Introduction
Servant leadership refers to a leadership philosophy that is devoted to sharing power with the people. A servant leader is committed to empowering the people he or she leads. The leader puts the interests of the people he leads ahead of his and seeks to meet the needs of the people. Servant leadership holds opposing views from traditional forms in the sense that while in traditional forms of leadership the people serve their leader a servant leader exists primarily to serve his people. The model of servant leadership has largely been attributed to the Christian faith. Several scholars have carried out extensive research on the relationship between the Christian values and concepts of servant leadership. As such, the concept of servant leadership has become synonymous with Christianity. On the contrary, several other global cultures exhibit the concept of servant leadership either consciously or unconsciously. Moreover, the precepts of servant leadership can also be seen among other leading religions other than Christianity. This paper examines the extent to which servant leadership has been employed within the Indian culture as well as the Islamic religion.
Servant Leadership in Indian and Islamic Perspective
The Need for Listening
Leadership from an Islamic perspective, as well as a cultural perspective, reflects the basic principles of servant leadership in various ways. Firstly, both the leadership in the context of Islam as well as the Indian culture advocate for listening. An effective servant leader is one who listens to the issues of the people who follow him. In Islam, the leadership style is largely borrowed from the leadership of Prophet Mohammed. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the leadership style of the prophet to comprehend the type of leadership that the Islamic religion advocates. Prophet Mohamed was the type of leader who listened to his people. In his bid to care for others and help those in need, the prophet listened to them regardless of their economic status as well as their social status (Gonaim, 2016). The contemporary leadership in the in the Islamic circle has equally endeavored to offer a listening ear to the people they lead. Similarly, Carroll & Patterson (2014) note the emphasis that the Indian culture has placed listening to the issues that affect the people from a perspective of leadership. Therefore, listening is an important aspect of leadership from both an Islamic perspective and the Indian cultural perspective.
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Servant Leadership Fosters Empathy
Empathy is an important principle in servant leadership. For someone to be an effective servant leader, the leaders must be able to demonstrate empathy. He or she must understand the challenges of other people in to help them. Gonaim, (2016) discusses the empathetically characteristics of Prophet Mohammed that have largely been emulated by the contemporary Islamic leaders. He notes that the prophet greatly empathized with people and was always willing to help those in need based on his empathy. Consequently, most Islamic leaders exemplify the trait of empathy as they seek to help those in need.
Hao (2016) also notes that the feeling of empathy is characteristic of all leaders within the Indian culture as it is among the Latin and African cultures. Moreover, Carroll & Patterson (2014) established that the Asian culture was high ranking with regards to humane approach to leadership in their research work. This humane approach is directly linked to the cultural emphasis on empathy in leadership. Therefore, the aspect of empathy as a critical component of servant leadership is evident in both the Islamic religious leadership as well as the Indian cultural leadership.
The Need to Serve
Servant leadership emanates from leader’s conviction to serve rather than be served. A servant leader is highly convicted that his role is to serve the interest of the people he leads. As such, he strives to put the interest of the people ahead of his or her interests. This conviction is evident in the leadership style employed by both the Islamic religion and the Indian culture. Mahazan (2015), points out the fact that leadership is considered as a responsibility and not just a mere honor among the Muslims. The article further notes that a Muslim leader is a steward of the people that he leads. As such, the leader is expected to act in the interest of the people he or she leads. Therefore, the Muslim type of leadership exemplifies a desire to serve rather than be served that is characteristic of servant leadership. Such a leadership approach is equally exemplified within the Indian culture. Like the other cultures of color, the leadership in the Indian culture demonstrates a commitment to serving the people and improving their welfare (Hao, 2016). Therefore, the concept of leadership in both the Islamic religion and the Indian culture demonstrate the leader’s commitment to serving the interests of his people rather than be served. This is strong evidence that both the Indian culture as well as the Islamic religion foster the servant type of leadership.
Promote Growth and Development of Followers
Servant leadership is also committed to the overall growth and development of the people. The success of this type of leadership is measured by the metrics of the personal development of the people being led. A servant leader is successful if the people he or she leads become freer, wiser, and wealthier. The type of leadership embraced within the Indian culture largely depicts a commitment to this overall growth of the people being led. Hao (2016) observes that an Indian leader empowers his followers to be self-sufficient by making them wealthier and wiser. Therefore, the Indian type of leadership depicts a commitment to the development of the people that is characteristic of servant leadership. Similarly, the leadership in Islamic religion depicts a commitment to the development of the people under leadership.
Prophet Mohammed who largely set precedence in Islamic leadership demonstrated a commitment to develop wiser followership through his religious teachings. During the 23 years of his leadership, the followers of Prophet Mohammed become wiser and richer (Gonaim, 2016). He demonstrated a type of leadership that empowers his followers. The contemporary Muslim leadership has largely borrowed this concept. Muslim leadership seeks to empower their followers.
The Art of Persuasion
Persuasion is the most distinguishing factor between servant leadership and traditional authoritarian type of leadership. However, the authoritarian type of leadership coerces people into doing things and in decision making. A servant leader leads the people by persuading them to adopt a certain ideology or decision. They endeavor to involve the people they lead in decision making and persuade them to see the rationale behind such decision. As such, servant leadership is consultative. The leadership can equally depict this persuasiveness in both the Islamic context as well as the leadership from the cultural perspective of the Indian culture. The Islamic faith is largely governed by a concept known as “ Maqasid Al-Shariah .” This refers to the ability to interpret the Sharia law and help the people to understand the rationale behind such law (Mahazan et al., 2015). Every Islamic leader must ensure that the people he leads understand not only the Sharia law but also the rationale behind such law. Therefore, compliance with Sharia law is not coerced on people, but rather people are allowed to understand them and hence comply out of persuasion.
As a result, the leadership in the Islamic circle has embraced persuasion as a critical component of their leadership style. Similarly, Carroll & Patterson (2014) argues that the ability to influence people and the charisma of a leader are significant factors that determine the success of any leader within the Indian culture. Therefore, the ability to persuade as a significant characteristic of servant leadership is evident in both the Islamic religious leadership as well as the Indian cultural leadership frameworks.
Conclusion
In summary, fundamental principles of servant leadership characterize leadership both in the context of Islamic religion as well as from a cultural perspective of the Indians. Such factors include listening in leadership, empathy, conviction to serve, commitment to the overall development of the people and persuasion. The factors, which are characteristic of servant leadership, are equally evident in the Islamic leadership and the Indian leadership from a cultural perspective. While there has been a misconception that servant leadership is only relevant in the Christian context the discussion in this paper demonstrates, that servant leadership is equally relevant to Islam and Indian culture. As such, this finding demonstrates that servant leadership can apply to a diverse religious and cultural spectrum. The conception that relates servant leadership only to Christianity is not only shallow but also equally misinformed.
References
Gonaim, F. (2016). An Analysis of the Life of Prophet Muhammad: Servant-leadership and Influence. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention 5 (4), 53-63.
Mahazan, W., Azdi W., Siti A., Yuseri A., Rosmizi K., Muhammad Y, and Rumaizuddin M. (2015). Leadership Behaviors in Islam: Integrating Managerial Leadership and Servant Leadership. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 23 (4): 722-733
Hao, Yi (2016). Servant Leadership in Communities of Color: A Powerful Tool. The William & Mary Educational Review 4 (2), 19-30
Carroll B., & Patterson K. (2014). Servant Leadership: A Cross-Cultural Study between India and the United States. Servant Leadership Theory & Practice 1 (1), 16-45
