Servant Leadership: Attributes, analysis and policy implications - examining the attributes of a servant leader, analysing the potential benefits for an organisation and determining potential negative consequences

Project Ref: PHDBU1704. The turbulent nature of the business environment and the challenges faced in the work place has led organisations to embrace servant leadership (Russell and Stone, 2002; Smith et al., 2004). Servant leadership is about helping others to accomplish shared objectives by facilitating individual development, empowerment and collective work. It is a paradigmatic shift of the conception of a leader from a master to a servant (Van Dierendonck, 2011). Although much work has been done in the domain of ethical leadership where some of its concepts emerged, at present the domain of servant leadership lacks focus and much empirical work. While researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the importance of servant leadership in organisations, this field still remains in a state of infancy, and considerable scholarship is still required (Parris and Peachey, 2013).

The aim of this research project is to examine servant leadership using SMEs in Scotland to critically examine the attributes of a servant leader, to analyse the potential benefits for an organisation and to determine potential negative consequences when the welfare of the followers becomes the focus. Specifically, the focus of this research will be on servant leadership within Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland. Scotland provides a unique and dynamic context in which the study can be examined. In Scotland, 99.4% of the private sector industry is comprised of SMEs (Scottish Government, 2015) and hence are arguably the engine growth of the economy.

This research project will adopt a qualitative approach in order to fully understand and explore the in depth experiences of the main stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews will be the mode of data collection. From the study results, a vivid picture of servant leadership in Scotland will be formed.

In practice, the findings of this study will serve as a useful reference for practitioners and policy makers of the attributes and implications of servant leadership for different stakeholders in both Scottish and international organisations. The key lessons from this Scottish test bed can be widened to encompass other countries in further work. As a fairly seminal work, this research would be well cited and could attract further funding from large organisations in both the public and private sectors.

References
Parris, D. L. and Peachey, J. W. (2013) A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of business ethics. Vol. 3(3), pp. 377-393.
Russell, R. F. and Stone, A. G. (2002) A review of servant leadership attributes: Developing a practical model. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Vol. 23(3), pp. 145-157.
Scottish Government (2015) Businesses in Scotland 2015 Edinburgh. The UK Statistics Authority.
Smith, B. N., Montagno, R. V. and Kuzmenko, T. N. (2004) Transformational and Servant Leadership: Content and Contextual Comparisons. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. Vol. 10(4), pp. 80-91.
Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of management, Vol. 37(4), pp. 1228-1261.