This report discusses a research project undertaken to investigate servant leadership and examine the extent to which its associated behaviours are implemented within two departments of a large South African petrochemical company, and how the mean scores for respondent’s perceptions on the degree to which their direct supervisors practice servant leadership behaviours correlate with perceptions of interpersonal trust and passive management-by-exception. Based on the results of extensive research conducted on servant leadership over the past 40 years, it is clear that this leadership philosophy has a strong grounding in ethics, with its value placed upon people based on their inherent humanity and beyond their utilitarian worth to businesses in meeting their objectives. The author hypothesizes that one of the departments investigated (SSSS) does experience a high prevalence of servant leadership behaviours, based on the high levels of employee engagement prevalent within this department according to a recent survey, and that the other department (GSS) does not experience a high prevalence of servant leader behaviours. Both departments were found to have a moderate level of servant leader behaviours, but neither was found to be servant led. The author also investigates the possible relationship between servant leadership and interpersonal trust (as measured by Nyhan and Marlowe’s OTI) and servant leadership (SL) and passive management-by-exception (MBEP) (as measured by Avolio and Bass’s MLQ). The author uses Sendjaya et al.,’s SLBS to measure servant leadership. A moderate negative relationship was found between SL and MBEP and a moderately strong positive relationship between SL and interpersonal trust.

This report discusses a research project undertaken to investigate servant leadership and examine the extent to which its associated behaviours are implemented within two departments of a large South African petrochemical company, and how the mean scores for respondent’s perceptions on the degree to which their direct supervisors practice servant leadership behaviours correlate with perceptions of interpersonal trust and passive management-by-exception. Based on the results of extensive research conducted on servant leadership over the past 40 years, it is clear that this leadership philosophy has a strong grounding in ethics, with its value placed upon people based on their inherent humanity and beyond their utilitarian worth to businesses in meeting their objectives. The author hypothesizes that one of the departments investigated (SSSS) does experience a high prevalence of servant leadership behaviours, based on the high levels of employee engagement prevalent within this department according to a recent survey, and that the other department (GSS) does not experience a high prevalence of servant leader behaviours. Both departments were found to have a moderate level of servant leader behaviours, but neither was found to be servant led. The author also investigates the possible relationship between servant leadership and interpersonal trust (as measured by Nyhan and Marlowe’s OTI) and servant leadership (SL) and passive management-by-exception (MBEP) (as measured by Avolio and Bass’s MLQ). The author uses Sendjaya et al.,’s SLBS to measure servant leadership. A moderate negative relationship was found between SL and MBEP and a moderately strong positive relationship between SL and interpersonal trust.

Thesis advisor: Richard Lennan / Thesis advisor: Richard R. Gaillardetz / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

In 1970 Robert K. Greenleaf put forth a conceptualization of leadership aimed at re-invigorating a sense of belonging and responsibility in the disgruntled youth of those times. In his seminal work, The Servant as Leader (1991), he offers a rather revolutionary approach to leadership that focuses not only on the actions of the leader, but also on the relationship existing between leader and follower. Servant-leadership seeks to reposition leadership as a process of relationship marked by mutual influence. The purpose of this qualitative study, by means of reflective analysis, was to explore the essence of servant-leadership according to Greenleaf’s original work and to describe how that essence is reflected within the secondary literature extant to servant-leadership. The Servant as Leader (1991) and On Becoming a Servant Leader (1996) were used to discern the essence of Greenleaf’s conceptualization, while secondary servant-leadership literature in the form of books, book chapters, and journal articles provided the context for understanding how Greenleaf’s work has been represented. / Graduate

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Powley, Edward H. Second Reader: Crawford, Alice M. "March 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 21, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Empathetic Leadership, Trauma, Crisis, Values Based Leadership, Spiritual Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Servant Leadership. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-59). Also available in print.

Despite extensive research into the effects of servant leader behaviors, the prior research has exclusively examined the recipient-centric between-person outcomes. To expand the nomological network of the effects of servant leader behaviors, the present research shifts the locus of theorizing and adopts an actor-centric within-person perspective. By integrating engagement theory (Kahn, 1990) and the Work-Home Resource model (ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012), the current study examines whether those leaders who exhibit servant behaviors on a given day perceive any psychological costs and benefits, and if so, how those experiences affect their behaviors in the work and family domains (i.e., work engagement and family support). Using experience sampling data from 103 full-time employees, results revealed that leaders who engaged in servant leader behaviors more frequently on a given day were more likely to experience two psychological benefits (i.e., psychological meaningfulness and psychological authenticity), while experiencing a psychological cost (i.e., psychological depletion) afterward. As such, the current investigation represents a necessary first step in understanding both enrichment- and depletion-based daily experiences of serving others. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the perceptions of the importance of identified servant leadership characteristics for high school principals held by teachers in schools located in two diverse communities. Servant leadership is a practical philosophy supporting people who serve first in their life and work (Frick, 2004, p. 8). Like other leadership philosophies, the practice of servant leadership may be influenced by variables that are particular to the environment in which it is employed (Howard, 2005; Kelly & Williamson, 2006; Lambert, 2004). This research is a case study involving two purposively chosen communities. Participants in the study were teachers from high schools in two diverse communities, one located in urban coastal Virginia and the other located in rural southwestern Virginia. A similar number of participants were obtained from the two communities to assure appropriate representation for data analysis. A 48-item questionnaire using a Likert-type scale was used as the research instrument. The questionnaire was constructed using the servant leadership characteristics and behaviors identified by Abel (2000). The questionnaire was offered to all teachers in both communities. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to group the 48 items into 12 factors. The data secured were compiled and analyzed to determine differences in teachers’ perceptions of the importance of identified characteristics of servant leadership in principals in the two communities. While all the identified characteristics were found to be important, the analysis indicated statistically significant (p< .01) differences did exist for the factor represented the servant leadership characteristics of building community, communicating vision, and empowering people. For this factor, the population from the urban community had a higher mean score (3.78 compared to 3.49) and smaller standard deviation (.29 compared to .49) than the population from the rural community. The implications of the study are that current school leaders might be able to better manage and lead their school communities if they adapted their practice of servant leadership to the particular characteristics of their communities. Similarly, principal preparation programs might incorporate the findings into their curricula. / Ed. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 4, 2008). Advisor: Jon Wergin. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph. D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2007"--The title page. Keywords: leadership, change, purposeful, servant leadership, self-sacrifice, trustworthy, vision, visionary, results driven, decisive, determined, dependable, adaptive, alert, aligned, allied, empowerment, nonprofit. Includes bibliographical references (p. 268-301).

Thesis (D. Min.)--McCormick Theological Seminary, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-43).

Dissertation (Ed.D)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Kathleen Casey; submitted to the Dept. of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-102).