Servant leadership är ett begrepp som visar potential inom ledarskapsforskningen, framförallt för att förklara meningsskapande ledarskap, hur ledaren leder sig själv samt hur ledarskap kan accepteras utan auktoritet. Problemet är att forskningen hittills varit alltför okritisk. Begreppets validitet har bevisats i kvantitativa mått, men dess implikationer för själva ledarskapsutövandet eller ledaren är oklara. Syftet med uppsatsen är att testa begreppet servant leadership som verktyg för ledarskapsstudier. Kan begreppet konkretiseras och mätas? Kan man vara säker på vad man mäter? För att besvara dessa frågor omfattar uppsatsen en granskande litteraturstudie och en tillämpande fallstudie i tre delar. Resultaten antyder att begreppet servant leadership kan brista i precision och tillförlitlighet. Vissa viktiga faktorer avspeglas inte i enkätresultat, medan andra okända eller irrelevanta påverkar desto mer. Enkätstudier av servant leadership kan, i sin nuvarande utformning, inte bidra med någon förståelse för vad man faktiskt har mätt. Servant leadership kan dock vara värdefullt genom att lyfta intressanta frågor om ledarskap, oaktat mätbarhet. Fallstudien har genomförts i tre delar: En liten replikerande enkätundersökning bland soldaterna i en spaningsgrupp, en omfattande deltagande observation vid en av gruppens övningar, samt en intervju med gruppens chef. Uppsatsen behandlar huvudsakligen teorier om servant leadership (Robert Greenleaf, Larry Spears, Page och Wong) utifrån teorier om meningsskapande ledarskap (Lars Svedberg) samt self leadership (Crossan och Mazutis). / Servant leadership is a concept that shows potential in leadership research, in particular to explain management of meaning, self leadership and acceptance of leadership without authority. The problem is that research this far lacks a critical perspective. Validity of servant leadership measurements has been proven statistically, but its implications for the leadership or the leader remain unclear. The purpose of this paper is to test the concept of servant leadership as a tool for leadership studies. Can it be concretized and measured? Can one be certain as to what is measured? To answer these questions, this paper includes an auditing study of literature and a practical, utilizing case study in three parts. The results indicate that the concept of servant leadership might be lacking in precision and reliability. Some important factors are not reflected in survey results, while other unknown or irrelevant ones have too great of an impact. Survey studies of servant leadership, in their current form don’t seem provide any understanding as to what is actually being measured. This being said, servant leadership can be valuable through raising interesting questions about leadership, regardless of measurability.

The subject of leadership has been explored from different fields by different scholars. The leadership debates and discussion have dominated academia across the globe for decades. The contribution of this thesis to the subject of leadership is threefold. Firstly, it demonstrates a different style of leadership, that is, servant leadership. Secondly, it studies servant leadership from a biblical perspective in general and Philippians 2:5-11 in particular. Thirdly, it applies biblical servant leadership principles to an African context. The historical background of Philippians is studied to understand the world of the text. The different leadership styles are explored and compared with servant leadership. Servant leadership principles are studied in Philippians 2:5-11 and applied in an African context. The thesis concludes with the servant leadership models in South Africa like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Frank Chikane. The purpose here is to demonstrate that servant leadership as a New Testament concept is applicable to a contemporary South African context. Consequently, the thesis makes New Testament research available to an African audience. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / New Testament Studies / MA / Unrestricted

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The study takes servant-leadership and attempts to find if there is an equivalent concept in management. Leadership and management have been extensively compared and contrasted in research and theory and while there are divergent views of exactly what each entails, others hold the view that they might be equal and complementary. The research design follows a positivist philosophy. An instrument that measures distinct leader, manager and professional role preferences is used to check the discrete operation of three contexts among a sample of members of the accountancy profession. The instrument is derived from contextualising pre-developed and pre-tested servant-leadership measuring instruments. Items from the role preference map instrument are added together with demographic details to come up with a meta-instrument adapted for the study. After validating it through pilot-testing, the instrument is applied in real-world research. The research was conducted among a sample of professional accountants working in 28 countries across four continents in organisations with over 82,000 employees. Statistical analysis, employing; analysis of variance, correlations, frequencies, significances, means, variances and tests of scale reliability was performed on both the data and the instruments. The research found clear and reliable servant-leadership-type behaviours exhibited across the three discreet roles and contexts of leader, manager and professional. Some professional accountancy courses are delivered across many countries in the world. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is one such professional accountancy body that offers qualifications on a global scale. However, as accountants originate from, and practice in diverse cultures and economies around the world they are trained by institutes like ACCA from a common syllabus that has elements of management as a subject. Servant-leadership is a type of leadership that is theorised to be humanistic and spiritual rather than rational and mechanistic. Management practice on the other hand needs rationality and contains some mechanistic elements in typical management functions like coordinating and controlling. The implication is whether servant-leadership attributes can be exhibited if professional accountants contextualise themselves as leaders, managers or professionals. The study focuses on the profession of accountants and tests the operation of servant-leadership behaviours from the manager, leader and professional contexts using pre-tested servant-leadership scales and applying them in specific leader and manager contexts. This approach is new in its treatment of servant-leadership in this fashion. A further original approach is the use of the accountancy profession. This treatment of instruments from other fields like psychology and sociology is new.

Servant leaders work for the betterment of their followers while also seeking to achieve goals for the organization. Servant leaders, in particular, are among those who strive to work for the greater good of those they serve. Servant leaders possess ethical and moral traits that allow them to serve as an example for followers within an organization, including the public school system. Permission to use the Servant Leadership Measures Survey was given by the lead author of the survey. The survey measured the degree that leaders exhibit leadership characteristics that are most associated with the servant leadership dimensions of Emotional Healing, Creating Value for the Community, Conceptual Skills, Empowerment, Helping Subordinates Grow and Succeed, Putting Subordinates First, and Ethical Behavior. A 28-item survey was distributed to the 4 Directors of Schools that self-identified as servant leaders. The same 28-item survey from the employee perspective was distributed to teachers within the participating school districts. The purpose of this study was to compare the self-reported servant leadership scores of Directors of Schools to their faculty members’ scores. Participants included Directors of Schools and teachers from 4 public school districts from the First Region of Tennessee. A non experimental, quantitative approach was used to determine whether Directors of Schools shared the same perception of their leadership style as the teachers who work within their school district. According to the findings Directors primarily scored themselves within the high range for showing servant leadership traits, and teachers in all districts scored their Director from the moderate to high range for demonstrating servant leadership characteristics. However, despite scores typically falling within the same range, there were overall significant differences between scores as teachers’ scores were significantly lower than their Director’s scores for several of the dimensions.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / This qualitative case study examined the perceived influence of servant leadership on the job satisfaction of novice teachers in one Massachusetts school district. Servant leadership was defined as “an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader” (Laub, 1999, p. 81). Data were gathered from interviews with school and district leaders and novice teachers as well as through the analysis of school and district documents. The results of the study found the job satisfaction of novice teachers was positively influenced by servant leadership. In particular, both school leaders and novice teachers perceived leaders who valued novice teachers, behaved ethically, and empowered others to have a positive influence on the job satisfaction of novice teachers. While the research literature also highlights humility as an important element of servant leadership, the majority of novice teachers did not perceive it to have a positive influence on their job satisfaction. The results of this study substantiate prior research suggesting servant leadership plays a positive role in the job satisfaction of teachers. Recommendations include additional psychological empowerment of novice teachers and a continued emphasis on the practice of behaving ethically and valuing others. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

An instructor's power in the classroom is constructed and sustained through communication. The aim here is to examine how a teacher's power can be negotiated through a lens of servant leadership in hopes of furthering modes in which communication scholars can train future teachers to utilize their power in the classroom. I hypothesize that a teacher utilizing a servant leadership framework employs more pro-social behavioral alteration techniques (BATs). Participants were asked to answer an online survey with questions regarding a chosen instructor's attributes of servant leadership and behavioral alteration messages (BAMs). My hypothesis was partially supported in that that are perceived to use persuasive mapping a specific dimension of servant leadership engage in significantly more pro-social BATs; however, instructors with higher levels of emotional healing engage in significantly more anti-social BATs. Additionally, the gender of the participant and rank of the instructor evaluated influenced students' perceptions of compliance-gaining strategies. The discussion examines the specific dimensions of servant leadership as they relate to power and explores future directions for research examining professional development and training for future faculty and the need to examine gender of participant and instructors with an experimental research design.

Churches contribute both indirectly and directly to community economic development and social transformation. Some researchers cite lack of leadership as a factor in Christian churches in the United States experiencing declining attendance, with many churches closing. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a senior pastor's past and current church leadership experience affects servant leadership practices in the pastor's current church. Servant leadership theory was this quantitative, correlational study's theoretical framework. Five research questions focused on a pastor's past and present church leadership experience and how it affects the servant leadership practices within the organization's leadership. Forty-six leaders from 6 church organizations took the Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA). Individual church OLA scores were calculated and then analyzed using correlation and moderation analysis against each pastor's past and present experience. Findings did not indicate any statistically significant relationship between a pastor's past or present leadership experience and servant leadership practices within the church. Additional research using is recommended, as statistics did show trends indicating some statistical significance may be uncovered with a larger sample size. Findings could enhance social change initiatives by identifying which church organizational servant leadership aspects emerge early in a pastor's tenure as opposed to those aspects which emerge after more time, experience, and training. This study will benefit church and not-for-profit leaders by providing a better understanding of how a leader's work experience affects organizational leadership behaviors.

When organizational leaders create cultures that foster employee engagement, the leaders experience multiple benefits such as enhanced organizational performance, increased profitability, and improved retention rates. Although small business leaders must create and sustain atmospheres that nurture employee engagement to experience maximized success, 85% of organizational leaders struggle with executing strategies that increase engagement. The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to explore strategies that small business leaders use to increase employee engagement. Servant leadership theory was the conceptual framework chosen for this study. The population included 3 small business leaders of a coffee shop located in Birmingham, AL. A review of company documents, as well as member checking of initial interview transcripts, helped to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of the interpretations. The final interpretations consisted of 2 main themes: creating a culture that enhances and sustains employee engagement and demonstrating leadership characteristics that increase employee engagement. Employee engagement increases when leaders use strategies that include effective employee development strategies, incentives and rewards, deliberate hiring practices, effective communication, leading by example, and leveraging employee innovation and ownership. These findings influence positive social change by uncovering strategies necessary to increase employee engagement, because employees who engage in the workplace display stronger forms of attachment to businesses, develop a significant bond within the community, and experience improved family interactions.

The development and sustainability of small businesses impact the U.S. economy. Owners of small businesses created 65.9% of new jobs between 2000 and 2017. Over 99.9% of known U.S. firms were small businesses. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the leadership strategies small fitness business owners implemented to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. The conceptual framework for this study was the servant leadership theory. The population for the study included 5 owners of small fitness businesses in the southeastern region of the U.S. who used leadership strategies to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and analysis of data from their business performance plans and financial statements. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process. A transcription and coding software, methodological triangulation, and member checking were used during data analysis. Good business practices, leader characteristics, and leader relationships were the themes identified during data analysis. Company reputation, customer-service management, financial management, and marketing were minor themes of effective business practices, while adaptable, motivated, and work ethic were minor themes of leader characteristics and family-like and industry networks were minor themes of leader relationships. The implications of this study for positive social change relate to improving the economy, health, and overall well-being of community members through sustained small fitness business owners who provide jobs and access to preventive healthcare options.