Servant Leadership Discussion

Servant Leadership Discussion

According to Dierendonck & Patterson (2016), servant leadership focuses on engaging, awakening, and developing employees by engaging people’s spirits, minds, and hearts. The African perspective of servant leadership is founded on the Ubuntu philosophy that emphasizes being selfless, the interconnectedness of a person within society, and extending kindness within a shared community. Therefore, Africans expect servant leaders to sacrifice for others, act as role models, meet other people’s needs and develop them, show respect for employees and maintain humility, recognize the efforts of others in meeting shared goals, and involve followers in decision-making (Brubaker, 2013). In addition, the Confucian culture influences the Asian perspective of servant leadership. Asians believe that servant leaders should demonstrate a willingness to care for others and focus on meeting their needs (Han et al., 2010). They emphasize self-sacrifice for the benefit of the community and others and self-restraint in pursuing self-interests.

The main impediments that a servant leader would experience in Africa are unrealistic expectations from followers to meet their needs at the expense of the organization’s needs and the expectation to use individual resources to help others. Suppose I was transferred to Africa to work, fully aware that I would encounter these impediments. In that case, I could best overcome them to enable servant leadership to be implemented in a culturally compatible manner by collaborating with community members to pull resources that can be used to meet their needs. Collaborating to find resources and meet community needs aligns with the African Ubuntu philosophy. According to Van Niekerk (2022), Ubuntu encourages teamwork and team building to achieve a common goal. Therefore, I would gain more support from the community as a servant leader if I worked with my followers as a team.

Further, the main impediment a servant leader would experience in Asia is too much expectation of being selfless and making personal sacrifices to meet the followers’ needs. If I were transferred to Asia to work, I could best overcome this impediment by observing the values of Confucianism. According to Chang (2021), Confucian values include righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, propriety, and fidelity. Following these values would create a good rapport with followers, thus enabling me to settle on reasonable decisions.

References

Brubaker, T. A. (2013). Servant Leadership, Ubuntu, and Leader Effectiveness in Rwanda. Emerging Leadership Journeys, 6(1). https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/elj/vol6iss1/6elj_vol6iss1_brubaker.pdf

Chang, W. (2021). Asian values, Confucianism, and illiberal constitutions. Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism, 82-93. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367260569-8.

Dierendonck, D. V., & Patterson, K. (2016). Servant leadership: Developments in theory and research. Palgrave Macmillan.

Han, Y., Kakabadse, N. K., & Kakabadse, A. (2010). Servant leadership in the People’s Republic of China: A case study of the public sector. Journal of Management Development, 29(3), 265-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711011025786.

Van Niekerk, A. J. (2022). The inclusive economy: Criteria, principles, and Ubuntu. https://doi.org/10.36615/9781776402366.

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Servant Leadership Discussion

Servant leadership is explored within different cultural contexts by choosing at least two: African perspectives, Asian perspectives, Latin American perspectives, Eastern European perspectives, and ethnically diverse North American perspectives. Specific variables that impede the adoption of servant leadership within one specific cultural perspective. Suppose you were transferred to that country to work, fully aware that you would encounter those impediments. How do you think they could best be overcome in order to enable servant leadership to be implemented in a culturally compatible manner? Strengthen your claims with supporting citations.