Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 10: Servant Leadership
Learning Objectives
10-2 Explain how servant leadership works.
10-4 Discuss the criticisms of servant leadership.
10-5 Recognize applications of servant leadership.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Description
A. A seemingly paradoxical approach to leadership.
i. In reality, offers a unique perspective.
ii. Until recently, little empirical, peer-reviewed research has been done.
a. Most academic and nonacademic explorations of the subject have been
prescriptive rather than descriptive.
B. Servant leadership is an approach focusing on leadership from the point of view of
leaders and their behaviors.
i. Emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the concerns of their followers,
empathize with them, and nurture them.
ii. A “moral” form of leadership.
C. Servant Leadership Defined
i. Several definitions from a variety of perspectives.
ii. Servant leadership: Leadership that begins with the natural feeling that one
wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to
lead…The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant—first to
make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.
a. As defined by Greenleaf in 1970.
iii. Basic ideas of servant leadership:
a. Placing the good of followers over one’s own self-interests.
b. Emphasis on follower development.
D. Historical Basis of Servant Leadership
i. Robert K. Greenleaf is the author of seminal works in the field.
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a. Continued influence on the development of servant leadership as a
theory.
ii. Based on Hermann Hesse’s 1956 novel The Journey to the East, in which travelers
on a mythical journey are significantly impacted and unified by the presence of a
menial servant.
iii. Greenleaf believes the servant leader has a social responsibility to be concerned
about the “have–nots” and underprivileged.
iv. Servant leadership values community because it provides a face-to-face
opportunity for individuals to experience:
a. Interdependence.
E. Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader
i. Listening: Interactive communication between leaders and followers.
ii. Empathy: “Standing in the shoes” of another person and assuming their point of
view.
iii. Healing: The act of making the whole.
iv. Awareness: A quality that makes servant leaders acutely attuned and receptive
to their physical, social, and political environments.
v. Persuasion: Clear and persistent communication that convinces others to
change.
vi. Conceptualization: An individual’s ability to be a visionary for an organization,
vii. Foresight: Encompasses a servant leader’s ability to know the future.
a. Has an ethical dimension where leaders hold responsibility for failure to
viii. Stewardship: Taking responsibility for the leadership role entrusted to the
leader.
ix. Commitment to the growth of people: Treating each follower as a unique person
with intrinsic value that goes beyond the individual’s tangible contributions to
the organization.
a. Includes a commitment to aiding each person’s personal and
x. Building community: Fostering the development of community, or a collection of
individuals who have shared interests and pursuits and feel a sense of unity and
relatedness.
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F. Building a Theory About Servant Leadership
i. In their undeveloped, loosely defined form, Greenleaf’s writings were widely
accepted as a leadership approach, rather than a theory, that has strong heuristic
and practical value.
a. Went scientifically unverified for more than thirty years.
ii. More recently, researchers have begun to examine the conceptual underpinnings
of servant leadership in an effort to build a theory about it. This has resulted in
countless models incorporating a multitude of variables.
a. Russell and Stone (2002) developed a practical model of servant
b. Patterson (2003) created a value-based model of servant leadership
c. [Insert Table 10.1 Key Characteristics of Servant Leadership]
iii. A literature review by Coetzee, Bussing, and Geldenhuys (2017) reduced servant
leadership to 8 servant leadership characteristics, 4 competencies, 10 measures,
and 3 outcomes.
iv. Coetzee et al.’s eight characteristics of servant leadership:
a. Authenticity.
b. Humility.
h. Altruism.
II. Model of Servant Leadership
A. Model based on Liden, Wayne, Zhao, and Henderson (2008) and Liden, Panacci, Hu, and
Meuser (2014) that has three main components: antecedent conditions, servant leader
behaviors, and outcomes.
i. [Insert Figure 10.1 Model of Servant Leadership]
B. Antecedent Conditions
i. Antecedent conditions: Existing conditions which impact servant leadership.
a. Context and culture: The organizational context and culture within
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c. Follower receptivity: The desire for servant leadership, which influences
ii. In cultures where power distance is low (e.g., Nordic Europe) and power is
iii. Emotional intelligence, or the leader’s ability to monitor the feelings, beliefs, and
internal states of the self and followers, has been identified as an important
attribute for a leader implementing a servant leader ideology.
iv. Not all followers desire a servant leader.
a. May see servant leadership behaviors as micromanagement.
v. However, when servant leadership was matched with followers who desired it,
this type of leadership had a positive impact on performance and organizational
citizenship behavior.
C. Servant Leader Behaviors
i. Servant leader behaviors: Seven behaviors that are the core of the servant
leadership process.
ii. Conceptualizing: Servant leader’s thorough understanding of the organization—
its purposes, complexities, and mission.
iii. Emotional healing: Being sensitive to the personal concerns and well-being of
others.
a. Includes recognizing others’ problems and addressing them.
iv. Putting followers first: Defining characteristic of servant leadership, in which
leaders use actions and words that clearly demonstrate to followers that their
concerns are a priority, including placing followers’ interests and success ahead
of those of the leader.
v. Helping followers grow and succeed: Knowing followers’ professional or
personal goals and helping them to accomplish these aspirations.
vi. Behaving ethically: Doing the right thing in the right way.
a. Servant leaders will not compromise their ethics for success.
vii. Empowering: Allowing followers the freedom to be independent, make decisions
on their own, and be self-sufficient.
a. Empowerment builds followers’ confidence in their own capacities to
viii. Creating value for the community: Consciously and intentionally giving back to
the community.
D. Outcomes
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i. Follower performance and growth: An expected outcome in which followers
achieve greater self-actualization.
a. Followers will realize their full capabilities when leaders nurture them,
help them with their personal goals, and give them control.
ii. Organizational performance: An expected outcome in which followers, follower
performance, and overall performance as an organization increase due to servant
leadership.
a. Linked to organizational citizenship behaviors, or extra role behaviors
iii. Societal impact: An expected outcome of servant leadership, which is an overall
positive impact on society.
a. Not commonly measured in studies, but highly visible in everyday life.
E. Summary of the Model of Servant Leadership
i. Model of servant leadership consists of three components:
a. Antecedent conditions.
ii. The central focus of the model is the seven behaviors of leaders that foster
servant leadership:
a. Conceptualizing.
b. Emotional healing.
iii. These behaviors are influenced by:
a. Context and culture.
b. Leader’s attributes.
c. Followers’ receptivity to this kind of leadership.
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iv. When individuals engage in servant leadership, it is likely to improve outcomes at
the individual, organizational, and societal levels.
III. How Does Servant Leadership Work?
A. Unique mechanism focuses on the behaviors leaders should exhibit to put followers first
and to support followers’ personal development.
B. When many leaders in an organization adopt a servant leadership orientation, a culture
of serving others within and outside the organization is created.
i. Servant leadership works best when leaders are altruistic and have a strong
motivation and deep-seated interest in helping others.
ii. Important that followers are open and receptive to servant leaders who want to
empower them and help them grow.
C. Underlying philosophical position that leaders should be altruistic humanists.
i. Should share power and enable growth and autonomy in others.
a. Leadership framed from this perspective downplays competition in the
D. Ideally, servant leadership results in community and societal change.
i. Individuals within an organization who care for each other become committed to
developing an organization that cares for the community.
IV. Strengths
A. Unique in its central focus on ethical leadership.
i. Argues unabashedly that leaders should put followers first, share control with
followers, and embrace their growth.
ii. Servant leadership is better at predicting employee performance and attitudes.
B. Counterintuitive and provocative approach to the use of influence, or power, in
leadership.
i. Unusually deemphasizes influence and power as negative qualities shown in
leadership.
a. Leaders should not dominate, direct, or control.
C. Consideration of multiple stakeholders, including followers, organizations, customers,
communities, and societies, and the outcomes that result.
i. Followers are served by actions and decisions of leaders.
ii. Outcomes such as work–family balance have been linked to servant leadership.
iii. Those following servant leaders are more spiritually aware while at work.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
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iv. Stakeholders also extend beyond the organization’s followers and customers to
the broader community.
D. No implications that servant leadership is a panacea.
i. Admits there are conditions under which servant leadership is not a preferred
kind of leadership.
ii. Servant leadership may be more effective at higher levels.
E. Multiple ways to assess servant leadership.
i. A review of servant leadership research identified 16 different measures of
servant leadership.
ii. Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) was developed and validated by Liden et
al. (2008).
V. Criticisms
A. Paradoxical nature of term “servant leadership” may diminish its impact.
i. Seems whimsical or fanciful due to contradictory name.
ii. Mechanism of influence in servant leadership is neglected in the approach.
B. Not clear how servant leadership is related to organizational change.
i. Servant leadership is positively related to psychological empowerment, but may
not result in followers engaging in extra-role performance (organizational
citizenship) above and beyond that accounted for by leader–member exchange
(LMX).
a. Similar findings in work engagement.
C. Disagreement on core dimensions of the process.
i. Researchers cannot reach consensus.
a. Definitions may be confusing to leaders and scholars alike.
D. Prescriptive overtone to literature.
i. While advocating an altruistic approach to leadership is commendable, it has a
utopian ring.
E. Unclear reasons for inclusion of “conceptualizing” as a servant leadership behavior.
i. Debate on whether it constitutes an ability, behavior, or skill.
ii. Lack of evidence to justify it as a defining characteristic of servant leadership.
VI. Application
A. Applicable at all management levels and in all organizational types.
i. Prescribed behaviors are easy to understand and follow.
B. Used extensively in existing training programs.
i. Straightforward and accessible content.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
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C. Use in the selection process can contribute to a servant leadership culture within an
organization.