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SERVANT THEORY

How It Came About?


Robert Greenleaf wrote Servant Leadership (1977, 1991). He conceptualized the
idea of the servant as leader from Hermann Hesses The Journey to the
East (1956), in which the servant who does the menial chores also sustained
the partys spirits through his extraordinary presence. When the servant left
the group, the group fell into disarray and the journey was abandoned. Servant
leadership puts serving first, takes a holistic approach, shares decision
making, and builds community. In over four decades of working as Director of
Leadership Development at AT&T, he noticed that most successful managers
lead in a different way from traditional managers. The managers he termed
servant leaders put serving others, including employees, customers and the
community, as the number-one priority.
Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader
Larry Spears has identified 10 characteristics of the servant-leader by studying
Greenleafs work:
1. Listening = Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication
and decision making skills. Although these are also important skills for the
servant-leader, they need to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listening
intently to others. The servant-leader seeks to identify the will of a group and

helps to clarify that will. He or she listens receptively to what is being said and
unsaid.
2.Empathy = People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and
unique spirits. One assumes the good intentions of co-workers and colleagues
and does not reject them as people, even when one may be forced to refuse to
accept certain behaviors or performance. The most successful servant-leaders
are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners.
3.Healing = One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential
for healing one's self and one's relationship to others. Many people have broken
spirits and have suffered from a variety of emotional hurts. Although this is a
part being human, servant-leaders recognize that they have an opportunity to
help make whole those with whom they come in contact.
4.Awareness = General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens
the servant-leader. Awareness helps one in understanding issues involving
ethics, power and values. It lends itself to being able to view most situations
from a more integrated, holistic position.
5.Persuasion = another characteristic of servant-leaders is a reliance on
persuasion, rather than on one's positional authority, in making decisions
within an organization. The servant-leader seeks to convince others, rather
than coerce compliance.

6.Conceptualization = the ability to look at a problem or an organization from


conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day
realities. For many leaders, this is a characteristic that requires discipline and
practice. The traditional leader is consumed by the need to achieve short-term
operational goals. The leader who wishes to also be a servant-leader must
stretch his or her thinking to encompass broader-based conceptual thinking.
7.Foresight = Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant-leader to
understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the
likely consequence of a decision for the future. It is also deeply rooted within
the intuitive mind.
8.Stewardship = Servant-leadership, like stewardship, assumes first and
foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the
use of openness and persuasion, rather than control.
9.Commitment to the growth of people = the servant-leader is deeply
committed to the growth of each and every individual within his or her
organization. The servant-leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do
everything in his or her power to nurture the personal and professional growth
of employees and colleagues.
10.Building community = The servant-leader senses that much has been lost
in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large

institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the
Servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among
those who work within a given institution. Servant-leadership suggests that
true community can be created among those who work in businesses and
other institutions.

MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES
All human beings are motivated by different goals, ambitions, and aspirations.
A motive is a need or desire that incites and directs a person's actions.
Motivation according to Mills is a force within the individual that influences
strength or direction of behavior. In setting a motivating climate, the manager
must create conditions that encourage interdependent work; competitive
environment that recognizes and rewards work well done. The good manager
inspires teamwork, considers the uniqueness of each worker. He/she provides
challenging experiences and opportunities for continuing growth and
development. A good leader utilizes positive feedback or reinforcement to the
event as much as possible to determine unmet needs that cause
dissatisfaction.

Intrinsic Motivation
comes from within the person driving him to be more productive. It is directly
related to person's aspiration and goals. Internal motivations are focused on
intrinsic needs for recognition, self-esteem, and self-actualization
Extrinsic Motivation
is enhanced by environment or external rewards. This may come in the form of
promotions, increases in salary, added benefits, or external rewards. Mostly
focused on fiscal rewards. Organization should provide a climate that
stimulates both intrinsic and extrinsic drives to meet the individual and
organizational goals.
Motivational Theories
A. Need Theory
1. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs- shows that people are motivated to
satisfy certain needs to complex psychological needs. He contends that people
seek higher level needs only when the lower needs have been achieved.
2. The Two-Factor Way- Frederick Herzberg (1991) developed this theory.
Hygiene factors relate to the working conditions such as salary, quality of
supervision, job security, interpersonal relations policies, and supervisions.

These factors are growth-producing productivity due to dissatisfaction.


Motivating factors relate to the job itself and include opportunities for growth
and development and advancement; added responsibilities, challenging aspects
of work, recognition, and achievement. These are called satisfiers.
3. McClelland's Three Basic Needs Theory- David McClelland identifies the
three basic needs that people possess in varying degrees: achievement, power,
and affiliation.
B. Expectancy Theory
(Victor Vroom)Indicates that felt needs of individuals in work settings are
increased if a person perceives positive relationship between effort and
performance. Motivated behavior is further increased if there is positive
relationship between good performance and outcomes or rewards particularly
when these are valued.
C. Operant Theory
(B.F. Skinner)This suggests that an employee's work motivation is controlled by
conditions in the external environment instead of internal needs and desires.
D. Equity Theory

(Jo Stacy Adams)They found that employees assess fairness by considering


their input and the psychological, social and financial rewards in comparison
with those of others. Perceived inequity causes tension which is found to be
proportioned to the magnitude of the perceived tension. These feelings motivate
an employee to resolve the inequity by reducing input, changing the basis of
comparison or by resigning. IF the comparison is equal, the person feels
he/she is treated fairly.
SITUATIONAL THEORY
In this approach, the leader behaves according to a given situation which may
vary from one setting to other. The theory considers the person's qualities and
motivations, the role expectations of the group, and the social forces at work
such as the external factors that bring forth leadership potential. The
situational style of a leadership is one in which the leader's style matches the
situation and its needs. The nurse manager assesses each nurse's needs and
determines which leadership behaviors will help the nurse to do the work with
the fewest problems. The nurse manager first considers the staff nurse's ability
(knowledge, experience, and skills) then determines the nurse's willingness
(confidence, commitment, motivation, and energy) to complete a given task. To
accomplish the management process , the leader must know himself/herself,

his/her followers and the character of the work situation. The situational
leader must be flexible enough to make adaptations and changes. The leader
acts according to the call of the situation.
INTERACTIONAL THEORIES
The basic premise of interactional theory is that leadership behavior is
generally determined by the relationship between the leaders personality and
the specific situation management process, the leader must know
himself/herself, his/her followers and the character of the work situation. The
situational leader must be flexible enough to make adaptations and changes.
The leader acts according to the call of the situation.
The basic premise of interactional theory is that leadership behavior is
generally determined by the relationship between the leaders personality and
the specific situation.
Schein (1970) was the first to propose a model of humans as complex beings
whose working environment was an open system to which they responded. A
System may be defined as a set of objects, with relationships between the
objects and between their attributes. A system is considered open if it
exchanges matter, energy, or information with its environment.

CHARISMATIC THEORY
Charisma- (most agree) is an inspirational quality possessed by some people
that makes others feel better in their presence.
Charismatic leader
- inspires others by obtaining emotional commitment from followers and by
arousing strong feelings of loyalty and enthusiasm.
Jay Conger and Rabindra Kanungo
They found that charisma is more likely attributed to a leader who advocates a
vision discrepant from the status quo, emerges during a crisis, accurately
assesses the situation, communicates self-confidence, uses personal power,
makes self-sacrifices and uses unconventional strategies.
TRANSFORMATIONAL THORY
Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985)
quoted: "Leaders do the right things whereas managers deal with efficacy."
"Leaders focus on effectiveness; managers deal with efficacy."
4 Strategies for Taking Charge
1 .Attention through vision - reason should be clear, attractive, and attainable

2. Meaning through communication - stories, fables, parables analogies helps


give meaning to vision3.trust through positioning - associates are more likely to
be trusting when they know the leader's view of the organization
3. Open communication + honesty + consistency = TRUST
4. Deployment of self - fosters a learning environment- leaders are continuous
learners and use the organization as a learning environment
TRANSACTIONAL THEORY
Transactional leadership is an exchange posture that identifies needs
of followers and provides rewards to meet those needs in exchange for expected
performance. It is a contract for mutual benefits that has contingent rewards.
The leader is a caretaker who sets goals for employees, focuses on day-to-day
operations and uses management by exception. It is a competitive, task-focused
approach that takes place in a hierarchy.
CONTINGENCY THEORY
This was introduced by Fred Fiedler during the 1960s. He argued that a
leadership style will be effective or ineffective depending on the situation.
According to this theory, no one leadership style is ideal for every situation. He

identified three (3) aspects of a situation that structure the leaders role:
a. leader-member relations, b. task structure and c. position power.

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