Servant leadership encourages a culture of value and trust, which is the basis necessary for performance-driven groups to succeed. This is a revolutionary leadership style that places workers at the highest; hence, the leaders at the underneath, within the sense that they are concerned about serving the person above them. The paper reviews the “Servant Leadership Takes Flight” case study in Chapter 10 of the Northouse book to help in learning how to apply servant leadership behavior. The paper will provide a short synopsis of the case study and identify features of servant leadership. Lastly, the paper will explain how the tradition of servant leadership developed in the culture of Southwest Airlines. Servant leaders serve other than commanding, showing humility other than showcasing their power, and they are often looking to improve the event of their members of staff in ways that unlock potential, innovativeness, and a sense of purpose.
Synopsis of the Case Study
This case study of “Servant Leadership Takes Flight” entails a tale of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant who sympathizes with a mother experiencing the disturbance of a hungry child. The child eats all the food that the mother had carried before the destination because of adverse weather situations causing the plane to delay its takeoff. Nonetheless, as the plane made a temporal landing at Denver Airport to pick up some passengers, the mother requested to get permission from the flight attendant to get off and purchase the child some food. Knowing that the aircraft would not wait for a longer time, the flight attendant discouraged a child’s mother from alighting and decided to go to bring the child’s food. A flight attendant understood that this would be challenging for the aircraft to take off without her. Hence, on her return, the attendant purchased additional food for the other four children (Northouse, 2021). According to these texts, it emerges that the attitude shown by the flight attendant is integrated into Southwest Airlines’ culture, inspired by Herb Kelleher, one of its core founders.
Servant Leadership Characteristics in This Case Study
At the time, Herb Kelleher formed Southwest Airlines, displaying strong servant leadership qualities that directly influenced the company’s growth. Healing is one of the servant leadership features evident in the case. The aspect of healing demands that a servant leader show concern for the individual followers’ well-being. Servant leaders support their staff by helping them to surmount their problems (American Psychological Association, 2020). They heal when assisting their junior staff to become whole and stable at their work. The characteristic of healing emerges in the flight attendant’s steps assumed to help the mother and a child to get food along with buying for the other four children (Northouse, 2021). The mother’s anxiety was to get food for her hungry child, and the attendant stepped in to safeguard the mother’s journey by offering to disembark and address the issue.
Furthermore, empathy is another feature of servant leadership that was illustrated in this case study. Empathy implies standing in the position of those people who have a problem and trying to perceive the world in their view. Empathetic leaders show an understanding of the thinking and feeling of their followers. The component is revealed in the case study when a flight attendant requested the mother to stay on the plane and allow, as she would be left to safeguard her. The flight attendant understood that the mother would become frustrated to be left behind by the plane (Northouse, 2021). Compelled by the mother’s anxiety, the attendant opted to go and buy food for the five children who were screaming in the plane, causing trouble because of hunger.
Moreover, foresight has been identified in this case study as servant leadership’s eminent characteristic. It involves the potential to project the future, applying past and existing events. Herb Kelleher, in the case study, applied vision to design Southwest Airlines’ direction. The mission of this airline is to follow the Golden Rule, whereby one should treat people the way one wants to be treated. Southwest serves its clients with the richest respect, and its leaders strive to bring respect and kindness to their clients. The airline has established it as its priority to treat its staff with care and respect and, in turn, understand that the workers will treat their customers with great care (American Psychological Association, 2020). Southwest Airlines staff is compensated well via bonuses, stock options, great benefits, and profit sharing. The airline has concentrated more on the number of consumers who are regular flyers other than on the revenue amount they have earned over the year. Southwest Airlines has witnessed a steady increase in the number of regular flyers due to the servant leadership approach adopted (Northouse, 2021). The company has the capability of leading while permitting others to grow and thrive, contributing to persistently profit generation in the sector.
Empowerment is another characteristic of servant leadership exhibited in the case study. Kelleher acted as a mentor and helped to nurture Colleen Barrett, his employee. He empowered Barrett and made her development professionally a priority. Kelleher showed devotion to the growth and development of his help by teaching Barrett new working skills that eventually contributed to her being able to replace him after retiring. In addition, Kelleher placed his followers first, a key feature of servant leadership (Northouse, 2021). Other characteristics exhibited in the case study are listening, awareness, stewardship, persuasion, building community, and conceptualization.
How the Tradition of Servant Leadership Established in the Southwest Airlines Was Applicable in the Situation
The servant leadership tradition in Southwest Airlines depended on two factors. The first factor dealt with the Golden Rule- Treat people the way one wants to be treated. It is based on this organizational cultural factor that inspired the flight attendant to decide to help the frantic mother because of her hungry child. Another factor is the belief that a motivated and happy workforce may transfer goodwill to Southwest Airlines’ customers. The flight attendant should have been inspired and satisfied to make a sacrifice of purchasing food for the children using her money (Northouse, 2021). According to the perspective of Kelleher, the company should have provided rewarding treatments to their flight attendants to act in this specific way.
In conclusion, the servant leadership approach is mainly centered on putting the followers’ needs before the individual’s interests. Southwest Airlines leaders will share a sense of trust and empowerment with their staff via listening, emphasizing the significance of teamwork, and making them feel valued. Followers who have their needs fulfilled by their leaders will feel a sense of fulfillment. A motivated and happy workforce may essentially extend their goodwill to the airline’s customers, as in the case of the flight attendant helping the mother and buying food for the other four children. Kelleher assisted the workers he hired to grow and thrive, creating an excellent environment to mentor and empower them.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Web.
Northouse, P. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. 9th Edition. Sage Publications.