
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The learning outcomes for this program cover specific knowledge of servant
leadership and its application in the workplace, as well as outcomes related to skills
development need to practice servant leadership behaviors. At the end of this
program students will be able to:
Servant Leadership
The term servant leadership, made popular by Robert Greenleaf in the
1970s, may sound like a contradiction. How does one both serve and lead?
According to Greenleaf the difference manifests itself in the care taken by the
servant: - first, to make sure that other peoples highest priority needs are being
served. The best test is: do those servedbecome healthier, wiser, freer, more
autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? (as cited in Crippen,
2004, p. 12). Greenleaf developed this paradoxical theory after reading Herman
Hesses Journey to the East, which tells a tale of a group of travelers who set out on
an arduous journey. One of the travelers, Leo, functioned as a servant to the rest of
the group, doing menial chores for his fellow travelers, but also helped to keep their
spirits up on the trek. However, when Leo disappeared, the company disintegrated
and the journey came to an end. It is eventually revealed that Leo was in fact the
head of the organization which had sponsored the original journey. The message
Greenleaf took away from this story, that people will be recognized as leaders by
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their services to society, became the basis of his servant leadership theory
(Crippen, 2004).
Unfortunately, Greenleaf never operationally defined his concept, so several
researchers have attempted to do so in his place, resulting in several sets of
characteristics related to servant leadership. Spears, a colleague and friend of
Greenleafs, identified ten characteristics: listening, empathy, healing, awareness,
persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of
people, and building community (van Dierendonck, 2011). Liden, et al. (2008)
identified nine dimensions of servant leadership, along with a construct with which
to measure these dimensions. The nine dimensions are emotional healing, creating
value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow
and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and
servanthood.
The various words used to describe servant leadership may differ, but the
overall message is the same, serving others first is the central component of
servant leadership. Liden et al.s (2008) dimensions focus more on actions, for
example, putting subordinates first is defined as using actions and words to make
it clear to othersthat satisfying their work needs is a priority (p. 162). Spears
characteristics focus on similar strengths, but in a more general sense.
Commitment to the growth of people, his most similar characteristic to putting
subordinates first, is defined as nurturing the personal, professional and spiritual
growth of people (van Dierendonk, 2011, p. 1232). There are several overlaps
between Spears and Liden et al.s dimensions, but the characteristics identified by
Spears were never fully operationalized with a validated measurement as was done
with Liden et al.s dimensions in the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ). As a
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result, this proposed program focuses on the nine dimensions identified by Liden et
al. (2008), though elements of Spears characteristics are also included. Liden et al.
(2008) defined their dimensions as follows:
1. Emotional healingthe act of showing sensitivity to others' personal
concerns
2. Creating value for the communitya conscious, genuine concern for
helping the community
3. Conceptual skillspossessing the knowledge of the organization and tasks
at hand so as to be in a position to effectively support and assist others,
especially immediate followers
4. Empoweringencouraging and facilitating others, especially immediate
followers, in identifying and solving problems, as well as determining when
and how to complete work tasks
5. Helping subordinates grow and succeeddemonstrating genuine concern
for others' career growth and development by providing support and
mentoring
6. Putting subordinates firstusing actions and words to make it clear to
others (especially immediate followers) that satisfying their work needs is a
priority (Supervisors who practice this principle will often break from their
own work to assist subordinates with problems they are facing with their
assigned duties.)
7. Behaving ethicallyinteracting openly, fairly, and honestly with others
8. Relationshipsthe act of making a genuine effort to know, understand, and
support others in the organization, with an emphasis on building long-term
relationships with immediate followers
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Topic
Module 1
Introduction to Servant
Leadership
Module 2
Module 3
Listening, Empowering,
and Persuasion
Learning Goals
Students will:
-Be introduced to
program objectives
-Gain knowledge of
servant leadership theory
and concepts
-Identify opportunities to
serve
-Commit to service
location for duration of
the program
- Be introduced to ways
to improve listening skills
-Demonstrate effective
listening skills
-Recognize how listening
to others can help
empower them -Identify
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Module 4
Building Relationships,
Trust, and Teamwork
Module 5
Empathy, Emotional
Healing
Module 6
Ethical Leadership
Module 8
Conceptual Skills
Module 9
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by characteristics of a bad leader. After the lists are created, the program facilitator
should discuss the servant leader characteristics. Were all of those characteristics
included in the list the class list? Why or why not? Participants will also receive
their first homework assignment: observe and make note of servant leadership
behavior in others. These notes will be discussed throughout other modules. The
assignment will later focus on the participants identifying those behaviors in
themselves. As Spears and Lawrence (2002) note that the best way to understand
servant leadership is to read Greenleafs writings as well as the book that inspired
him, a recommended reading list (Appendix A) will be provided for students to read
throughout the program.
The module on listening will use an active listening activity which allows
participants to use verbal and non-verbal encouragers and practice listening skills.
Participants break into groups of three, after active listening skills have been
discussed, with one person speaking about a topic, any topic, which is important to
him or her. One person is the listener who uses verbal and non-verbal encouragers
and just listens. The third person observes the interaction and makes note of the
listening behaviors, positive and negative. Each speaker will talk for a few minutes,
after which the group will discuss. How did it feel to listen, was it difficult? Did the
speaker feel listened to? What behaviors did the observer see? After a few more
minutes for discussion, group members will trade roles. This is repeated until
everyone has participated in all roles.
The trust and team building module will include a fictitious, controversial
proposed change that is causing some conflict in the local high school. Some
parents and school board members are for the change, but others in both groups
are against the change. Split participants into two groups, one representing the
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parents and the other the school board, so each individual group can look at the
issue from both sides. Discuss how the conflict resolution went, could it have gone
better, what would a servant leader have done?
Assessment
Participants will complete a pre-test using the Leadership Attitudes and
Beliefs Scale (Wielkiewicz, 2000) to identify levels of hierarchical and systemic
thinking. They will be re-tested on this item after completing the program to see if
their leadership attitudes have become less hierarchical. This scale is not ideal
because while it has been validated with younger participants, it has not been fully
studied outside of the college student context. However, it is the only validated
measure the author was able to identify that could provide insight on participants
levels of hierarchical thinking. Hierarchical thinking should be specifically
addressed in module 3 (using persuasion rather than positional power) and module
9 (positive outcomes of working together and helping others grow could flatten
hierarchy), and the overall approach of servant leadership is also expected to
produce alterations in hierarchical thinking (Reynolds, 2011).
Liden et al.s (2008) SLQ will be used to assess levels of servant leadership in
a pre-test/post-test format. The survey requires at least two subordinates to
respond regarding the behaviors of their supervisors. The original version of the
survey phrases the questions as My manager can solve work problems with new or
creative ideas (Liden et al., 2008, p. 168), so there may be adjustments to the my
manager language for non-supervisory participants to allow colleagues to
complete the assessment. The instrument is a 28-item questionnaire with each
question posed on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree to
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presumably done some research has been done to support their programs. It would
be useful to see published results on the impact these, or similar, programs have
had on learners.
Personal reflection
What a difference a semester makes! It has been interesting to go back over
my original leadership statement from only a few months ago. I still value positional
authority, but have begun to recognize leadership as more than a person with a set
of leader traits. Looking back over my original essay I see statements I made
such as Good leaders feel concern about the well-being of their teams and their
teams respect them (p. 2), which suggest I was closer to this understanding at the
beginning of the semester than I realized. I can see how this reflects the definition
of leadership as a process and I have begun to see the value of viewing leadership
through this lens.
In the original paper, I seemed hesitant to ascribe the title leader to myself.
One of my biggest ah-ha moment actually came recently as I was reading Liden et
al.s (2008) dimensions of servant leadership. I was having trouble identifying with
the idea of servant leadership, wondering how this could really be a beneficial,
despite the impressive research I had seen. The description of putting subordinates
first says Supervisors who practice this principle will often break from their own
work to assist subordinates with problems they are facing with their assigned
duties (Liden et al., 2008, p. 162). Shortly before reading that, I had been a
member of my team with a mounting pile of paperwork. I could tell she was
starting to feel overwhelmed by the number of different things she had pending, so I
offered to complete the pending paperwork. This took time away from my day-today responsibilities, but I did not think anything of it at the time. I am quicker at
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processing the paperwork, since I have been doing it longer, so it made sense for
me to get through them quickly and allow her time for other work and reduce the
stress she was feeling about the ever increasing stack of papers. Reading Liden et
al.s (2008) definition made me see this action in a different light and examine other
behaviors of mine differently as well. This experience is one of the reasons I
included the learning outcome that participants be able to identify leadership
behaviors in themselves. I think it is easy to read about something and
conceptualize it, but being able to identify those concepts in yourself can make
them come to life.
I still believe that some aspects of leadership cannot be taught. The
behaviors in servant leadership, for example, could be reinforced in people with
some prior inclination to put others first. However, I do not expect my program, or
any other, to completely change the character of someone who is selfish and
uncaring towards others. Personally, I will never have all of the characteristics of a
charismatic leader such as being dominant, [and] having a strong desire to
influence others (Northouse, 2013, p. 187). However, it could be possible for me to
develop the behaviors associated with charismatic leaders such as appearing
competent to followers and being a role model for followers, displaying the values I
hope they will adopt.
As far as continued personal leadership development, I am currently enrolled
in Masons New SUPERvisor program. The program focuses more on management
skills than leadership, but some of the courses do teach skills like coaching that can
contribute to relationship building, a key to the leadership process. Additionally,
once I have completed this program, my supervisor has agreed to nominate me to
attend one of the more leadership focused programs Mason offers, the Leadership
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Legacy program. She completed the program this semester and I saw several
overlaps between what she learned in Leadership Legacy and our work in CTCH 810.
I look forward to participating in the program after this experience. I believe it will
offer a different perspective on some of the same topics, helping to further expand
my understanding of leadership.
My supervisor has also helped me see the value in mentoring relationships, a
high impact leadership development practice. She works with me to develop my
leadership skills and provides feedback that has been extremely valuable. As a
result, I have been working on developing my own mentoring skills to help grow and
support my team. Additionally, I would be interested in exploring the followership
literature. I found it interesting in researching servant leadership that the term
subordinate was used so frequently. It simply refers to a lower positional power, but
the term seems to have a negative connotation. With such an other-focused
philosophy, I would have thought the researchers would be more careful with how
they define those others.
I have learned a lot over the course of this semester, and look forward to
continuing my leadership journey.
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References
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Kamath, S. (2014, July 21). Great university=Great place to work: Mason named among
best colleges to work for. Retrieved from https://newsdesk.gmu.edu/2014/07/greatuniversity-great-place-work-mason-named-among-best-colleges-work/
KU Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2014). Chapter 13, Section 2:
Servant leadership: Accepting and maintaining the call of service. Lawrence, KS:
University of Kansas. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-ofcontents/leadership/leadership-ideas/servant-leadership/main
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving
culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management
Journal, 57(5), 14341452. http://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0034
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership:
Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The
Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161177. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.01.006
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (Sixth.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Office of Institutional Research and Reporting. (2014). Full-time academic faculty
demographic profiles: Two year comparisons. Retrieved from
https://irr2.gmu.edu/New/N_Faculty/FullTimeFacComp.cfm
Reynolds, K. (2011). Servant-leadership as gender-integrative leadership: Paving a path
for more gender-integrative organizations through leadership education. Journal of
Leadership Education, 10(2), 155171.
Spears, L. C., & Lawrence, M. (Eds.). (2002). Focus on leadership: servant-leadership for
the twenty-first century. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
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Van de Bunt-Kokhuis, S., & Sultan, N. (2012). Servant-leadership: The online way! Elearning where community building is key. European Journal of Open, Distance and
E-Learning, 1.
Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of
Management, 37(4), 12281261. http://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380462
Van Winkle, B., Allen, S., DeVore, D., & Winston, B. (2014). The relationship between the
servant leadership behaviors of immediate supervisors and followers perceptions of
being empowered in the context of small business. Journal of Leadership Education,
13(3), 7082.
Wielkiewicz, R. M. (2000). The leadership attitudes and beliefs scale: An instrument for
evaluating college students thinking about leadership and organizations. Journal of
College Student Development, 41(3).
Wu, D. (2015, April). Townhall. George Mason University.
Yoshida, D. T., Sendjaya, S., Hirst, G., & Cooper, B. (2014). Does servant leadership
foster creativity and innovation? A multi-level mediation study of identification and
prototypicality. Journal of Business Research, 67(7), 13951404.
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.08.013
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Appendix A
Recommending reading list
Greenleaf, R. K., Frick, D. M., & Spears, L. C. (1996). On becoming a servant-leader (1st
ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (1998). The power of servant-leadership: essays. San
Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant leadership: a journey into the nature of
legitimate power and greatness (25th anniversary ed). New York: Paulist Press.
Hesse, H., & Rosner, H. (2003). The journey to the East (1st Picador ed). New York:
Picador.
Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2009). Seven pillars of servant leadership: practicing the
wisdom of leading by serving. New York: Paulist Press.
Sparough, J. M., Manney, J., & Hipskind, T. (2010). Whats your decision? How to make
choices with confidence and clarity: an Ignatian approach to decision making.
Chicago: Loyola Press.
Spears, L. C., & Lawrence, M. (Eds.). (2002). Focus on leadership: servant-leadership for
the twenty-first century. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
Thompson, C. M. (2000). The congruent life: following the inward path to fulfilling work
and inspired leadership (1st ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.