1. Donovan B. Ross, PhD February 11, 2009
Perceptions of the Evidence of a Servant Leadership Culture in the P-12 School System of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists
Donovan B. Ross, PhD
February 11, 2009

2. Introduction Purpose of Study :
Attempt to investigate and report on the extent to which SL is being practiced among educators in the P-12 school system in the NAD of SDA.

3. Leadership Influence Relationship Persuasion A Process
Office of the person who leads the group
Motivating others to act by non-coercive means
Direction Setting
Aligning and inspiring people

4. Styles, Theories & Philosophies of Leadership
Great Man Theory
Trait Theories
Behavioral Theories
Contingency Theories
Situational Theories
Transactional Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Charismatic Leadership
Paternalistic Leadership
Servant Leadership

5. Paternalistic Leadership
Leadership style that combines strong discipline and authority with fatherly benevolence and moral integrity couched in a personalistic atmosphere.

6. Servant Leadership..….
Is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self- interest of the leader.
It promotes the valuing and developing of people, the building of community, the practice of authenticity, the providing of leadership for the good of those led and the sharing of power and status for the common good of each individual, the total organization and those served by the organization (Laub, 2005). .

7. Description of Servant Leaders
Servant leaders seek not to be served, but rather to serve.
View leadership positions as opportunities to help, support, and aid other people.
Create a trusting work environment in which people are highly appreciated.
Listens to and encourages followers.
Visibly models appropriate behavior and functions as effective teachers

8. Description of Servant Leaders
Have a high degree of credibility because of their honesty, integrity, and competence.
Have a clear leadership vision and implement pioneering approaches to work.
Conscientious stewards of resources.
Have good communication with followers and exercise ethical persuasion as a means of influence.
Invite others to participate in carrying out their leadership vision.

9. Description of Servant Leaders
Empower people by enabling them to perform at their best and by delegating decision-making responsibilities.
Overall, servant leaders provide direction and guidance by assuming the role of attendant to humanity (Russell, 2001)

10. Summary of the Characteristics of Servant Leadership
Listening
Empathy
Healing
Awareness
Persuasion
Conceptualization
Foresight
Stewardship
Commitment to the growth of people
Building community
- (Spears, 1999)

11. Servant Leaders:
Values People: Servant Leaders are genuine authentic people who truly care about the people they lead.
Develops People: Growing people to their full potential as servants and as leaders is a major responsibility of servant leaders by providing opportunities for learning and growth, modeling appropriate behavior and by building others through encouragement and affirmation.

12. Servant Leaders
Builds Community: by valuing the differences of others, working collaboratively with others by building personal relationships. They look for ways to enhance the quality of life of their customers, their communities and their staff.
Displays Authenticity: By open and accountable to others, by demonstrating a willingness to learn from others and by maintaining integrity and trust.

13. Servant Leaders:
Provides Leadership: by clarifying goals, taking initiative and by envisioning the future.
Shares Leadership: Leadership is shared in a servant-led organization by facilitating a shared vision, sharing power and releasing control and by sharing status and promoting others.

14. A Servant Institution:
Honors the acts of question and criticism
Acknowledges and tends to the corrupting influence of power
Makes explicit its aspirations to serve, and monitors both the accomplishments and attitudes of the served
Balances the stability of good administration with the creativity of leadership
Builds trust by performance and in the process rejects both blind trust and trust based on charisma
(Greenleaf, 1996)

15. Customary Leadership Pyramid
Principal
Administrative Team
Teaching & Support Staff

16. Inverted Pyramid of Servant Leadership
Teaching & Support Staff
Administrative Team
Principal

17. Research Questions & Related Null Hypotheses

18. Research Questions
Research Question #1: To what extent is servant leadership practiced by the leadership of the P-12 school system in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventist?
Research Question #2: Is there a difference in how educators perceive the attributes of servant leadership as practiced in the P-12 school system in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists?

19. Methodology Stratified Random Sample Population: 6,697 educators
Number of Surveys mailed: 1110
Minimum Sample Size Desired: 363
Actual Sample: 371

20. Instrumentation Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA):
66 – item Likert rating scale
1 – strongly disagree; 2 – agree; – undecided; 4 – agree; 5 – strongly agree
Demographic Questionnaire
11 questions

21. Data Analysis

22. Data Analysis
Comparison of Means – Mean score of 4.0 used by Organizational Leadership Assessment as the threshold score for determining the presence of servant leadership
One Way ANOVA (SPSS for Windows 11.5) Tested at 0.05 level of significance.

23. Conclusions
The composite means of all scores on this survey was found to be which would seem to indicate (using Laub’s threshold score of 4.0) that the P-12 school system of the North American Division of SDA cannot be identified as a servant organization.

24. Conclusions
Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) suggests that positive paternalistic leadership may be the prevalent leadership style practiced in the P-12 school system of the North American Division of SDA.

25. Conclusions
There is a difference in how educators perceive the attributes of servant leadership based on the educator’s gender, the size (enrollment) of the school in which the educator works, and the level of operation of the school at which the educator works.

26. Conclusions
There is no difference in how educators perceive the attributes of servant leadership based on the educator’s age, the educator’s ethnic background, the gender of the educator’s principal, the educator’s level of education, and the SDA teaching certification that the educator holds.

27. Recommendations for Practice
1. Educators, especially principals and
administrators, need more exposure to the
servant leadership paradigm through
graduate work, continuing education
classes and professional development. It
may be helpful to identify the servant
leaders within the system and have them
serve as mentors for non-servant leaders.

28. Recommendations for Practice
2. There is a need for teachers to be fully
empowered to assume the mantle of
steward and leader, realizing that through
their conduct the students entrusted to
them could learn the essence of servant
leadership.
There is the need to identify, mentor and train future leaders. An excellent teacher, well liked and willing teacher will not necessarily become an effective leader.

29. Recommendations for Practice
3. Should servant leadership should be the
leadership philosophy of choice in our SDA
schools?.
4. Servant leadership needs to be
operationalized for the church.

30. “Jesus, the served of all, came to be the servant of all
“Jesus, the served of all, came to be the servant of all. And because He ministered to all, He will again be served and honored by all. And those who would partake of His divine attributes, and share with Him the joy of seeing souls redeemed, must follow His example of unselfish ministry.” (White, 1940)