From Paternalism to the Servant Organization: Expanding the Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) Model

Servant-leadership is becoming an increasingly accepted term in the leadership and organizational literature. When the likes of Peter Senge (1997), Stephen Covey ( 1994 ), Margaret Wheatley ( 1994 ), and Ronald Heifetz ( 1994) give credence to and promote the term, we notice that the idea of servant-leadership is gaining a profound and wide audience. Leaders, writers and researchers who have espoused this idea of leadership have done so for many reasons. Some do so because they believe that it is the right way to view leadership. Those with this view are drawn to servant-leadership because of its moral and ethical moorings or its roots in multiple religious traditions. These leaders are less concerned with the pragmatic side of the concept, the question of "Does it work?", since the philosophical "rightness" of their belief is sufficient to maintain commitment. Other leaders are pursuing the concept because it works. They see the pragmatic benefits of the servant-leader model worked out in successful companies. Among many examples of effective servant-led companies, they point to the fact that Southwest Airlines is the only airline to maintain consistent profit while boldly caring for and maintaining all of its employees, even after the devastation of September 11. This impressive accomplishment is often attributed to Southwest's commitment to servant-leadership. Fortune magazine's annual 100 Best Companies list lends support to the idea that servant-led organizations may be more successful than nonservant-led companies. Millard combined the two rationales for his support of servant leadership in his article "Servant-leadership-It's Right and It Works!"(1995).