The Effect of Servant Leadership on Employees in an Organization: The Case of Chick-Fil-A
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Research Aim and Rationale
Leadership is the most important aspect whenever people are in a group. It is defined as the process through which an individual exerts influence over other people, directs them, inspires, and motivates them to achieve the goals and objectives of an organization (Simiyu, 1). In an organization, leadership is important for its success. According to Firestone (404), leaders provide and sell a vision to their employees. They clarify the organization’s goals and ensure that the employees work towards them. Leaders re in charge of coming up with the organization’s policies and procedures. As such, they determine the company’s culture, which has effects on employees’ performance and the performance of the organization as a whole. A very important role that leaders perform is that of encouraging and motivating their employees.
In order to create and maintain sustainable businesses, one should understand the role that leadership plays in the lives of the employees and how it affects their personal as well as professional lives. It is also important to note that there exist numerous leadership styles. Each style of leadership has a unique set of characteristics and is applied differently from the rest. According to Khajeh (1), different leadership styles have different effects on employees. As such, there are leadership styles that are more efficient than others are. Since leadership is key in determining the success or failure in any organization, leaders ought to use the most efficient and effective leadership style that exists.
First constructed by Robert Greenleaf when analyzing the historical figure Jesus Christ, servant leadership has its foundations on the fact that leaders ought to first serve, and not lead (Rachmawati & Lantu, 388). Apart from service to others, this leadership style takes a holistic approach to work. It not only focuses on the employees’ professional lives but also their personal lives. It also promotes a sense of community where groups of individuals are jointly responsible for each other (Smith, 4). Kantharia (1) argues that the principles of servant leadership are congruent with the growth of humankind over the centuries. From such a powerful statement, one should wonder how this style of leadership affects employees when applied in an organization.
1.2 Research Objectives
- To investigate the effect of servant leadership on employees’ motivation.
- To investigate the effect of servant leadership on the employees’ job satisfaction.
- To investigate the effect of servant leadership on enhancing equality and diversity among employees in an organization.
1.3 Research Questions
- What are the effects of servant leadership on employees’ motivation?
- What are the effects of servant leadership on employees’ job satisfaction?
- What are the effects of servant leadership on equality and diversity among employees in an organization?
1.4 Significance of the Research
This research is relevant to the world of business. Analyzing servant leadership and its effects on employee motivation, job satisfaction, and equality and diversity will guide academics in the field of business on this style of leadership. The results of this study will show the practical relevance of this style of leadership in businesses.
Chapter Two: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This chapter takes an in-depth review of literature that surrounds servant-leadership. The chapter will analyze what servant leadership entails. In addition, the chapter will seek to establish the characteristics that leaders ought to possess for them to be termed as servant leaders. Apart from this, the chapter will delve into the laws of leadership in order to establish how servant leaders ought to conduct themselves.
2.2 Servant Leadership
2.2.1 Characteristics of a Servant Leader
According to Spears (27), ten qualities are crucial in determining whether a leader is a servant leader or not. These qualities (characteristics) include:
2.2.1.1 Listening
The servant-leader should have good listening skills. However, having good listening skills is not enough. Servant leaders should always have a deep commitment to listening to others, especially their subordinates. The servant-leader always seeks to know what his or her employees are saying or what they want. It is important to note that he or she does not only listen to what is said. Rather, a servant leader is always on the lookout for what is verbally unsaid (nonverbal cues). This helps the leader get the true picture of the employees’ attitudes. Finally, a servant leader should also make it a habit of listening to his or her inner voice. This is important for their growth and general well-being.
2.2.1.2 Empathy
Understanding and empathizing with other people is an important aspect of becoming a servant leader. It requires one to put themselves in the other person’s shoes when they are in difficult situations in order to solve problems efficiently. Empathy requires the leader to assume that his or her subordinates have good intentions even though some of their behavior or performances are unacceptable to the leader. As such, the leader does not reject them as people simply because he or she disagrees with them on certain issues.
2.2.1.3 Healing
Solving disputes and healing relationships in an organization is very crucial for the health of the team in general. Conflicts are due to arise whenever people are working in teams. This is because of a difference in personalities, a struggle for power and control within the group, competition for resources, etc. As such, the servant leader ought to have the ability, not only to calm the tensions but also to ensure that people have fully reconciled. This is by ensuring that both parties involved in the conflict have reached an amicable solution that benefits all of them (win-win situation).
2.2.1.4 Awareness
A servant leader is strengthened by self-awareness. This helps them understand the issues that involve power, ethics, and values. They are then able to make correct decisions when faced with such issues.
2.2.1.5 Persuasion
Servant leaders should always strive to rely on persuasion when making decisions in the organization. They should not use one’s positional authority to impose decisions on the employees. Persuading employees to buy into one’s ideas reaps massive benefits. The employees will work towards achieving the goals that they have willingly bought into with passion. Engaging employees in decision-making increases their morale since they feel valued at the organization. It also enhances their loyalty and commitment to the leader as well as to the organization. The ability to use persuasion instead of coercion distinguishes servant leadership from the traditional styles of leadership that were very authoritative.
2.2.1.6 Conceptualization
A servant leader should be able to look at a problem from a conceptualizing point of view. This means that he or she should view the problem outside the day-to-day realities. This helps them to solve the problem with the future in mind. Traditional styles of leadership focus a lot on attaining short-term operational goals. The staff should be put in charge of the day-to-day activities and power delegated to them to make decisions regarding them. The leader should then focus his or her attention on making decisions that affect the organization in the long-term.
2.2.1.7 Foresight
Foresight draws heavily from intuition. It helps the leader make decisions based on their past lessons, current circumstances, and its future consequences.
2.2.1.8 Stewardship
Servant leadership puts a lot of emphasis on the leader first developing a deep desire and commitment to serving other people’s needs. Stewardship, when it comes to servant leadership, encourages the use of persuasion as well as openness as opposed to control.
2.2.1.9 Commitment to People’s Growth
Servant leaders have been able to see the value of their subordinates apart from their contributions as workers. As such, servant leaders are always trying to ensure that their employees are growing as persons. He or she should nurture their employees’ personal as well as professional lives.
2.2.1.10 Building Community
The servant-leader should try to shift the focus from the company to the communities. This could be through CSR activities.
2.2.2 Laws of Leadership
John Maxwell came up with 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. These principles are relevant to the business world. Leaders in organizations, in an effort to influence others and get things done effectively, usually practice these principles. As Maxwell puts it “Follow them and people will follow you.” These laws are also relevant when using servant leadership to lead people. The first law is referred to as the law of the lid. Maxwell argues that a leader’s level of effectiveness is determined by their leadership ability and consequently determines the impact of the leader on the organization. The law encourages leaders to improve their effectiveness by developing their leadership skills and abilities and not through adopting new policies and procedures. The second law is the law of influence. According to Maxwell (15), the true measure of leadership is the ability of the leader to influence others. Hence, there is a difference between leadership and management especially in the context of business. While leadership calls for the leader to influence the employees, management requires the person in charge to maintain the set systems and processes. Third, there is the law of process. According to Maxwell (21), leadership can’t develop in a day. Rather, leadership development is a process that ought to occur every day. The fourth law of leadership is the law of navigation. Navigators help chart the course that people are going to follow. This is similar to leadership in an organization where employees look up to the leader to provide them with the direction that the organization should take.
The fifth law is the law of E.F. Hutton. According to Maxwell (33), when real leaders speak, people listen. The sixth law is referred to as the law of solid ground. According to Maxwell (39), leadership finds its foundation in trust. For a leader to build trust among his or her employees, they must exhibit certain qualities. These include competence, character, and connection. The seventh law is the law, is the law of respect. Maxwell (45) argues that people follow people who are stronger than they are. Naturally, people who are less skilled in a certain area are more likely to follow people who have more skills than they do in the same area. Eight is the law of intuition. According to Maxwell (52), good leaders ought to evaluate everything with a leadership bias. Intuition, Maxwell argues, separates great leaders from the good ones. Intuition enables leaders to easily read situations, trends, people, resources, and themselves. It helps them capture details that others easily miss. The ninth law of leadership is the law of magnetism. Generally, a leader is who he or she attracts (Maxwell, 59). Effective leaders always have a mental picture of the kind of people they would like to work for them. It is also important to note that effective leaders do not simply look for people who are exactly like them or possess similar qualities. Rather, they look for people who will complement them. This means that leaders will look for people who are better than they are in their areas of weakness. The tenth law is the law of connection. Maxwell (65) argues that effective leaders ought to first touch people’s hearts before they can try to influence them to follow them. The heart always comes before the brain. As such, it is impossible to influence people unless they are first moved with emotion. In an organization, one can easily recognize a leader who has connected with the employees. The employees become very loyal to him and develop a strong work ethic. They also easily adopt the leader’s vision for the organization and work towards achieving it whole-heartedly. The eleventh law is the law of the inner circle. Maxwell (70) argues that those closest to a leader determine his or her potential. As such, it is always beneficial for a leader to raise up people in their inner circle.
The twelfth law is the law of empowerment. According to Maxwell (76), secure leaders freely give power to others. Empowered employees are easily able to reach their potential. The thirteenth law of leadership is the law of reproduction. Most people are usually influenced to become leaders by other leaders. According to Maxwell (82), 10% of leaders are prompted to become leaders because they have natural gifting or inclination to lead. 5% are borne out of being involved in a crisis that they had to solve. Interestingly, 85% of leaders were influenced by other leaders. Influence leaders in an organization is very important for its continued growth. If a company has poor leadership, the leadership is bound to get worse. However, a company with strong leaders, who keep on influencing others to become leaders, is bound to succeed as the leadership constantly gets better and better every time (Maxwell, 87). Next is the law of buy-in. It is important to note that people usually buy into the leader before they buy into his or her vision. Maxwell (91) argues that a leader cannot be separated from the cause he or she seeks to promote. Four notable trends are clear in regards to this argument. When followers like neither the leader nor their vision, they tend to look for other leaders. When the followers like the leader but like the vision, they change the leader. However, in cases where followers like the leader but not the vision, they tend to change the vision. Finally, when the followers like both the leader and their vision, they get behind both.
The fifteenth law is the law of victory. Maxwell (93) argues that leaders always find a way for the team to win. Even when faced with tough situations, they always find a way to succeed. The seventeenth law is the law of priorities. Maxwell (107) argues that effective leaders understand that activity does not necessarily translate to accomplishment. They never outgrow prioritizing. As such, leaders always need to ask themselves what is required, what gives the greatest return, and what brings the greatest reward, when it comes to prioritizing activities in an organization. The eighteenth law (the law of sacrifice) stipulates that leaders must give up to go up (Maxwell, 112). Leaders should always be prepared to make repeated sacrifices. The higher a leader climbs the greater and more frequent sacrifices they have to make. The nineteenth principle of leadership is the law of timing. Leaders should realize that the wrong action done at the wrong time would produce disastrous results
The twentieth principle is the law of explosive growth. Here, Maxwell (123) argues that leaders who lead followers will add growth but those who lead leaders experience explosive growth. Leaders who develop followers often need to be needed. They also focus on the weaknesses of their followers. As such, they tend to develop employees from the bottom 20 percent. They also tend to treat their employees for “fairness” hence only impact people they touch personally. These types of leaders also tend to hoard power. On the other hand, leaders who develop leaders often want to be succeeded, focus on the strengths of their subordinates, develop the top 20 percent, treat their leaders as individuals for impact, do not shy away from giving others power, and impact people who are far beyond their reach. Finally, there is the law of legacy. According to Maxwell (129), succession measures a leader’s lasting value. As such, a leader should lead the organization with the future in mind, create a culture of leadership within the organization, value team leadership above individual leadership, make sacrifices to ensure success tomorrow, and walk away from the organization with integrity.
2.3 Conclusion
Leadership is an important aspect of an organization. As such, adopting a certain style of leadership is bound to have effects on the nature and performance of the organization. Different styles of leadership have different characteristics. Servant leadership is characterized by a leader who exhibits good listening skills, empathy, conflict management skills, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, a commitment to other people’s growth, and a passion for building the community. However, for any leadership style to be effective, the leader ought to consider the 21 principles of leadership by John Maxwell.
Chapter Three: Research Methodology
3.1 Research Approach
This chapter outlines the methodology that the research will utilize to tackle the research questions. The chapter describes the research methods that will be used, the research tools that will be used by the researcher, and the population and sample that will form the study. In addition, it defines the strategy that will be used to get the sample for the study. Finally, the chapter will highlight the ethical considerations that the researcher will maintain.
3.2 Research Design
Dulock (1993) describes the research design as a short plan of the proposed research. It outlines the structure of the research and holds the elements of the research together. This research project will adopt a descriptive research design since it will help describe the current status of the phenomenon being studied. According to (75), descriptive research design is commonly used in social sciences (socio-economic survey, job and activity analysis, etc.)
3.3 Research Methodology
The study will involve the collection of primary data. All employees from a selected company branch whose leader has adopted servant leadership will form the sample of the study hence provide the necessary data. This is because the sample size is not large hence; it will be economical to use all employees from the selected company branch. The data collection method that will be used in this study is a self-administered questionnaire. After data has been collected, it will be analyzed through editing, coding, and presentation in tables. This will help summarize the data.
3.4 Research Tools
The research will utilize a self-administered questionnaire. Employees of the selected company will be given a questionnaire to fill in order to collect the necessary data. The researcher will visit the selected branch and hand over the questionnaires to the employees to fill. The questionnaire will be collected afterward as agreed by the researcher and the company’s branch manager.
3.5 Population & Sampling
A population is a group of objects, items, or people from which samples are taken for measurement. On the other hand, a sample is selected from the population in order for a study to be carried since using a population would be too expensive (Taherdoost, 2016).
3.5.1 Identifying Population
The population of this study will be all Chick-Fil-A restaurants. This is because they have all adopted servant leadership into their systems.
3.5.2 Sampling Strategy
The sample for this study will be employees in a Chick-Fil-A branch. All employees at the selected ranch will take part in the study. This is because they are not many in number hence; the research will be economical.
3.6 Ethical Implications
The researcher will obtain permission from Chick-Fil-A’s head office to carry out the study. The researcher will also obtain informed consent from the research participants. According to Fouka & Mantzorou (4), informed consent ensures the participants knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily accepts to take part in the study. Apart from that, this will ensure that the employees’ confidentiality is maintained. All questionnaires will be filled anonymously to protect the identity of the employees.
Chapter Four: Findings
22 employees from the selected Chick-Fil-A branch agreed to take part in the study. This represented 98 percent of the employees. 15 (68%) of the participants worked during the daytime shift while 7 worked the nightshift (32%).
4.1 Servant Leadership and Employee Motivation
90% of the respondents were comfortable with the manager’s approach to leadership. They described the manager as one who they would like to have indefinitely. 94% of the respondents said that they always looked forward to going back to work on a Monday. They did not experience Monday blues. 73% of the respondents were willing to work extra shifts even on short notice. Finally, 81% of the respondents admitted that the power structure within the business motivated them to work hard every day. According to them, it was a way of paying back the confidence and support that their manager constantly gives.
4.2 Servant Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction
Only 12% of the respondents were dissatisfied with their jobs. It interesting to note that the reasons that they gave for this dissatisfaction were not related to the manager or his style of leadership. Only 1% of the respondents said that Chick-Fil-A was their first job. The rest had worked in other companies. Out of this, none of the respondents had ever had a manager who used servant leadership before. At Chick-Fil-A was the first time all the respondents had ever come across servant leadership in practice. Of the 99% who had worked for other companies, 4% said that they would want to go back to the companies they previously worked for. The 96% stated that they would not want to work for their previous companies because of the nature of their previous managers.
4.3 Servant Leadership and Equality and Diversity
All respondents stated that they felt Chick-Fil-A was a very welcoming company to all its employees. It is important to note that Chick-Fil-A tends to lean more on Cristian values. However, it is important to note that they employ people of all races, genders, colour, etc. The respondents found this aspect of the company very welcoming. 97% of the respondents stated that the manager never showed any favoritism towards anyone. All the respondents also stated that they felt that the company’s policies and procedures generally made everyone equal. This is because they did not disadvantage any one group of people.
Chapter Five: Discussion
From the findings, it is clear that the style of leadership used in any organization has its effects on the employees. Generally, the employees felt motivated to work for Chick-Fil-A because of the leader’s style of management. Most would work extra hours on short notice. In addition, the employees never had Monday blues as they looked forward to going to work. This can be attributed to many things and among them was the environment that the company has created for its employees. The policies and procedures that are enforced at Chick-Fil-A ensure everyone is treated fairly. In addition, most of the employees do not see any kind of favoritism in the manager’s decisions or actions. As such, the employees consider the company suitable for different kinds of people regardless of gender, color, race, sexuality, etc. As such, the employees are very satisfied with their current employment citing the manager’s style of leadership as part of the reasons for this. Few employees would consider leaving their current job at Chick-Fil-A to go back to their previous companies.
Chapter Six
Conclusion.
In summary, servant leadership has an impact on employees. Servant leadership increases employees’ job satisfaction, makes them more motivated to work, and creates an environment that ensures equality and diversity. This style of leadership has a positive effect on the employees’ attitude to work. This is shown by the fact they are even willing to work extra hours on short notice. The manager’s leadership style has also led to most of the employees preferring to work for Chick-Fil-A as opposed to companies that have other leadership styles. Apart from the fact that the company’s policies are fair and apply to all the same way, servant leadership ensures that the manager treats no one better or worse. The implications of servant leadership on employees are majorly positive.
Recommendations and Implications for Further Research
Having effectively shown that servant leadership has positive effects on the employees, it would be interesting to compare it with leadership styles that have somewhat similar characteristics as well as those that differ from it completely. In fact, it would be better to get employees who have worked under servant leadership as well as other leadership styles as the sample of the study. This would show the advantages and disadvantages of various leadership styles. It will also show the leadership styles that employees find most effective and that they would like to see implemented in many organizations.
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