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Abstract
Many studies have in the past assessed the predictors of team success and the enhancers of team effectiveness. However, very few studies have sought to assess how leadership styles and behaviors impact team effectiveness. This paper seeks to evaluate whether there any relationship exists between leadership behaviors and team effectiveness and performance. More specifically, the research will focus on servant leadership and whether it can be deemed a predictor of effectiveness at the team level. Towards this end, findings from a study of more than 400 participants drawn from the U.S. division of a multinational corporation will be presented. It is important to note that the corporation in question has a well-defined reputation of utilizing team-based structures in the advancement of its organizational objectives. In this case, participants took the following instruments: a questionnaire on team effectiveness, an assessment instrument on servant leadership, and an organizational leadership assessment. To assess the relationship between servant leadership (and associated variables), and team effectiveness, Pearson r correlation analysis was utilized. In the end, a positive correlation that could be deemed statistically significant was found between team effectiveness and servant leadership. These findings were used as the basis for the advancement of a discussion on the need for further inquiry on how leadership behaviors impact team performance.
Servant Leadership Even though servant leadership is in most cases associated with the Bible and Jesus Christ it is quite compatible with most religions and theories of philosophy. This paper is a comparative study using Greenleaf's characteristics of servant leadership which is based on Christianity against other philosophy and other leadership theories. "…The great leader is seen as servant first…"-Robert K. Greenleaf. This is a fragment from a sentence in an essay
Servant Leadership At the center of servant leadership is a leader's ability to transform a team, department or entire organization by concentrating on their specific needs for direction, individualized coaching, development and recognition. A highly effective servant leader will also have a correspondingly high level of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and exhibit the traits of transformational leadership (Washington, Sutton, Feild, 2006). A highly effective servant leader will often create unique development and
Servant Leadership Defining Servant Leadership The principles of Servant Leadership were laid out by founder Robert Greenleaf in his important 1970 book, The Servant as Leader. Greenleaf, to his great credit, wanted to stress the point that leaders should first serve, and later lead through service. The leaders who have power but have not led, and use the power to push his or her own viewpoints and agenda, are not the kind
This is why the journal article advocated more empirical research that is still lacking ten years later (Russell & Stone, 2002, 145). B. Servant Leadership-Greenleaf The primary aspect is that a servant leader is first a servant who feels a natural need to provide for the needs of others (Greenleaf & Spears, 2002, 27). A concrete example of this would have been a leader such as Martin Luther King Jr. who
Therefore, the servant leadership theory reflects the need for analyzing this type of leadership. Servant Leadership Cons There is also certain criticism addressed by some to this theory. It seems that servant leadership provides a too soft approach that does not favor the development of competitiveness within the company. The increased competition in the business environment requires that companies also build a competitive environment within them in order to help employees
Servant Leadership Annotated Bibliography Within the context of organized behavior, leadership is one of the critical and core aspects. True leadership is decision making, but it is more complex. Leaders are not managers -- but they may manage. Leadership is less formal, more psychological, and effective leadership looks at more of the gray than the black and white and enables others, or other teams, to work well to achieve goals while