Every workplace has a person who is in charge of the others and of the operations in general, whether in a small or big company. The person in charge is viewed by his subordinates as the leader. Some people believe that leaders are born while to others, leadership is just but a trait that one can pick up as they grow. A leader assembles a team that will make the vision of a company or organization come true. Leadership theories have been studied for decades as people try to define authentic leaders and what makes them stand out from a mass of people. Each of these philosophers in most cases do come up with their own leadership theory.
Philosophers have come up with a number of leadership theories such as the servant leadership theory. Servant leaders are ones who wholeheartedly give their attention to serving their followers. They have a desire to serve people and not to gain the power that comes with leadership (Burkus, 2010). The contingency leadership theory argues that every leadership style needs to be centered on certain situations and that there is no single, correct way of leading people. Transactional/exchange theory is characterized by transactions between followers and their leader and a mutually benefiting relationship. The behavioral leadership theorists argue that leaders are made not born. They further argue that leaders learn and pick up specific traits that enable them to become leaders and not that they are born to be leaders. Finally, we have the path-goal theory whereby leaders help their followers by selecting a certain style of leadership that will motivate them to move towards the desired reward. (Burkus, 2010)
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The theory that I identify with the most among those that I have mentioned is the servant leadership theory. I believe that once one has been elected to become a leader, he/she should be a servant first to his followers. Everything else must come second. According to Greenleaf, the theorist, when leaders show a desire to serve their people, the people will reciprocate by increasing their productivity at work which will mean better performance. “The servant-leader shares power puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”(Greenleaf). According to Russell, power-based leadership has eroded in most organizations and in this regard, leaders should derive their influence from values and not power (Russell, 2001). A leader that operates on the philosophy of first serve others finds himself avowing some leadership scandals that are brought by excess pride, unhealthy subordinate relationships, and self-interests that are very rampant in other traditional forms of leadership. To me, this theory addresses these issues through leadership motivation and interactions between a leader and their followers which make it my most preferred theory of leadership.
One local company that practices the servant leadership theory is the Whole Foods Market under the leadership of John Mackey. John Mackey uses the servant leadership theory for the attainment of a value-based leadership. He does neither demand respect from his employees nor total control over them as this would be stressful to employees, and the result would be low productivity. (Pearson, 2012). Whole foods employees are empowered to participate in the ethics of the Whole Foods product and not given assignments as a matter either of mandate or compulsion. Mackey notes servant leadership as a style of leadership whereby leaders identify their flourishing with that of the organization (Mackey, 2011). “Fear is the opposite of love. When fear predominates in the organization, love and care cannot flourish. Cultivate forgiveness rather than judgment and condemnation” (Mackey, 2010). Google, a technology service provider, on the other hand, believes in pushing their employees to become better. Larry Page pushes his employees to be driven to create better things, and not necessarily by leading them in this, but by pushing them to step out of their comfort zones and do great stuff. They are given enough space and resources to create on their own instead of doing it with their leaders.
The servant leadership style affects the employees by inspiring them to become just like their leader, who leads them through their work by example whilst Google’s style of leadership pushes employees to do great on their own. While pushing your followers to work can be a good thing, it may affect quite a number of them, seeing as not everyone can work under such pressure. The pressure may cause them stress, leading them to post poor job performances. Employees just want to be left alone and guided on what to do. They want a boss they can interact with freely, a boss who is not egocentric but down to earth and approachable. This makes servant leadership better in that the employees are encouraged to become productive, making this model of leadership more desirable to most fortune 500 companies.
Servant leaders inspire and encourage their followers to prosper while embracing the company culture. Mackey lives by example by walking the talk. He states that; “I communicate the mission and values of Whole Foods at every opportunity and I try to live those core values myself with complete fidelity. Fidelity to the mission and values builds trust, while any deviance undermines it. High trust organizations and hypocritical leadership are mutually exclusive.” Mackey, 2011). In the case of google, the company is centralized, and decision making responsibility is left for the executives and leaders of the company.
As a Human resource specialist in a government agency, I would practice the servant leadership style with regards to my attitude towards my juniors. I would do this by following all the instructions that I myself give them, so as to show them an example which they could very easily relate to. Giving instructions that you can’t follow to your employees makes them view you as bossy and therefore, ill-suited for leadership. I will also not behave too much as a boss but more as one of them so that we can build trust amongst ourselves which will help us in our day-to-day interactions with each other. It is important to start from the top when giving out instructions and what values to follow. It is important for me to lead by example if I want the values of the organization followed by everyone. I will be a team player if I want to motivate and influence my followers to become better. I will consider the needs of my employees and create an environment where they can also become leaders themselves so that we are all on the same page and working towards one goal.
In conclusion, all organizations need strong leaders in order for them to operate with maximum efficiency. They need leaders who can create visions and inspire their followers to achieve them by leading by example. This can only be possible by applying the servant leadership model. The success of a company is a direct reflection of its leadership strategy. A good leader knows how to keep their staff motivated and developed a leadership strategy around that. Dictatorship and micro-management at work will only lead to demotivation of employees hence low productivity.
Reference
Mackey, John, 14 March 2010, Creating a High Trust Organization. Huffington Post.
Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mackey/creating-the-high-trust-o_b_497589.html
Russell, R.F. (2001). The role of values in servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22(2), 76-83.
Mackey, J. (2011, January-February). Co-founder and CEO. (H. B. Review, Interviewer).
Pearson, Kristin. (2012). "Whole Foods Market ™ Case Study: Leadership and Employee Retention" MBA Student Scholarship. Paper 8. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/mba_student/8
Burkus, David. (2010). Contingency Theory. Retrieved on January 24, 2017, from http://ldrlb.co/2010/02/contingency-theory/
