The Functions of a Servant Leader

Abstract

Servant leadership has been researched internationally and various types of favourable individual, team, and organisational outcomes have been linked to the construct. Different servant leadership measures have been validated to date and a clear distinction has been made between the theory of servant leadership and other leadership theories. However, it seems that research on the implementation of servant leadership within an organisation is still in need. The main functions of a servant leader are not yet conceptualised in the literature to help researchers or practitioners to implement servant leadership successfully within organisations. After conducting a systematic literature review, the main functions of a servant leader were identified. These functions were clustered into strategic servant leadership and operational servant leadership and supported by servant leadership characteristics and competencies as defined by current literature. The results of this study might help practitioners to develop servant leaders more effectively and assist organisations to cultivate a servant leadership culture within companies. Limitations and future research needs are discussed.

Is there a place for servant leadership in nursing?

“…Servant leadership is unique in that servant leaders demonstrate humanitarian attributes (Box 1). They affirm their intent to be effective leaders and have a set of core multi-dimensional leadership competencies (Box 2) that enable them to be so (Coetzer et al, 2017).…”

Prosocial Behaviors: Their Motivations and Impacts on Organizational Culture

“…Providing benefits to other people or society at large (Avolio & Locke, 2002;Axelsson & Axelsson, 2009;Coetzer, Bussin, & Geldenhuys, 2017).…”

“…Demonstrating selfless attitudes or self-sacrificial behaviors (Coetzer et al, 2017;Curry, Smith, & Robinson, 2009;Singh & Krishnan, 2007).…”

“…Establishing a higher-purpose vision (Coetzer et al, 2017) 2. Encouraging employees to act in a way that produces overall benefits and not individual advantages (Clarkson, 2014) 3.…”

Þjónandi forysta og starfsánægja í framhaldsskólum

“…Margar vísbendingar eru um að þjónandi forysta baeti árangur og auki starfsánaegju. Til daemis hafa rannsóknir erlendis (Coetzer, Bussin og Geldenhuys, 2017) og hérlendis (Sigrún Gunnarsdóttir og Birna Gerður Jónsdóttir, 2013) sýnt mjög skýr tengsl á milli þjónandi forystu hjá naesta yfirmanni og ánaegju meðal starfsfólks. Þá hafa nýjar rannsóknir varpað ljósi á tengsl árangurs og ánaegju starfsfólks við ýmsa grunnþaetti hugmyndafraeðinnar eins og upphafsmaður hennar, Robert K. Greenleaf, lýsir þeim í ritum sínum um þjónandi forystu (2018).…”