Fluent Essays

Leadership Role Suppose you go to work for an organization that you discover does not align with your personal values. You are in a leadership role, and you are not in a position to leave the job. How do you ethically represent the company without compromising your own beliefs? What opportunities would there be for you to strengthen yourself as a leader and to strengthen the organization? Words: 400-500 in APA format . Provide in-text APA citations and corresponding references. Using 2 creditable sources that I will include or any other creditable source. servant_leadership_experience_overview.docx servant_leadership_videos.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview Servant Leadership Experience Overview Servant leadership, in its simplest form, is the idea of being other-people-focused. This class focuses on Jesus interactions with others as the central pattern we should follow. Matthew 20:28 (NLT) reads, For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a random for many. This passage tells us that serving is a decision that one makes for the benefit of others. This class strikes a balance between biblical parables and organizational application. The discussion questions will help you to consider various biblical passages in terms of their context and application to the current global market. The concept of servant leadership applies to all cultures, races, countries, and organizations. Leaders make the conscious choice to help their followers grow and develop by adjusting their approach to each individual and situation. This approach is not limited to Christianity alone. Consider the true spirit of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions. The focus is typically on serving others, which leads to self and community improvement. Applying servant leadership to the idea of enhancing workplace diversity presents the opportunity for everyone to move forward collectively toward organizational goals by sharing knowledge and strengths. Northouse (2013) posited that leadership is influence. This class presents a positive view of servant leadership and demonstrates that appropriate application results in personal growth that positively influences communities. Project Requirements See the details of the project requirements in the Topic 8 Benchmark – Servant Leadership Analysis assignment. Reference Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. LDR-630 - Servant Leadership Topic 1: Transcending Boundaries Hello. My name is Craig St. John, and I am a faculty member in the Colangelo College of Business at GCU. In this brief video, I’m going to discuss servant leadership as it relates to various religions. That is, how our modern understanding and principles of leadership have been inspired by a diversity of ancient sources and contexts. One source that I’m sure is not a surprise to any of you, especially assuming you have taken lower level servant leadership courses, is Christianity and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Perhaps Matthew 20:26b-28 summarizes this best, which, quoting Jesus, states, “But whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Living in this first century Greco-Roman context, Jesus’ exhortation and example here was radical. In an environment where power and status were greatly revered, and feared, and where the lesser lived to serve the greater, the idea that leaders are to serve was unheard of—and perhaps that’s still somewhat foreign today in the twenty-first century West. This is one of the teachings that inspired Robert Greenleaf, the “father of servant leadership,” who, in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader,” wrote, “Servant leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first.” Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership was indeed inspired by Christian teachings. He was a Quaker, so the teachings of Jesus were of course central. And specific to Quakers are the practices of community, consensus in decision making, persuasion, and listening. But Christianity was not Greenleaf’s sole influence. Another principal source were the writings of German author Hermann Hesse, who, though influenced by his parents’ Christianity, largely drew from Eastern thought, namely Indian and Buddhist philosophies, which are evident in his novel, Journey to the East, a favorite of Greenleaf, which greatly informed his notions of what a leader should be. Servant leadership, thus, is neither rooted exclusively in Christianity or Western thought, nor is its practical outpouring restricted to such. Personally, as a Christian, I firmly believe in the exclusivity of salvation through Christ and that within his teachings is the ultimate truth—He, in fact, is “the way, the truth, and the life”. However, this, by no means, indicates that truth, goodness, and beauty cannot and do not transcend the boundaries of Christianity. The Christian doctrine of common grace teaches that while salvation is found in Christ alone, other aspects of grace, such as wisdom and innovation, justice and servanthood, can be found almost anywhere. While we’re all aware of religious and cultural wars having been fought since the dawn of civilization, we also see religions and cultures coming together for the common good. When a Catholic cathedral, or Jewish synagogue, or Islamic mosque is bombed, the whole community comes together to mourn, support one another, and stand up for justice. Similarly, we can see clear evidence of servant leadership beyond the confines of Christianity and the nations and regions where Christians are in the majority. Page 1 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. Very briefly, we can look to the religions of Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism to identify historical aspects of what would be known as servant leadership. We’ll examine each through the four lenses of religious leadership, as identified by German sociologist and philosopher, Max Weber: reaffirmation, where a religious figure reaffirms the central truths of an existing religion; radicalization, where the truths are demonstrated in a profound way through exemplary behavior; ritualization, by which the truths are codified in laws and sacred rituals; and responsiveness, which includes ways that are opened for followers to respond to a given call. I’ll begin with the two religions that are the closest relatives to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as all three are what are known as Abrahamic faiths—that is, monotheistic religions with historic claims to the biblical figure, Abraham. Of the three religions we’ll discuss, Judaism is the smallest in terms of worldwide population, as it has only roughly 14.5 million adherents today. As suggested by the term “Abrahamic religion,” Judaism traces its roots to Abraham in the Bible, in about 1500 BCE. One central element of Judaism that resembles servant leadership is that of communal leadership, which encourages empowerment and the distribution of power, rather than seeing power as held by a central figure or select few. Moses is a pivotal example of a servant leader in the Hebrew faith, as he sacrificially devoted his life to liberating his fellow Hebrew people from slavery and empowering others to serve and lead. Moses reaffirmed the faith handed down to him from his ancestor Abraham, which understands a transcendent God who gives people a sense of meaning, integrity, and wholeness (or shalom). He radicalized these truths by codifying them in the Ten Commandments and the Torah, and then he ritualized them in the Shema, which is recited twice per day by devout Jews: Shma Yisraeil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad (“Hear, o Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one”). Finally, as he approached the end of his life and leadership, Moses embraced Joshua as his successor, giving him the opportunity to respond by following in his footsteps, ensuring not necessarily his legacy, but his mission, in which his liberated people would establish a nation and not only for the sake of their own self-determination, but also to be a light to all nations. Next, we can look at Islam, which, though founded by the Prophet Muhammed in the seventh century CE, traces its roots to Abraham through his son Ishmael rather than Isaac. Islam is the world’s second largest religion, with 1.8 billion followers worldwide. Muhammed demonstrated servant leadership characteristics through his lived spirituality and avoidance of personal ambition. He led by providing an example of how to serve Allah, which is simply Arabic for God, to do good deeds, pray regularly, practice charity, and conduct mutual service. Looking through Weber’s lenses, we can see that Muhammed reaffirmed older truths, including those of the biblical figures of Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but then radicalized them by recasting the Judeo-Christian accounts of the Qur’an and showing himself to be the final prophet of God, leading a life of service to others. His message was structured in rituals, which are continued at the Ka’ba, a shrine in Mecca, a place central to Muslims, and he gave them a way to Page 2 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. respond to his teachings, which include Islam’s five pillars: professing their faith, praying daily, giving alms, fasting, and going on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Lastly is Buddhism, which is arguably the most foreign to Christianity and the West. Buddhism was founded by Siddhārtha Gautama, also known as the Buddha (or “awakened one”), in the sixth century CE and is the fourth largest religion in the world, with 520 million followers. A principal teaching of Buddhism that relates to servant leadership is the notion of anatta, or “no self,” which sees the personal self, or “I,” as a false western construct. From this idea, the bodhisattva, or the “one with perfect knowledge,” chooses to forego nirvana, or final enlightenment, for the benefit of others, an example initiated by the Buddha. Going through Weber’s lenses again, we can see that the Buddha reaffirmed the teachings of Buddhism’s relative, Hinduism, namely the Three Noble Truths: First, life means suffering; second, the origin of suffering is attachment; and third, the cessation of suffering is attainable. And then, he added a Fourth Noble Truth, which is the Eightfold Path of right truth, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. The Buddha radicalized this message by suggesting that followers could be free from samsara, or rebirth, by progressing to moksha, or liberation, in just one lifetime of disciplined effort, and also by doing away with Hinduism’s caste system. He then ritualized the teachings through the recitation of the threefold refuge: “I take refuge in the Buddha, in the dharma (or the teachings), and in the sangha (or community).” As for responsiveness, the Buddha’s example of deferring entrance into nirvana created an ethos that enables leaders to follow the dharma and help others find the way. We can conclude that through reaffirming, radicalizing, ritualizing, and inviting a response, these ancient leaders served their followers and pointed them to a path by which they could lead future generations into lives of servant leadership. While we did not cover the non-religious elements of culture in this brief video, what we can conclude is that in these ancient cultures, religious belief was closely tied to respective national cultures, namely what is presently Israel, Saudi Arabia, and China. Similarly, Christianity has been incredibly influential in Western civilization, despite the fact that not all westerners subscribe to Christianity. No matter the religion or region of the world, leaders can find a context in which to humble themselves, consider themselves as part of the whole, mutually submit to one another, and place others’ interests above their own. Each of these are principal characteristics of a servant leader, something any of us can become, provided that we take the focus off ourselves, and, as Greenleaf aptly stated, “serve first.” Page 3 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. Topic 3: Values Greetings, my name is Ken Hein. I consider it a privilege to serve on the Grand Canyon University, Colangelo College of Business faculty. In this role my concentration is on two distinctly different, yet, closely related subjects: strategic management and servant leadership. Each is different as the titles imply; related in that they each involve leading others, both directly and indirectly. And, they are related by one factor that significantly influences us in either role; values. Specifically, it is our values that drive our choices and, as a result, our behavior, including how we treat others. I like to begin each new Servant Leadership class with a couple of points that will be revisited many times over in the topics of the course. First, it is almost impossible to achieve a true position of committed servant leadership until we come to the end of ourselves. Two, our choices are a direct reflection of our values. Three, the most difficult person we will ever lead is the one who greets us in the mirror every morning (or, afternoon if you are a late riser). Four, if we do not have a true-north that influences our choices then we are likely to bend in whatever direction appears most beneficial at any given time. And five, servant leaders were servants first, long before they even entertained the notion of leading others. One of the predominant reasons I like to teach at GCU is that I am free to speak of my faith and how my faith in Jesus Christ has changed me into the man I am today. Interestingly, it is the work God has done in changing me by using a true life-changing event that brought me to a true appreciation for the importance of values. A few years ago, while going through a true-life crisis, I heard a saying that captured my attention and has remained with me. The saying goes, “you either stand for something, or you will fall for anything.” What I didn’t truly appreciate at the time was that the saying is really about understanding your values. Those things that, ultimately, if you honestly hold them as true, definable items of supreme importance drive our choices. In 1973, Milton Rokeach created an assessment tool to measure human values. The Rokeach Values Survey (or RVS) has become one of the most widely used tools for assessing a person’s values. The RVS consists of 36-items; 18 each for terminal values and 18 for instrumental values. Terminal Values refer to desirable end-states of existence; the goals a person would like to realize during their lifetime. While, Instrumental Values refer to preferred modes of behavior. They then become the means for achieving the terminal values. How then do we look at our values with an eye on becoming a true servant leader, if the values are all about what we want to achieve? The answer must come back to who we serve. Do we Page 4 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. wish to serve ourselves? Or, is something (or someone) much larger, who or what, we wish to serve? That is an entirely longer conversation that we shall preserve for another day. For now, please note that we all make choices and that at the heart of our choices are our values influencing us; subconsciously if not consciously. I will close, though, with a reflection on point # 2, above; our choices reflect our values. And, to illustrate this point and link it to my comment about living out my faith, I will refer to King David and how he declared the very heart of his value system in Psalm 15, where he said, “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and cast no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.” Yes, you either believe in something or you will fall for anything. King David said this is who I am, and this is what I stand for, live for, and will die for. Our values define who we are in so many ways. Page 5 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. Topic 5: Lead by Serving Hello, my name is Randy Gibb. And my name is Allison Mason. Here in the Colangelo College of Business, we have three pillars: Servant Leadership, Ethics, and Entrepreneurism. I’m often asked to articulate what servant leadership means to our college. The essence of servant leadership is “service before self,” or putting the organization and its people ahead of one’s own needs. A servant leader should be the hardest working person in the organization; the one who clearly shares a vision and provides resources, training, coaching and a climate that fully supports his or her team. Long-term success is created if leadership is accomplished in a manner consistent with patience, kindness, humility, respect and selflessness. Absolutely. Servant leadership is best defined by Jesus Himself in Matthew 20: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” What a great verse and that serves as the foundation for our college. A servant leader should be a steward. Sometimes, leaders come into an organization with the mindset that they are the most important person and that they are the organization. The reality is that the organization was likely around prior to any particular leader and the organization will certainly be around much longer than after the leader is gone. As a steward, our job as leader is to serve others and improve the organization, grow our replacement and hand it off to the next leader better than we had received it. Stewardship entails being solely accountable and responsible for an organization, which fits right in line with servant leadership. Absolutely. As shared in Mark, Chapter 9, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” These ideals are the types of characteristics that the Colangelo College of Business hopes to instill in our graduates. We aim to graduate future business owners and leaders who will go into communities as servant leaders and invest in all stakeholders – to serve their community, become profitable and then reinvest in their business, their employees and their community. If you want to learn how to lead, start serving. Page 6 of 8 © 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. Topic 6: Inclusion, Multiculturalism, and Diversity Hello! My name is Dr. Ed Slover and I’m a faculty member in the Colangelo College of Business at Grand Canyon University. Today we are going to discuss how the principles and practice of servant leadership can proliferate respect for inclusion, multiculturalism, and diversity in organizations and the communities they serve. To start, let’s define each of the terms to ensure clarity and alignment with working definitions. Uhl-Bien and Schermerhorn define inclusion, or inclusivity, as the degree to which an organization is open to anyone who can perform a job regardless of race, gender, age or any other individual difference. Multiculturalism, or a multi-cultural organization, is based on pluralism and operates on inclusivity and respect for diversity. Characteristics of a multi-cultural organization include the absence of prejudice and discrimination and minimal intergroup conflict. Finally, diversity represents many types of individual differences, such as race, ethnicity, gender, and a variety of thoughts and backgrounds. Now that we have these working definitions, let’s identify a few specific principles of servant leadership that, when employed effectively, can proliferate respect for inclusion, multiculturalism, and diversity. Please note, however, that each principle of servant leadership can be applied to this topic. Imagine for a moment how dysfunctional an organizational cult ... 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