Investigative servant leadership and team member involvement in a health care establishment: A descriptive survey study]

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Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

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Abstract

This descriptive survey study builds on the initial leadership theory of Robert Greenleaf (1970), servant leadership. Specifically this research will be evaluating servant leadership in a health care organization where team members are also deemed as involved. The use of Organizational Leadership Assessment (Luab, 1999) to establish if team members deemed that servant leadership is actively used at the chosen heath care organization. Likewise the Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2003) will be used to establish if team member involvement was apparent at the chosen organization. This descriptive survey research will offer a comprehensive view regarding the organization, team member's engagement and the addition knowledge to the servant leadership model in the business setting of heath care. Finally, this type of study possibly will broaden the influence of Greenleaf's servant leadership theory.

Table of Content

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM6

Robert Greenleaf's Theory of Servant Leadership6

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY8

Recent Research on Servant Leadership9

Critiques of Servant Leadership10

Practices of Leadership12

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM13

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY14

RATIONALE14

RESEARCH QUESTIONS14

REFERENCES15

Introduction to the problem

Robert Greenleaf's Theory of Servant Leadership

In every organization, leadership is a quintessential element. Although many organizations fit the classification of health service when they are being distinguished from government and commercial counterparts, they are exceptionally diverse in terms of directives, goals, and missions. Each organization has objectives and goals, and the various methods by which these objectives are achieved (or not achieved) are often a direct result of leadership styles and attributes of the people in charge. Many, if not most of the prominent leadership theories applied to public and business organizations can be applied as well to health service organizations.

Servant Leadership is unique in that it is driven by one's moral compass. In Robert Greenleaf's 1977 book, Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power, a collection of essays on the philosophy of servant leadership, in the foreword Stephen Covey (2001) wrote: “The essential quality that sets the Servant Leader apart from others is that they live by their conscience—the inward moral sense of what is right and wrong. This is the essential quality and the difference between leadership that works and leadership like Servant Leadership—that endures” (Greenleaf, 1977).

The philosophy of Servant Leadership was originally developed by Robert Greenleaf, who identified the themes of Servant Leadership, as well as the ideas of leading from a place of conscience and morality; as detailed above by Covey from Hesse's parable, which describes an arduous journey undertaken by a group of men ...