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Essay Instructions: Background:

In the movie Peaceful Warrior, the character "Socrates" (as played by Nick Nolte) says that "There's no greater purpose than service to others." This is the premise upon which servant leadership is based. However, in today's economy, we see many leaders who are motivated by money, power, and prestige, not motivated by serving others.

Our forefathers, the first Presidents of the United States, were not motivated by money or the like, but out of a deep service to the establishment of this country. This SLP will examine their leadership styles through the lense of the servant leader.


Required Reading:
Journal Articles and Websites:

Envision Software. (2007). Motivation theory x ? y. Retrieved from http://www.envisionsoftware.com/Management/Theory_X.html

NetMBA. (2010). Theory x and theory y. Retrieved from http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcgregor/

Neufeld, D. J., Wan, Z., & Fang, Y. (2010). Remote leadership, communication effectiveness and leader performance. Group Decision and Negotiation, 19(6), 227-246. Retrieved from ProQuest.

Savage-Austin, A. R., & Honeycutt, A. (2011). Servant leadership: A phenomenological study of practices, experiences, organizational effectiveness, and barriers. Journal of Business & Economics Research, 9(1), 49-55. Retrieved from ProQuest.

YouTube video: Leadership: Servant Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIKRmEaC6Y

YouTube video: Servant Leadership Based on Robert Greenleaf?s Writings. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHd7s2OzpVI&feature=related


Assignment:

Select one out of the first ten Presidents of the USA (George Washington) who you consider to be an outstanding example of a servant leader. Then, prepare a paper (not including the cover and reference pages) in which you

Analyze the leadership style of George Washington in terms of the Servant Leadership model.

Keys to the Assignment:

The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered in your paper include:
?Conduct independent research on this individual and create a profile of this leader.
?What makes this person a servant leader? Support your answer with examples.
?Discuss the added value of a servant leader based upon your leader?s profile.
?Fast forward to today.
?Do you think servant leaders are needed in all organizations?
?What would an organization full of servant leaders be like? Justify your response.
?What are the significant contingencies that would lean in favor or against servant leadership?


Assignment Expectations:

Your paper will be evaluated on the following points:
?Precision - Does the paper address the question(s) or task(s)?
?Breadth - Is the full breadth of the subject, i.e., the Keys to the Assignment, addressed?
?Depth - Does the paper address the topic in sufficient depth and include the background readings and other background resources as references?
?Critical thinking - Is the subject thought about critically, i.e., accurately, logically, relevantly, and precisely?
?Clarity - Is the writing clear and are the concepts articulated properly? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the questions or are points conveyed through excessive use of quotations?
?Organization - Is the paper well written? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are headings included in all papers longer than two pages?
?Referencing (citations and references) - Does the paper include citations and quotation marks where appropriate? Are the references from the background readings and assignment present and properly cited? Are all the references listed in the bibliography present and referred to via citation?

Essay Instructions: What does servant leadership mean to me and how can I practice it in college.

Until this evening I was unfamiliar with the term "servant leadership".

Servant leader as one who is the first to volunteer or help. Do unpopular or difficult jobs.

I attend a very community service oriented college, one that fosters making a difference in the community.

If this is not enough information, please let me know.

Thank you

Essay Instructions: Based on e-book version "Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development" (4ed), on the website http://www.coursesmart.com/login

Login information:

Email: alibusy@earthlink.net
Password: 102938

Answer each question separately (150 words each), and indicate it. What is your opinion? Do you agree, disagree, challenge, etc.? Thank you.

1) Describe the limitations of charismatic leadership theory?

2) What is servant leadership? Give an example of a servant leader? What characteristics do they posess?

3) How does a code of ethics help enforce ethical behavior in an organization?

4) Describe some of the practices, policies, and norms that you would expect to find in an organization that prides itself on building a culture of respect and trust?

Essay Instructions: Write a 1-page paper. You are to write a separate response to the 2 excerpts below.

1.This is a difficult question. I saw myself in several of the styles. I was able to quickly rule out controlling autocrat (too mean and controlling) and human relations specialist (to dull and status quo), beyond that I related in some way to coach, transformational visionary and transactional exchange. I could relate to the servant leader as well but I clearly am not as altruistic as Mother Teresa. If I need to select one style it is the coach. I like to know the people reporting to me and to be in touch with their ideas and concerns. I also enjoy linking what I know through studies, a global view of the organization, regulation and boundary spanning to their work setting. My favorite leadership activity is to challenge new and seasoned leaders to expand beyond their comfort zone and thus enhance their ability and their success. I definitely am a coach.
I have a good example. I have one direct report that I have to be very cautious with and coach her on when not to “let loose”, there is right way and a politically incorrect way to communicate. She works hard on that and has made significant progress. When she comes to me to talk about a “win” for her the conversation usually starts with, “you would be so proud of me”, and evolves into a description of how she controlled her emotions to achieve a satisfactory solution. When I can help a direct report to face a tough situation based upon their frame of reference and coach them on how to handle it to maintain their self-respect, achieve organizational goals and build effective relationships (usually through boundary spanning), we all win. I wish I could say that I am always effective, not so. I am always trying to improve. The win for me comes with coaching in a way that all of us win. It energizes me.
If I could modify the style to meet my preferred style I would want to add the aspect of boundary spanning of the transformational leader to the coaching style. To effectively coach you have to remove barriers and negotiate for what the team needs to achieve those goals. The other two modifications I would add come from the servant leadership style. Listening carefully and emphasizing ethical behavior are core leadership activities I find very important facilitators of success. The text emphasizes these as well.
I have enjoyed our course work and our time together. It is perfect when we can all learn something from one another. I am amazed at the material we have covered and the relevance to our success as potential and current leaders. It is also admittedly, nice to be almost finished with one more class toward our goal of obtaining our MBA. For those of you graduating, congratulations, for the remainder of our group I hope to see you again next term in Strategic Management.

2.The leadership styles closes to my preferred style of leadership would be mix between the Human Relations Specialist and the Coach style of leadership. As represented by Human Relations Specialist style of leadership, I am concerned about my subordinate in respect to their welfare, happiness and, comfort. This involves ensuring they have the needed tools to perform their job, they have a safe work environment and they are reasonably happy. I liken being reasonably happy to my ability to motivate employees. Even though I don’t feel my subordinates know best what to do in all situations, I feel that their expertise is valuable since they are closer to the process than I am. Additionally, my role is more of a manager, making the final informed decision after I have received input from subordinates regarding a particular situation. I enjoy seeing people happy because I believe that a happier employee is more productive. However, there are times when not everyone will be happy and that this is not the ultimate situation to strive for. In other words, a leader has to do what’s best for the organization.

Since leadership is sometimes situational, I would modify my style as needed, for example, I would use some of the attributes found in the Coach style of leadership such as being supportive “by showing concern and consideration for followers as individuals and expressing confidence in them as they develop” (Howell and Costly, 2006, p. 384). In addition, I would modify the amount of my participation with the employee, depending upon how fast their job knowledge and skills increased. As they become more of a subject matter expert, I would solicit their opinion during certain instances of decision making. I am definitely interested in helping subordinates become independent performers in support the organizational goal. However, at my stage in the game, I do not have a socialized need for power nor do I have a strong desire to build influence through others. So these would be some of the attributes I would not apply in my leadership style.