What is organizational management and leadership?

Human Resource Management: What are the criticisms of Servant Leadership?

• Servant Leadership seems to be all the rage today. Are there any legitimate critiques of this style, or weaknesses that can be identified?

• Answer:

  The biggest problem with Servant Leadership is how frequently it is misunderstood.   Often, people think this means that the leader is to be subservient and weak, operating from a position of artificial humility and abdicated power. This leads to extensive negative critiques like this one from a feminist perspective that equates servant leadership with oppression of women -- http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133864711.html   What the creator of this philosophy intended (dating back to the 70s) and what myriad writers and thought leaders have since perpetuated is this:   1) Thinking first of others and their needs demonstrates strength, not weakness.   2) When employees are treated well, they will in turn treat customers well. High levels of customer and employee loyalty and engagement will result.   3) Being an autocratic, overly authoritative or controlling leader does not engender trust or develop people for expanded capacity. Servant leadership is a long-term approach (which, for some may also be viewed as negative about servant leadership -- in jobs with high turnover like fast food restaurants, getting short-term results is more desirable).   To be a servant leader requires a mindset and other-orientation that some leaders simply aren't wired for -- so that makes it a disadvantage in the minds of some. The qualities a servant leader must be able to consistently exhibit include empathic listening, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, commitment to building and developing people, and interpersonal communication skills.