Servant leadership versus charismatic leadership
In charismatic leadership, the leader strives to meet the goals of an organization by having followers who are devoted. They adapt and learn the expectation of the organization from the environment in which they operate. They tend to target their doings and agreements accordingly. The trust of people is worn by charismatic leaders through self-sacrifice. They also believe in themselves and therefore take personal risks. However, their cult is personality-based, which misleads individuals in the team. In servant leadership, the leader does not dominate the staff like in charismatic leadership. Servant leader inspires the subordinate and then empowers them to excel in performance (Greenleaf and Spears, 2002). These result in a good performance and collective effort. The aim of the two types of leadership is inspiring the subordinate to give a good performance.
Servant leadership versus transformational leadership
In both leadership styles, the leader inspires the team he or she is working with. They both allow the team members to suggest the way forward to be able to accomplish their dream or meet their target in the organization. They are also common in leading the team from behind and, therefore, delegate duties amongst their members. However, transformational leaders are more available such that their members can consult him or her frequently. This leader communicates for a long time. Servant leaders do not follow the progress of the employees or members of the team, but transformational leaders put effort into everything one does (Greenleaf, 2008). Transformational leadership is more effective when applied to enterprises. When a leader in an organization applies both leadership styles at the same time, the results are admirable. Both leadership styles are said to be modern and are therefore applied in many organizations.
Servant leadership versus authentic leadership
Inauthentic leadership, the leader, is the final say in decision making. In both servant and authentic leadership, the members of the team or the employees take part in decision making. However, in authentic leadership, the leader gets views and ideas from the members. He or she then analyzes these ideas and come up with the best solution. This type of leadership has given good performance for a long time.
Evaluate the usefulness of servant leadership to both for-profit and non-profit organizations
Savant leadership has its usefulness in both profit and non-profit organizations. In a profit organization, the servant leader helps in monitoring the progress of the business. He or she also sacrifices his or her time to ensure that the set goals of the organization or business are achieved. Since the leader allows the employees to suggest the best methods of production, they feel that they are part of the enterprise and, therefore, participate fully to maximize the profit (Greenleaf, 1991). The workers or the employees have freedom of expressing themselves in the enterprise. The leader also gives them time to give their ideas in decision making. However, if the employees violate the privilege, great loss may occur.
In non-profit organization, servant leadership is very applicable. This is because members volunteer to form the organization. They should therefore take part in decision making. The leader inspires the members and the result is collective participation. These members of non-profit organization need to be motivated to avoid segregation.
How effective would servant leadership be in a particular business or industry?
Savant leadership can be effective in my business or industry in different ways. To begin with, the leader becomes more respected by the members. This is because they understand how they matter to that leader, who has devoted himself or herself to be their servant. Servant leader gains respect from the members in the way they spend time with the workers. Secondly, the employees become more committed to work. This is because the leader is committed, and therefore the members become more committed. Maximum success cannot be achieved without commitment. In my business or industry, servant leadership would to a great extent assist in achieving maximum profit (Bateman, & Snell, 2010). This would be as a result of commitment of the leader and the workers. Decision making would also be easy since every worker is allowed to participate in giving his or her ideas on solutions to a certain problem in the industry or company.
How useful is servant leadership to your own leadership role?
In my role as a leader of an organization, servant leadership allows me maximize the profit. This is achieved through inspiration and motivation of the employees. When they are allowed to participate in discussion on solution to certain problems, they feel that they are part of the enterprise (Bass, & Avolio, 1994). This makes decision making very easy. My commitment to serve them as a servant leader makes them accept me easily. This also makes them more committed collective participation. Since they participate in formulating the rule to be followed in the business, it is easy to work with them since they fear breaking their own rule. Servant leadership allows me to interact freely with the workers and this helps to a great extent in understanding the strength and weakness of every person in the business. This assists in organizing them in different areas of production to maximize the yields. I therefore prefer servant leadership in my organization.
References
Bass, B. M. and Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving Organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Bateman, T. S. and Snell, S. A. (2010). Management: Leading and Collaborating In A Competitive World (10th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Greenleaf, R.K. (1991). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, In The Robert K. Greenleaf Center. [Originally published in 1970, by Robert K. Greenleaf].
Greenleaf, R.K. (2008). The servant as leader. Westfield, In The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Greenleaf, R. K. and Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant Leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.