Introduction
The effectiveness of an organization largely depends on the ability of its leader to connect employees and create a productive atmosphere. In the last years, one can note a shift from transformational leadership to a more people-centered and serving leadership model (Engelbrecht & Hendrikz, 2020). The value of servant leadership refers to the higher organizational commitment, moral intelligence, and employee satisfaction, which allows improving a company’s overall performance.
Servant Leadership: Principles and Comparison with Other Leadership Styles
Servant leadership prioritizes people’s needs and goals, while a leader is expected to put his or her personal necessities lower. Compared to ethical leadership that pays attention to transformations with a moral foundation, servant leadership aims to serve others based on the standard of stewardship (Engelbrecht & Hendrikz, 2020). The similarity of both models of leadership is that they view ethics as organizational integrity and honesty, and that they do not focus on benefiting from cheap production. According to Engelbrecht and Hendrikz (2020), the difference lies in communication: ethical leaders show commitment and morality, but servant leaders practice empowerment and stewardship. Moral intelligence is another characteristic feature of serving others as “the mental capacity to determine how universal human principles should be applied to organizational values, goals and actions (Engelbrecht & Hendrikz, 2020, p. 1). Therefore, moral intelligence acts as the basis for social, emotional, and cognitive intelligences. In addition, moral intelligence promotes a leader’s maturity and the formation of his or her strong moral identity.
Since transformational leadership has been one of the key styles in the recent decades, it seems to be useful to compare it with a new trend of servant leadership. Brown et al. (2020) consider that the two mentioned leadership ways have several similarities, including the orientation to people and active listening, which are aimed to achieve organizational goals. However, unlike transformational leadership, servant leadership implies emphasizing subordinates’ needs and wishes as the foundation for the success of a company. Zhou (2019) adds that even though personalized care for employees is characteristic for both styles, servant leaders do not use organizational vision to accomplish their goals. Considering that transformational and servant leadership methods have much in common, they can be used in combination (Brown et al., 2020). For example, in case of conflicts within a company or production crises, transformational leaders can be more effective in inspiring and motivating subordinates to work harder. Nevertheless, in static situations, servant leaders have more professional capacities and personal energy to pay attention to employees’ desires and build close relationships.
As an example of an effective servant leader, one can mention Susan Wojcicki, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube. According to this leader, people should be treated as the key resource, which means that organizations should be more sensitive to their employees. McLauchlan (2022) states that according to some estimates, Google’s success significantly depended on Wojcicki’s decisions. In addition, the effectiveness of her solutions can be proved by the fact that she is the longest-standing CEO of YouTube (Hearne, 2020). Among her professional treats, it is possible to note openness to everything new, which allows taking benefits from even the most radical ideas (McLauchlan, 2022). For example, she considers that after the maternal leave, many women can provide brilliant insights regarding their job. As a true servant leader, Wojcicki is also open to any feedback since “as you get more senior, your job is to hear what’s not working so you can make it better” (Hearne, 2020). Moreover, active listening, coaching instead of managing, as well as empathy are the main principles for this leader.
If all leaders were to use servant leadership in an organization, it would not be useful for both employees and the company. If all leaders were to act to help subordinates in gaining their goals, it would probably lead to chaos. As stated by Brown et al. (2020), organizations need a combination of various leadership styles to meet different needs, such as growth, crisis, failure, merging, and many others (Brown et al., 2020). Each of situations that happen with organizations affect both leaders and employees, which means that an individual response is critical. In this connection, servant leadership cannot be the only model practiced in companies. In general, servant leaders are more suitable for innovative environments, where research and development are important. In contrast, military settings, for example, require authoritarian or transformational leadership as they provide strict standards and accuracy.
Conclusion
To conclude, ethical leadership and servant leadership focus on honesty and integrity, but the latter also prioritizes moral intelligence. Servant leadership integrates people-oriented service, building sincere and trustful relationships with employees, and making their needs and challenging a top priority. Susan Wojcicki is one of the great servant leaders, who always assigns an importance to her subordinates’ challenges, needs, and insights. Despite the benefits of servant leadership discussed in this paper, it is not useful for all leaders and organizations. This model of leadership seems to be more suitable for static situations, organizations with a well-developed culture, and those leaders who are highly empathetic, open to feedback, and capable of active listening and moral intelligence.
References
Brown, S., Marinan, J., & Partridge, M. A. (2020). The moderating effect of servant leadership on transformational, transactional, authentic, and charismatic leadership. Journal of International Business Disciplines, 15(2), 67-86.
Engelbrecht, A., & Hendrikz, K. (2020). Influence of moral intelligence, principled leadership and trust on organisational citizenship behaviour. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 23(1), 1-9.
Hearne, E. (2020). 10 things we can all learn from Susan Wojcicki. FairyGodBoss. Web.
McLauchlan, J. (2022). What is Servant Leadership and 10 real-life examples of servant leadership. Jambar Team Building. Web.
Zhou, Q. (Ed.). (2019). A comparative study of servant leadership and other leadership styles. In 9th International Conference on Social Science and Education Research (pp. 413-417).