The Integrity Deficit: Is Servant Leadership the Cure?
“Leadership is an extreme sport. People who participate in extreme sports grow in both courage and humility.”
Cheryl Bachelder, CEO Popeye’s
The last decade has presented many examples of failed leadership. The media has covered men and women whose leadership has left organizations in chaos, followers financially depleted, governments divided, and the public questioning. Some of these leaders who have taken a walk on the dark side have been sentenced to jail time but others have walked away unscathed, except perhaps their reputation. After Enron, WorldCom, and the mortgage meltdown, America has come to realize the importance of business ethics and leader integrity. Northouse (2016) states that leadership is not an amoral phenomenon and ethics should be included in the process because leadership involves using influence to affect other people and their futures. He stresses that leadership behavior should be based upon values, but theories developed before transformational, servant and authentic did not address ethics (Northouse, 2016, p 348). A research study in 2002 by the Barna Group determined that Americans held little confidence in government leaders and executives of large corporations and were rated very low on the scale (Parolini, J. 2004).
Burke in his study of leadership effectiveness states that leaders fail for many reasons but the two main causes stem from ineffective or unethical behavior (Burke, 2006 p. 237). Both types of behavior damage the organization but unethical behavior destroys the trust relationship between leaders and followers and indicates a lack of integrity on the part of the leader (Burke, 2006, p.238). Lack of integrity has become an issue for organizations who suffer the consequences of unethical leaders, but often the organizational culture is the force behind the behavior. Today’s corporate environment demands that their leaders are “prophets for profit”, “trendsetters”, and “standouts” (Kaiser, R.B., Hogan, R. & Craig, S.B.2008).These terms indicate personal success but not necessarily indicate a leader with integrity. Determining effective leadership based on outcomes alone may not indicate ethical behavior and positive leader-follower relationships but rather success at any price. Leadership at its best involves influencing others to attain a goal in positive, creative, and caring ways. Influencing others in these ways requires values and integrity (Kaiser, R.B., Hogan, R. & Craig, S.B., 2008).
Northouse describes servant leadership as a process that puts followers first, serves their needs, empathizes with them, and helps them develop to their fullest potential, He explains that servant leadership has at its very core, ethical behavior (Northouse, P. , 3016, p225). The servant leader must be honest first with himself/herself as to make the choice to serve. The principles of servant leadership listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the person, and the building of community are geared to the relationship between the servant leader and the follower. By focusing on people within the organization, including employees, customers, and stakeholders the leader is ethically focused. Robert Greenleaf the founder of servant leadership believed that by promoting the need to put others first in business would translate into healthier organizations, happier employees, and in the long term a better society (Northouse, P., 2016).
Yes, this all sounds a little like a fairy tale but imagine working among people who all had the same ideals of putting people before profit. Any unethical behavior would tend to stick out like a sore thumb. Working in an environment that emphasizes social conscience and the nurturing of future leaders sounds like an ideal place to spend your workday. There are companies who have adopted this leadership theory and found it successful. The list of companies embracing servant leadership includes Starbucks, SAS (Software), Wegmans, Zappos, AFLAC, Men’s Warehouse, Whole Foods and Southwest Airlines. These are not small business firms struggling to show success but successful firms who have embraced the people first moto. Perhaps there is some profit in putting people first, practicing honesty and integrity, and nurturing future leaders.
References:
Burke, R.J. & Cooper, C.L., (2006), Inspiring leaders, (pp.237-244). New York, NY: Routledge.
Kaiser, R.B., Hogan, R. & Craig S.B., (2008) Leadership and the fate of organizations, American
Psychologist, Feb.-March.
Lichtenwalner, B. (2012), Fortunes best companies to work for with servant leadership, Modern Servant
Leader. Retrieved from https://www.modernservantleader.com/servant-leadership/fortunes-best- companies-to-work-for-with- servant-leaders
Northouse, P.G., (2016), Leadership: Theory and practice, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Parolini, J.L., (2004), Effective servant leadership, School of Leadership Studies, Retrieved from
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2004/parolini_effective_ser
Michael Diclemente says
I think that this is a very relevant example in today’s business world. As you noted, we’ve had numerous scandals and the financial crisis in the past 20 years. I was directly affected by the mortgage crisis because I was in the industry when it happened (and still am). I also worked for Tyco during the fallout of their scandal and was in the business world when Sarbanes-Oxley was implemented. The underlying issue that caused all of these, in my opinion, is unethical behavior. As you noted, ethical behavior is a core characteristic of a servant leader because a servant leader puts others. A servant leader naturally puts the needs of their followers ahead of their own (Northouse, 2016) and genuinely wants to help them. My first real job was working at a Tyco subsidiary and implementing the control processes outlined by Sarbanes-Oxley in an attempt to thwart any future issues like Enron, etc. I’ve had experience used the servant leadership approach and I agree with your findings; it is a successful way to run a team and business and the employees respond positively to it. A follower recognizes when their leader puts their interests above their own and this creates loyalty to the company and leader, reducing the likelihood of the unethical behavior. So in the end, I agree with you that servant leadership is a method to increase the integrity of the business world.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Nathaniel Clinger says
CMS41,
Great post! I couldn’t resist replying to such an interesting topic, as it seems to be so prevalent today. Failed leadership resultant from a clear deficit in the Nation’s leader integrity bank account. How fitting considering all of the recent news saturating social media with highlights of continuous failures to live up to expectations or constant revelations of immoral conduct. Often times when we think of leadership, we immediately consider the workplace, organizations, CEOs, leaders, managers, subordinates, temporary hires etc…however, what greater an influence can a leader have than one of political position? I offer that in addition to business ethics, political ethics should also be considered within the umbrella of leadership.
According to Northouse (2016), “servant leadership emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them” (p.225). Imagine applying that concept to our political leaders. If only they truly embodied this approach of putting the concerns of their followers/citizens first, rather than their own political gain. Not to say that all politicians are unethical, only that given their position of influence, the effect of poor leadership on the part of such a leader has far greater reaching affects on those they impact.
Behaving ethically as listed in Northouse (2016), is one of seven servant leader behaviors attributed to servant leadership. Although there are other behaviors listed, I suggest that ethics is the “glue” that holds all of the behaviors, conceptualizing, emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, empowering, and creating value for the community, together. If behaving ethically is “doing the right thing in the right way” as stated in Northouse (2016), than our political leaders if loyal to upholding ethical behavior, would by default embody the other servant leader behaviors because they involve looking out for others, which is exactly what political leadership is supposed to do. This is important because, especially as political leaders, our leaders represent the people. As such, if they were to take the servant leadership approach, incorporating ethics, and applying that to the good of the people, according to Northouse (2016), would result in community and societal change (p.239). A change, I am sure, that would be for the better.
The outcomes of servant leadership listed in Northouse (2016), include various benefits, however one of them, societal impact, is most relevant to political leaders. An example given in Northouse (2016), is Mother Teresa. Her example of servant leadership resulted in a significant worldwide impact that benefitted millions of hungry, homeless, and unwanted people (Northouse, 2016, p. 238). Imagine that same ethic practiced by political leaders, what would the outcome be?
In conclusion, I agree with your suggestion that a potential answer to the “integrity deficit” is servant leadership. The outstanding examples of organizations that have embodied this approach, speak for themselves. As a carryover, I also suggest that our political leadership could benefit as well from a refresher course in servant leadership. If all of our world’s leaders asked themselves the following questions on leadership as mentioned by Greenleaf, to include “do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 226)? If all of our world’s leaders were operating from this approach, the ethical dilemmas that currently plague our news and social media might just be reduced. Possibly there would be less hungry and homeless people, as was the result from Mother Teresa’s work, for example. And quite possibly the violence we have unfortunately come to be more and more accustomed to would be significantly minimized, if only people felt like their leadership put the needs and success of their people first.
Reference:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Lindsey Anne Winter says
You pose a very interesting question, is servant leadership the cure for the integrity deficit that we face. As a society have seen unethical behavior from large corporations, leaders in their respective industries, banks, politicians, and the list goes on. With the way servant leadership works it would seem that this could be the answer. Servant leaders commit to putting their followers first, being honest with them and treating them fairly (Northouse, 2016, p. 239). From this one could assume that a servant leader is ethical and acts with integrity. These types of leader would instill these same behaviors and values in their followers creating more leaders just like themselves. Instead of leaders using their power to dominate their followers they should make an attempt to share their power and help others grow (Northouse, 2016, p. 239). When framed in this perspective, competition in the organization is downplayed and egalitarianism is promoted (Northouse, 2016, p. 239). This would aid in creating a more ethical cultural and promote acting with integrity within an organization as well. One of the greatest impacts of servant leaders is their organizational and societal impact as they tend to leave a footprint wherever they go. It would follow that servant leadership would solve integrity and ethical issues, but servant leadership is no easy feat because of its contradictory nature.
I think any form of leadership calls for a certain amount of integrity and ethics. I would be happy with any leader who has these two qualities because I know I could trust them, and trust is at the core of every leader-follower relationship. However, some fairy tales do come true, and it has been proven that there is profit in putting people first, practicing honesty and integrity, and nurturing future leaders.