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Servant leadership: Vetenskap eller ideal?
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences.
2012 (Swedish)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [sv]

Servant leadership är ett begrepp som visar potential inom ledarskapsforskningen, framförallt för att förklara meningsskapande ledarskap, hur ledaren leder sig själv samt hur ledarskap kan accepteras utan auktoritet. Problemet är att forskningen hittills varit alltför okritisk. Begreppets validitet har bevisats i kvantitativa mått, men dess implikationer för själva ledarskapsutövandet eller ledaren är oklara.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att testa begreppet servant leadership som verktyg för ledarskapsstudier. Kan begreppet konkretiseras och mätas? Kan man vara säker på vad man mäter? För att besvara dessa frågor omfattar uppsatsen en granskande litteraturstudie och en tillämpande fallstudie i tre delar.

Resultaten antyder att begreppet servant leadership kan brista i precision och tillförlitlighet. Vissa viktiga faktorer avspeglas inte i enkätresultat, medan andra okända eller irrelevanta påverkar desto mer. Enkätstudier av servant leadership kan, i sin nuvarande utformning, inte bidra med någon förståelse för vad man faktiskt har mätt. Servant leadership kan dock vara värdefullt genom att lyfta intressanta frågor om ledarskap, oaktat mätbarhet.

Fallstudien har genomförts i tre delar: En liten replikerande enkätundersökning bland soldaterna i en spaningsgrupp, en omfattande deltagande observation vid en av gruppens övningar, samt en intervju med gruppens chef.

Uppsatsen behandlar huvudsakligen teorier om servant leadership (Robert Greenleaf, Larry Spears, Page och Wong) utifrån teorier om meningsskapande ledarskap (Lars Svedberg) samt self leadership (Crossan och Mazutis).

Abstract [en]

Servant leadership is a concept that shows potential in leadership research, in particular to explain management of meaning, self leadership and acceptance of leadership without authority. The problem is that research this far lacks a critical perspective. Validity of servant leadership measurements has been proven statistically, but its implications for the leadership or the leader remain unclear.

The purpose of this paper is to test the concept of servant leadership as a tool for leadership studies. Can it be concretized and measured? Can one be certain as to what is measured? To answer these questions, this paper includes an auditing study of literature and a practical, utilizing case study in three parts.

The results indicate that the concept of servant leadership might be lacking in precision and reliability. Some important factors are not reflected in survey results, while other unknown or irrelevant ones have too great of an impact. Survey studies of servant leadership, in their current form don’t seem provide any understanding as to what is actually being measured. This being said, servant leadership can be valuable through raising interesting questions about leadership, regardless of measurability.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. , p. 75
Keywords [en]
Servant leadership, Self leadership, Management of meaning
Keywords [sv]
Servant leadership, Tjänareledarskap, Självledarskap, Meningsskapande ledarskap
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-18312OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-18312DiVA, id: diva2:602589
Subject / course
Business Studies
Presentation
2013-01-09, Huddinge, 10:00 (Swedish)
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2013-02-04 Created: 2013-02-01 Last updated: 2013-02-04Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
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Output format
  • html
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