Question:
Write about the Role of TSL in Employee Satisfaction and Empowerment for Business.
Transformational Servant Leadership is the style of leadership that emphasizes on human resources and the interpersonal relationships. It prioritizes on empowering its follower by caring, coaching, and motivation (Stone, Russell & Patterson, 2004), thus improving their performance by enabling them to realize their full potential (Northouse, 2016). According to Crook et al. (2011), the human resources are critical to the achievement of organizational goals and general performance, thus if more emphasis is laid on the department, then the organization is likely to acquire a competitive advantage, also, to accomplish its goals and build the society.
This paper seeks to examine the roles of Transformational Servant Leadership play within an organization from the perspective of employee satisfaction and empowerment. In this essay, the background study will be explored, then the contribution of TSL to the organization/society examined, analysis of leadership behaviors done and then clear recommendations made to improve leadership.
In an advancing stormy and complex organizational environment, Business leaders have their focus shifted to the emphasis of leadership. The roles of organizers are no longer considered as ‘leaders’ but ‘leading’ the organization environment. According to Alvesson and Spicer (2012) role of leadership is that occupied by an individual at a given time on a given team. A visionary leader will go far towards the achievement of the objectives of an organization. With the aim of solving organizational problems, the power that comes with authority has drastically been swapped with guidance, synchronization, and assimilation. The leader is the one, who leads in the success of the organization by having to face obstacles confidently but with an in-depth understanding of a sense of belongingness, vision, and innovativeness. Klingner, Nalbandian & Llorens (2015) defines leadership as the ability to entice willing followers and to influence change.
The type of leadership style is central in the influence over employee satisfaction and empowerment; aspects critical to business success or failure. Existing research show that employees that are empowered increase productivity, job performance and employee satisfaction (Manzoor, 2012). Additionally, authorized employees lead to the realization of competitive advantage (Ghosh, 2013 and Kahreh, Ahmadi & Hashemi, 2011). The level of empowerment and satisfaction of employees is therefore dependent on the style of leadership in the business. Accordingly, Transformational Servant Leadership (TSL) plays a crucial role in the employee empowerment and satisfaction (Parolini, 2012)
Irrespective of the existing knowledge of the position of Transformational Servant Leadership in business, the rate of employee turnover is still on the rise. For instance, the turnover rate in the hospitality industry as observed by AlBattat & Som (2013) in the Malaysian case. High rates of employee turnover are attributed to the reduction in business performance. Most of the failed businesses in the hotel industry have been assigned to a failure in leadership. The unethical conduct of the hotel and restaurant managers discourage the employees who in turn offer low-quality customer services thus affecting business productivity. In some cases, the business may be faced with lawsuits that not only cost the organization in monetary terms but also hampers its reputation in the market. The effect of bad leadership on the employees produces a ripple effect and leaves them discouraged, dissatisfied and un-appreciated (Testa & Sipe, 2012).
The Transformational Servant Leadership is characteristic of interpersonal relationships and is focused on empowerment, motivation, appreciation, coaching and inspiring followers (Schneider & George, 2011). Therefore, the adoption of the TSL in an organization and the society at large will lead to satisfied and empowered employees who will own their jobs and deliver quality services to customers and as a result creating a competitive advantage to business which will naturally lead to increasing business productivity.
A Transformational Servant Leader is an active listener. This quality is part of effective communication, and it enhances understanding. A leader who is an Effective listener will make the employee feel much valued and cared about. This will motivate the employee to become more engaged at work. Also, such leaders incorporate the opinions of the followers both in strategizing and in the decision-making process (Van Dierendonck, 2011and Allan,2011)
TSL leads to the achievement of the organization goals due to their conceptualization ability. A transformative leader is visionary; a critical capability in guiding followers (Cameron, 2012). The relationship between the leaders and followers often lead to shared dreams which inspire both parties to pursue greatness. As a result, the organization gains through such leadership by innovations and development.
TSL encourages ethical behavior because the leaders always exercise awareness or foresight. This capability enables the leader to learn lessons from past occurrences, the present realities, and the possible future consequences for a current decision (Johnson, 2011). This guides the organization while making costly decisions such as investments and employee-related issues thus encouraging ethical behavior in all aspects of the organization. Knani (2014) suggests that organizations that make moral and ethical decisions that concern their employees end up in generating long-term benefits.
Employee development is another benefit of TSL application. (Cameron, 2012) Asserts that servant leaders aim at helping people to realize their objectives. The TSL leaders always endeavor to impact the lives of others positively, and in the process, the organization is benefited. Such leaders empower the employees through career development and other necessary support thus making them feel satisfied. Empowered and happy employees are more committed to their work and therefore help in the growth of the organization (Muthia & Krishnan, 2015). Furthermore, career development of the employee positively affects the family and the society at large.
According to Parris & Peachey (2013), society development entails bringing people together within an organization thus reinforcing the attitude of teamwork. TSL promotes this by installing a spirit of service by actively seeking for an occasion to both serve and lead others thus promoting collaboration and coherence which are both essential for creating equality of life in the community.
Coaching and development are attributes of TSL. With such leadership, the employees are assisted to improve on their performance achievements and at the same time instilling a feeling of concern for the growth of the employee. Even though the business gains from the employee’s growth and development, the workforce also acquires skills that can be used outside the organization. Such a link strengthens the employee’s value to the business which further motivates them to aim higher and invest in the organization’s prosperity through building and developing communities (Parolini, 2012)
Based on the preceding contributions of TSL to the organization and society at large, I can say that TSL leadership affects the general development of the community about employees in that leadership is all about leading people. Choudhary, Akhtar, & Zaheer (2013) assert that Employee satisfaction and empowerment dramatically depends on the TSL and therefore should be the root solution to the problem of high levels of employee turnover which is as a result of employee dissatisfaction.
Transformational servant leadership is that which focuses on the collective organization goals, advancement while at the same time fulfilling the needs of the followers. Such a leader empowers and inspires the followers to share a united business goal and boosts employee behaviors such as creativity, intellectualism, invention and adventuresome all which contributes to the motivation and success of the employees (Van Dierendonck et al., 2014). A transformational servant leader is a role model, supports engagement and employs motivation, charismatic, encouragement, and inspirational influence to initiate the growth of the followers and organization (Schneider & George, 2011).
Transformational value-based and servant leadership is made up of four significant behavioral elements (Dunn, Dastoor & Sims, 2012). We start with charismatic as the first behavioral component. A Transformative leader emphasizes on others’ needs, is a role model who inspires, imparts self-importance and positivity, stresses commitment, alignment around a common objective, high ethical and moral values, and veneration and belief(Schneider & George, 2011). These attributes made such leaders to be admired, esteemed, trustworthy and perceived as role models by followers (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013).
Secondly, the leadership style is used to inspire and motivate. This the leader achieves by articulating the vision of the organization, exhibits an honest and ardent commitment to the same idea and the goals that are associated with it, and communicates the prospects in a precise manner (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013).The transformative value based leader is passionate, hopeful, motivational, and encouraging (Van Dierendonck et al., 2014). Venerated influence and inspirational motivation promote unity along shared goals in an environment setting that is of high levels of ethical and moral values and supports and reinforces shared leadership within an academic society. Intellectual stimulation is the third behavioral element. A transformational value-based leader promotes invention, creativity, daring, and the disposition to disregard systems that are inefficient, and the followers are inspired to interrogate conventions, tactfully address problems in different ways, and find solutions for problems in a creative way (Van Dierendonck et al., 2014; Mass, 2017, and Dumdum, Lowe, & Avolio, (2013). The environment that encourages intellectual stimulation favors academic freedom, all-time education, and learning.
Personalized consideration is the fourth behavioral component. A transformational leader assesses and contemplates the specific desires of each distinct follower, creates a helpful setting that is aimed at the achievement and growth of the followers, and uses mentoring, training, establishment of new opportunities for development, and unceasing response to endow followers and aid them to attain their potential l (Dunn, Dastoor & Sims, 2012 and Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013).
The four behaviors aforementioned are the ones a transformational leader uses to motivate followers. Motivation relies on the ability of the followers to align themselves with the organization’s mission, vision, and objectives (Carter et al., 2013). The transformational leader has the capability of uniting and bringing into order the followers to shared goals that enhance teamwork method to seeking solutions to problems and management of human resource. To realize this, the followers ought to trust, regard, and reverence their leader, and be encouraged to work beyond expectations.
Transformational leadership is also linked to high levels of employee satisfaction, engagement to the business, energy, retention, organizational loyalty, and general performance (Wright et al., 2012). The transformational value-based leaders are more proactive, have higher ability of motivating followers, and are endowed with the ability to develop business objectives that attract followers, and because of this the followers of transformational leaders are characteristic of high levels of commitment and association with the business, industrious, and are highly cohesive (García-Morales et al., 2012).
Transformational leaders have an excellent emotional intelligence, and for this reason, their followers rate them as highly effective (Hur et al., 2011). According to Braun et al. (2013), the effects of transformational leadership takes place partially through the associated impacts in creating trust and value equivalence among followers.
Transformational, value-based and servant leadership is characteristic of behavior like empowerment, motivation, employee satisfaction, active listening, use of behavior components of inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence and personalized consideration. Based on these features, transformational leaders are ever in search for opportunities to pursue whatever possible (Kouzes and Posner, 2014). In this section, recommendations will be made in respect to the hallmarks of TSL which have been discussed above.
The first fundamental characteristic of a transformational leader is to possess the strength to come up with visions and goals for the organization. The leader is not only expected to create a new vision for the organization but also to communicate it to the rest so that the follower can comprehend the concept and pledge themselves to it. Roueche, Bakker, and Rose (2014) recommend three stages that a transformational leader should adopt in communicating the vision to their followers. The first step is to identify the need for renewal, and new course circumvents the mission.
Stage two is to come up with the new vision. The last stage is to operationalize the change to realize the mission. The part of the transformational leader during these steps is to provide a work setting that is founded on the common vision. The secret to successful transformational leadership is to endeavor to work towards the shared vision in which the followers are enlisted, and the vision is rejuvenated.
TSL should foster the participation of others in the process of decision making. If the leader empowers others, then the followers can be part and parcel in the process of decision making. It is more often that such a participatory process will lead to a consensus. Pearson, (2012) demonstrates that there is no possibility of a conflict escalating when the leadership involves others in the process of decision making. By the transformative servant leaders inviting their followers to take part in the strategic planning process, they encourage them to be part of the mission and vision of the organization thus creating a sense of ownership for the goal and the expected output. Kouzes and Posner (2014) assert that the extension of power and responsibility to others creates a synergy process which helps create an environment of trust and self-confidence in the business.
Another behavioral component of transformational servant leadership is the provision of intellectual stimulation to the people. According to Zhang et al. (2012) labor turn out to be inspiring, appealing, puzzling and captivating when the leaders inspire and empower followers. Therefore, for the leaders to experience a transforming impact on the employees’ lives by keeping them committed and competent in their profession, they should emphasize on developing their strengths and improving their knowledge and skills. Additionally, the leader ought to provide a learning environment in which individuals have freedom so that they may have the capability of learning, varying and developing new skills. Kouzes and Posner (2014) in their research found out that the work environment is enriched when employees are provided with intellectual stimulation.
The TSL should also foster building relationships inclusive of the multicultural teams. A transformational value-based leader is one who encourages community building. Such a leader endeavors to establish a community instead of fostering a competitive culture. This is because the mentality of such a leader is to include all followers irrespective of their points of diversity. They are efficient, unbiased listeners and develop an empowerment environment within their organization.
Kouzes and Posner (2014) describe such leaders as those that instill the sense of strength in other people. Therefore, by building the community and fostering relationships with the rest, the TSL can aid others and improve their skills and enhance their performance within the organization. This further makes the followers believe that they possess the capability of instituting a difference in their organization thus improving their morale.
The leaders must demonstrate high levels of performance expectations and thus do expect the very best from themselves and their followers. For the leaders to accomplish beyond the expected, they should treat employees positively. The leaders also ought to have clear laid down standards to realize improved output. They have to provide clear directions, responses, and motivation. Furthermore, the leaders may face the difficulty of precisely defining the projections, and thus they should thoroughly comprehend the employee standards and their needs so that they can be able to encourage the followers to efficiently carry out their roles (Roueche, Bakker, and Rose, 2014 and Normore, & Erbe, 2013).The leaders ought to articulate each employee’s responsibility for the shared vision about the personal duties and prospects (Pearson, 2012)
Conclusion and Summary
TSL and value-based servant leadership have significant roles in the organization as it relates to employee satisfaction and empowerment (Carter, 2012) which are vital aspects for the business to accomplish its mission, vision, and goals. For the organization to improve its general performance, the leadership must practice business ethics that relate to TSL styles of leadership, continuously developing their competencies, empowering their followers and thus improving organizational performance.
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