Servant leadership is a philosophy and a combination of practices by leaders or those in authority aimed at enriching the lives of individuals under their leadership, building better organizations and ultimately creating a more caring, just and mutually benefiting world. Servant leadership is guided by mutually agreed-upon standards that provide the greatest benefit to all and is based on the self-chosen consistent principles that all humans should follow. One of major philosophies of servant leadership is stewardship, which is an ethic that embodies the values of leadership responsibility, appropriate planning, effective management of resources for the benefit of man and nature in general.
Servant leaders lead and serve by healing those they lead in order to bring about transformation and integration. The potential of healing one’s self as well as others is a great strength in servant leadership. Therefore, a servant leader should also be an emotional healer, spiritual healer and physical healer.
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Besides healing, servant leaders are expected to demonstrate awareness which involves the ability of a leader to make a commitment to build understanding and recognition, especially self-awareness which is one of the ideal qualities of a servant leader. Leaders who act as servants encourage diversity and uniqueness among the people they lead. They recognize individuality among people and groups. Awareness is the recognition and appreciation of unique capabilities, needs and weaknesses of people under one’s leadership.
Servant leaders strive to recognize people’s strengths and weaknesses and embrace them by trying to feel exactly the way people under their leadership feel in different circumstances. They recognize that others have a unique and special spirit. Leaders who practice servant leadership recognize the good deeds and intentions of employees or their subjects.
Foresight, which is another philosophy that is embraced in servant leadership entails the leader’s ability to understand lessons from the past, interpret the present realities and predict the consequences of their decisions in future. It is one of the most important characteristics of servant leaders.
Servant leaders also act in a manner that demonstrates a divine calling. Such leaders are ever willing to sacrifice their own self interests for the good of the organization and those they are serving. In so doing, servant leaders focus on nurturing and helping both people and organizations grow and achieve greater possibilities. Other philosophies of servant leadership include: building of the community, conceptualization, persuasion, listening among other philosophies and principles.
Different cultural viewpoints and religious contexts uphold the above principles of servant leadership in different ways. Below are examples of the cultural viewpoints and religious contexts that are guided by the principles and values of servant leadership as their core values.
Servant Leadership and the Asian Culture
Asian culture is mostly influenced by Asian Art, music, literature and cuisine. However, religion and western philosophies have greatly influenced the culture of Asians. The manner in which Asians lead their lives is greatly influenced by several religious practices such as Hinduism, Confucianism, Judaism, Taoism and Buddhism. However, most conflicts evident in different parts of Asia are as a result of religious differences. The complex relationship between the western culture and Asian culture has greatly influenced the culture of Asians in general (Lee & Zhou, 2016). However, the manner in which Asians are currently being portrayed in the American media manifests the end of historical racial segregation (Kim, 2004). Generally the lives of Asian people have greatly been influenced by the work of art. Recognition of successful personalities in the Asian culture is mostly based on the ability to make and utilize different forms of art.
Similarities between Servant Leadership’s Philosophies and the Asian Culture
Major principles that guide Asian culture coincide with the philosophies of servant leadership in different ways. For instance, both servant leadership and the Asian culture are guided by awareness as a common principle. Servant leadership requires leaders to promote self awareness among the people under one’s leadership. Music and other forms of art apparent in the Asian culture are excellent ways of promoting self-awareness and recognition of individuals.
The culture of Asia encourages diversity. This is because it is multi-religious in nature. Servant leadership is also based on diversity as one of its major principles. Both servant leadership and the Indian culture recognize that humans are unique beings with varied beliefs and practices, thus worth of special consideration.
Differences between Servant Leadership’s Philosophies and the Asian Culture
The main difference evident between servant leadership and the Asian culture is that servant leadership is guided by mutually agreed upon standards of life that provide benefits for all without segregation or discrimination whereas in most parts of Asia, especially where religion is involved, Asians tend to differ sharply along religious divides.
Servant Leadership and the Islam Religion
Muslim religion is guided by core principles that manifest the philosophy of servant leadership. Suhail, Jamil, Oyebode & Ajmal (2011) describes the bereavement process and the strong ties between members of the same religion. Pakistan Muslims are strongly attached to one another and the death of their beloved ones and the process of grieving are given significance by the members of the Islamic religion. Mourning is done in different themes such as the last moments before death, mourning the loss of their beloved ones, the changed life after death of their beloved ones and the process of coping and adjustment.
When a Muslim dies of short-term illness or other causes such as accidents that result in sudden death, the mourning is usually extended and is led by their religious leader or a representative. There is also a tendency to work out all means possible to prevent re-occurrence of such deaths in future. Although death is inevitable, sudden death is associated with more grief compared to the death that results from long-term illness, aging and other natural causes that are gruesome (Suhail, Jamil, Oyebode & Ajmal, 2011).
According to Ahmad (2015), Practices of Islamic religion are not considerate of the environmentally appropriate practices. Brunei Darussalam is a developing Islamic nation endowed with natural resources such as fossil fuel which it uses to develop its economy as well as conserve them for the purposes of maintaining a clean and green environment, in accordance with the universal principles of environmental management. This is also in direct accordance with the principles of servant leadership such as protection, awareness and growth. However, Muslims in Brunei Darussalam have reportedly been depleting and misusing their natural resources. They have been engaging in potentially harmful practices to the environment. As a developing Islamic nation, Brunei Darussalam cannot escape from creating an undesirable change to its environment. Pollution is considered to be one of the most critical problems facing environment.
Similarities between Servant Leadership’s Philosophies and Islamic Values
Islamic religion has a number of characteristics which are also evident in servant leadership philosophies. For instance, both convey empathy. As already mentioned above, the mourning of Muslims accompanied by grief is a way of empathizing with the spirit and the family of the deceased. Although this may not directly reflect the kind of empathy that comprises one of the servant leadership’s philosophies, it is nevertheless a way of trying to feel the pain experienced by others.
In case of sudden death, Islamic religious leaders lead other members of their religion in trying to contemplate the possibilities that might cause the occurrence of a similar form of death in future and tries to use all possible means to avoid occurrence of such deaths. As one of the core principles of servant leadership, the element of foreseeing makes Islamic religion similar to servant leadership.
The process of mourning in Islamic religion is meant to achieve therapeutic healing among the affected families. Healing is also a principle of servant leadership meant to help those under leadership undergo psychological transformation by reducing the trauma of losing their beloved ones.
Differences between Servant Leadership’s Philosophies and Islamic Values
Despite the above similarities between the principles and philosophies of servant leadership and those evident in Islamic religion, some differences exist between Islamic religion and servant leadership. While servant leadership philosophies support environmental protection by upholding mutually beneficial standards in the society, Islamic religion does not give utmost consideration to this philosophy.
Servant leadership is guided by stewardship which includes service to humanity and protection of the socially shared resources. On the other hand, Islamic religion disregards this principle and encourages depletion of resources for their own interests and not for the benefits of the society and the world at large (Ahmad, 2015).
Conclusion
In summary, servant leadership principles and philosophies are accommodative of unique individual interests and are guided by the desire to achieve positive change. While most religions and cultures across the world are guided by the principles of servant leadership as explained above, there are some areas in which these principles and philosophies are not completely taken into consideration.
References
Ahmad, A. (2015). “Islamic Attitudes towards Environmental Problems and Practices.” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology , 19 (3), 209-225.
Kim, L. (2004). “Be the One That You Want: Asian Americans in Television Culture, Onscreen and Beyond.” Amerasia Journal , 30 (1), 125-146.
Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2016). “Unraveling the Link between Culture and Achievement.” Ethnic and Racial Studies , 39 (13), 2404-2411.
Suhail, K., Jamil, N., Oyebode, J., & Ajmal, M. A. (2011). “Continuing bonds in Bereaved Pakistani Muslims: Effects of culture and religion.” Death Studies , 35 (1), 22-41.
