Class post. Enjoy!
Dr. S:
I appreciated your favorite stories! I heard of the
“boiled frog” story before at my spiritual center. Our senior leader
illustrated his point of people getting stuck in their thinking (consciousness)
by using the “boiled frog” analogy. In the workplace, as in church, one’s
thinking can diminish an organization’s need for more effectiveness and
efficiency. “We’ve always done it this way!” or “I’ve always just thought about
it this way” can impede innovation and strategic agility. In the end, I
appreciated the story about workload management. It aligns with the idea of
teamwork. The leader who is successful in teamwork scenarios is those that are
people-oriented leaders.
People-oriented leaders (person focused) are thoughtful,
considerate, and care about the relationship with their followers (Bass, 2008).
They pay attention to the needs of their employees and strive to satisfy those
needs (Bass, 2008). People-oriented leaders seek to develop the ability of
their employees and build their self-confidence (Bass, 2008). They create
comfortable, friendly organization atmosphere and make their staff feel at
ease. This type of leadership normally results in higher employee satisfaction
and fewer personnel problems in most situations and contexts (Bass, 2008).
Relationship plays an increasingly important role in
today’s working environment. Many organizations have been looking for leaders
who can facilitate positive interactions among each other (Bass, 2008). A leader
who leads with heart and mind, and consider his or her followers as a whole
person instead of an intelligent machine is more suitable for the
organization’s long run benefits. Cummings, MacGregor, Davey, and Lee (2010) found
that people-oriented leadership has positive impact on teamwork, working
environment, emotional heath, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction.
Most important, selfless service (servant leadership) is
the number one attribute that can be added to the list. According to Patterson
(2003), the servant leader leads and serves with:
(1). Agapao love;
(2) Acts with humility;
(3) Is altruistic;
(4) Is visionary;
(5) Is trusting;
(6) Is serving; and
(7) Empowers others (Dennis & Bocarnea, 2005, p.
601-602).
Indeed, the aforementioned attributes of the servant
leadership can be added to the list of both person centered and task focused
leadership styles.
References
Bass, B.M. & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory,
research, and managerial applications (4th
Ed.). New York, NY: Free
Press.
Cummings, G. G., MacGregor, T., Davey, M., & Lee, H. (2010).
Leadership
styles and
outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work
environment:
A systematic review. International
Journal of
Nursing Studies. 47 (1), 363–385.
Dennis, R. S., Bocarnea, M. (2005). Development of the
servant leadership
assessment.
Leadership & Organization Journal 26(8),
600-615. doi:
10.1108/01437730510633692
Patterson, K. (2003). Servant
leadership: A theoretical model. (Doctoral dissertation
Retrieved from ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses
database.
(UMI No. 3082717)
