Journey To The East: Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership

Robert Greenleaf adopted the idea of servant leadership from the novel, Journey to the East, written by Herman Hesse (Wren, T. J., 1995, p. 18). The story is about a servant named Leo who does menial chores but also has high spirits and provides songs for a band of men on a mythical journey. One day, Leo disappears and the group falls into disarray causing the journey is abandoned. The group cannot make it without Leo (Wren, T. J., 1995, p. 18). Leo connects the group, by leading in a way that makes the group cohesive so that when he left, the group could not function without him. This same situation is represented by Mulan as she is essential to the troop’s success. Originally, Mulan joins the army as a servant to her

In the Encyclopedia of Leadership, the gender stereotypes passage explains how “studies found that women leaders, when compared to their male counterparts, [are] perceived as slightly (but significantly) more likely to engage in transformational behaviors and contingent reward behaviors. They also found that men leaders, when compared to women leaders, [are] perceived as more transactional leaders. Specifically, they avoid giving direction and changing the status quo when performance goals are being met” (Ayman, R., & Frame, M. C., 2004, p. 553). Both types of leadership prove effective, however, in the situation with the Huns, Mulan’s transformational leadership approach proves most effective. Shang exhibits, according to Theories and Perspective on Leadership definition of transactional leadership, a “type of exchange relationship to get needs met” (Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J., 2015, p. 293). Shang’s mission is to train his troops to become soldiers that are capable of defeating the Hun army, which is a managerial attitude. However, Mulan presents the opposite style, she “changes the status quo by appealing to followers’ values and their sense of higher purpose” (Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J., 2015, p.293). Mulan changes her fellow soldiers’ attitudes from a