Servant Leadership Research and Application

Brown, D. C. (2003). Leading complex change. New York: Touchstone.

The author discusses the development of leadership in the contemporary business environment. Brown focuses on the recent trends in the field of leadership pointing out growing interdependence between leadership and management, when leaders should be able to perform purely managerial functions. The author discusses servant leadership as one of the widely spread approaches to the contemporary leadership. Brown analyses practical application of various leadership theories and approaches in the situation when organizations undergo a complex change, i.e. when organizations are particularly vulnerable to destructive internal and external influences.

Dessler, G.  (2004). Management: principles and practices for tomorrows’ leaders (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Upper Saddle River.

The book discusses prospects of the development of leadership. The author attempts to define basic characteristics of a successful leader who can achieve positive results in the future. The book mainly forecasts the future development of management and leadership on the ground of current socioeconomic and organization trends. The book is particularly helpful in the study of qualities and characteristics contemporary leaders need to possess in order to maintain the highly competitive position in the future. In such a context, the author considers servant leadership as one of approaches that will pertain in future organizations.

Fidelus, L. (2003, Fall). “Servant-leadership: Leading by serving.” Crossroads Center Program Catalog (Chicago, IL), pp. 20-21.

The author describes the essence of servant leadership and its practical implementation in contemporary organizations. The article focuses on the practical aspects of servant leadership, namely the author traces how a leader can transform his leadership style and strategy, changing his dominant role of a leader to a supportive role of a steward for his subordinates. The article provides noteworthy information on possible difficulties contemporary leaders, especially those who get used to authoritarian leadership style, can face while transforming their style to servant leadership. The author reveals basic advantages of servant leadership and reflects on possible drawbacks of this leadership style.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1986). “The leadership crisis: A message for College and University Faculty.” In Humanitas, Journal for the Institute of Man (pp. 1-12). Pittsburg, Pa: Humanitas.

The author reveals problems existing in the leadership in the 1980s. He reveals the fact that the leadership in the 1980s was in a crisis since traditional leadership approaches stopped working effectively, while new approaches were viewed by many leaders as quite risky to implement in their organizations. Greenleaf attempts to understand causes of the crisis and find out possible ways of its solution. He suggests servant leadership as a possible alternative to traditional leadership styles. The author underlines the importance of introduction of new leadership approaches because the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches threatens to the survival of organizations in a highly competitive environment. The author concludes that the effectiveness of leadership will, to a significant extent, define the effectiveness of the organizational performance in the future.

Hesselbein, F. and P.M. Cohen. (1999). Leader to leader. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

The authors research various leadership theories and approaches applied by leaders and their relationship. In actuality, they reveal the fact that often leaders tend to adapt new approaches which have brought other organizations to success. In such a way, they borrow positive experience of other leaders. In this regard, the authors notice the increasing popularity of servant leadership which has changed the traditional view on a leader as a charismatic figure, who can be either authoritarian or democratic, but not servant. Hence, servant leadership, according to the authors, offers a qualitatively new approach to the contemporary leadership.

Koch, C. (2004., July 5-12). “Servant leadership: Can the bishops learn from Southwest Airlines?” America, pp. 17-19.

The author researches the practical implementation of servant leadership in contemporary organizations. He refers to cases of the successful implementation of servant leadership in contemporary organizations an attempts to extrapolate recent success stories to other organizations. In such a way, he attempts to develop common recommendations concerning the practical implementation of servant leadership. In addition, Koch reveals basic advantages and benefits of servant leadership which contemporary organizations can use to improve their performance.

Noble, J. (2005, February). “Servant-leadership.” Organisations & People (UK), 12(1), pp.22-30.

The author provides an overview of servant leadership. He analyzes its strengths and weaknesses and suggests possible ways of its implementation in contemporary organizations. Basically, the author attempts to analyze real examples, when servant leadership was implemented. Noble critically evaluates servant leadership and prospects of its wide implementation in the contemporary business environment.

Northouse, P.G. (2001). Leadership theory and practice, second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

The author discusses various leadership theories which are widely spread today, including servant leadership. The author attempts to combine theoretical developments in the field of leadership and practical implementation of existing leadership theories. In regard to servant leadership, the author points out its relatively innovative nature and attempts to define the most effective ways of its practical implementation.



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