Leader’s independent acceptance and learning in servant leadership making process:

A case study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the mechanisms of leader’s progressively learning and mastering about servant leadership. On the one hand, servant leadership is positioned as a major field of research for leadership scholars, on the other hand, little is known about servant leadership making process, specifically, the point of influences from followers to servant leader via leader-follower interaction. For addressing this problem, this paper focuses on leader’s independent/proactive acceptance in leader-follower dynamic interaction through servant leadership making process. This paper uses a case of Japanese seafood processing company, Papua New Guinean Seafood Company (P Company). P Company is a case about the leader (factory manager) transforming one’s leadership behaviors and believes from authoritarian leadership to servant leadership in the process of organizational change and workplace reform aimed at friendly working condition. This case study research shows the importance of analysis of interaction between independent leader and followers, and has implications for researchers interested in better understanding the social interaction in causal relatonship of servant leadership. In addition, this study has implications for practitioners concerned with introducing and realizing servant leadership, by indicating psychological, social, and organizational benefits for servant leader.