Unit 2 Theoretical Perspective on Leadership: Servant Leadership

a man smiling, wearing headphones with a microphone attachement

Image by Mart Production from Pexels

Overview

In this unit, we will begin the process of examining key leadership theories, considering their historical development and related research. Theoretical perspectives in leadership can provide a framework for leaders who engage in both positional and influential leadership within teams, organizations, and communities. While Northouse (2019) discusses multiple theoretical perspectives on leadership, in this course we will focus on three important theories: servant leadership, transformational leadership, and authentic leadership. As we examine each theoretical perspective, we will analyze potential strengths and challenges in each theory, compare each theory with the Christian faith, and identify effective leadership strategies inherent in each theory.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Examine key principles of Servant Leadership.
  • Analyze potential strengths and challenges of Servant Leadership theory.
  • Compare Servant Leadership values with Christian virtues.
  • Identify effective Servant Leadership strategies.

Course Topics

In this unit, we will explore the following topics:

  1. Cardinal and Theological Virtues
  2. Principles of Servant Leadership
  3. Strengths and Challenges of Servant Leadership

Unit Resources

Here are the resources you will need to complete this unit.

  • Brown (2018). Dare to lead.
  • Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice.

Other online resources will be provided in the unit.

2.1 Cardinal and Theological Virtues

Comparing Servant Leadership with Christian Virtues

As we consider the three leadership theories in this course, we will also examine these theoretical perspectives in light of Christian values. While there are diverse perspectives among scholars and Christians about what constitute Christian values, in this course we will compare each leadership theory to the cardinal virtues and theological virtues, a common framework used by Christian thinkers throughout the centuries and outlined by C.S. Lewis (1952) in his book, Mere Christianity. The cardinal virtues include:
prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, and the three theological virtues include hope, faith, and charity.
Before you read ahead, take a moment to define these terms. Write them down in your Reflective Learning Journal and consider what they mean to you and how you apply them (or want to apply them) in your daily life.

Cardinal Virtues

Prudence: “Prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it” (Lewis, 1952, p. 77).
Temperance: “Temperance referred not specially to drink, but all pleasures; and it meant not abstaining, but going the right length and no further” (Lewis, 1952, p. 78).
Justice: “Justice means much more than the sort of thing that goes on in law courts. It is the old name for everything we should now call ‘fairness’; it includes honesty, give and take, truthfulness, keeping promises, and all that side of life” (Lewis, 1952, p. 79).
Fortitude: “Fortitude includes both kinds of courage—the kind that faces danger as well as the kind that ‘sticks it’ under pain” (Lewis, 1952, p. 79).

Theological Virtues

Charity: “Charity means ‘Love, in the Christian sense.’ But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people” (Lewis, 1952, p. 71).
Hope: “A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next” (Lewis, 1952, p. 134).
Faith: “The word Faith seems to be used by Christians in two senses or on two levels, and I will take them in turn. In the first sense it means simply Belief – accepting or regrading as true the doctrines of Christianity. That is fairly simple. (Lewis, 1952, p. 75). “Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things you reason has once accepted, in spite of your change in moods” (Lewis, 1952, p. 77).

Analyzing Leadership Theory through the Lens of the Cardinal and Theological Virtues

As we learn about servant, transformational, and authentic leadership, we will consider how these leadership theories (including their values and philosophical ideas) compare to the cardinal and theological virtues discussed here. For example, you might consider the servant leadership values of listening and empathy (Northouse, 2019), and how they might align with virtue of charity. Likewise, you might consider whether the inspirational motivation of transformational leadership in some way demonstrates the virtue of hope.

2.2 Principles of Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership

At the heart of servant leadership is the concept that the role of the leader is to serve those she leads. This is, at first, an oxymoron – how can a leader serve? However, this theoretical perspective, first developed by Greenleaf (1970), has been widely studied by scholars, and applied by leaders within a wide range of settings.

Servant leaders are found in all cultures and world religions and seek to foster a values-based foundation of leadership. Servant leaders emphasize a commitment to serve followers for their best interests and those of the organization.

Greenleaf (1970) contends that:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“ (p.15).

Servant leadership, then, focuses on serving members of a team, organization, or community, regardless of the culture or context. The servant leader focuses on the development of the staff, team, or community members. In this week’s reading, you will explore the ways in which researchers have built on Greenleaf’s (1970) discussion of servant leadership to develop a theoretical framework, identify the actions and characteristics of servant leaders, and consider the strengths and challenges of servant leadership.

“Servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities” (Northouse, 2016, p. 225).

2.3 Strengths and Challenges of Servant Leadership

One of the strengths of servant leadership is the focus on altruistic service of others, potentially resulting in the growth of those one leads, as well as service for the greater good.

Wheatley (1999) argues that the foundational concept of servant leadership is that, as humans, we share a common human experience and that our purpose in life is not just to be focused on ourselves, but also on others. Lewis (1952) discussed the theological virtue of charity in similar terms, posting that charity or Christian love involves having the same love for others that we have for ourselves.

“The other big stumbling block of our time is not just time and our resistance to newness. It’s this strange belief that we exist as individuals separated from one another. This is the dominate belief, I believe, in Western society. In Africa, in any communal or indigenous society, we see the other end of the spectrum, which is a belief only in community. But somewhere in there, there’s got to be a new balance. I believe it’s up to us to discover how we use our individual creativity as a gift to the whole and how we move away from this, what Einstein called, the belief in our separate existences is what Einstein called an”optical delusion.” You know, I look at it. You and I could see 1,200 separate individuals or I can look out at you and try and re-see, try and remember that we are all connected. In Buddhism, in Tibetan Buddhism, the root of all suffering comes from our belief that we are not connected. The source of suffering is the believe that we are independent actors. So in… we know this in every spiritual tradition. It’s just that we in the West created this great mythos that you and I exist as individuals and that the purpose of our life, the purpose of our life is to grow into who we are for ourselves and not for others. I was very struck. I was re-reading a little bit of Greenleaf’s work on the plane yesterday, and I was very struck by his understanding that servant leadership starts as a feeling, a desire to serve others that then becomes a commitment to move that desire into practice, to actually take on the great courageous task of serving others. But it starts first with a desire, with a feeling” (Wheatley, 1999, para. 11).

Northouse (2019) identifies several challenges to servant leadership, including the limited research, the challenge of the paradoxical terms of servant and leader, and continued lack of consensus on a theoretical framework.

In a study of Asian male managers in Australia, Liu (2019) found that the practice of servant leadership is influenced by the intersectionality of gender, race, and other factors.

As you complete the learning activities for this unit, you will be challenged to consider both the strengths and challenges of servant leadership.

Formative Learning Activities (ungraded)

Learning Activity 2.1

  • Read: Lewis (1943). Mere Christianity. Book III Christian Behaviour: Chapters 2 and Chapters 9-12.

Learning Activity 2.2

  • Read: Northouse (2019), Chapter 10 Servant Leadership
  • Read: Rowe & Guerrero (2019), Chapter 8 Servant Leadership
  • Read: Page & Wong (n.d.), A Conceptual Framework for Measuring
    Servant-Leadership
  • Read: Liu, H. (2019). Just the servant: An intersectional critique of servant leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, pp. 1-14.

Learning Activity 2.4: Servant Leadership Questionnaire

Ask two people familiar with your leadership role to complete the Servant Leadership Questionnaire found in Northouse (2019, pp. 251-252). Complete the Questionnaire yourself, as well.

After completing the assessment, in your Reflective Journal, prepare a 150 word synthesis commenting on the overall results of the surveys. What were your results? In what ways do they align with your self-conception or not? As you reflected on these surveys, what did you learn about yourself? Did anything challenge you with respect to the results?

Assignments

Assignment 2: Case Study (Servant Leadership)

There are 2 options for Assignment 2 (due at the end of Unit 5):

  1. Case Study in Leadership or
  2. Critical Analysis of Leadership Theory

Both options ask you to write a 5-7 page paper focusing on one of the three leadership theories discussed in Units 2, 3, and 4 (servant, transformational, or authentic).

Here in Unit 2, we will introduce you to the Case Study in Leadership assignment option.

For the Case Study assignment, you can choose a case study from one of the three leadership theories we are studying: servant, transformational, or authentic leadership.

Below, you will find instructions for Option 1- Servant Leadership. See Unit 3 for Option 2 – Transformational Leadership or Unit 4 for Option 3 – Authentic Leadership.

Option 1 – Servant Leadership

Select one of the Case Studies on Servant Leadership in Rowe and Guerrero (2019). After reviewing the case, write a 5-7 page paper (plus Title Page and Reference List). The paper should be formatted in APA style and should incorporate references to Rowe and Guerrero (2019), Northouse (2019) and two other sources. The paper should include the following:

  1. Title Page
  2. Describe the issue.
  3. Discuss the context of the problem.
  4. Identify the key factors that contribute to the problem.
  5. Analyze the options or paths available to the decision-maker.
  6. Make a recommendation for how the leader should move forward.Incorporate a rationale for your recommendation, including references to both the Northouse (2019) and Rowe & Guerrero (2019) text. Be sure to incorporate your knowledge of this leadership theory, strategies, and values.
  7. Reference List

Assessment of Learning

RUBRIC: Case Study in Leadership (10%)

See the following rubric for details on how your work will be assessed.