Servant Leadership. Case Study-Starbucks

Abstract

The concept of leadership is perhaps the most overused word, which has been harnessed with so many conceptual meanings, stakes and implications. In the various scientific articles, it has been understood as a structural characteristic of the personality, while many times it has been linked to the organizational conditions of the organization. Often, it has been approached as a behavioral characteristic. Given the proven research value of the concept of leadership, a deeper understanding of the nature of leadership can be extremely important. Leadership has been understood as a process of exercising social influence in an organization or group. In the same context, a leading individual (leader) will tend to initiate invisible and overt processes, where other individuals may be supported in starting and completing tasks. According to the above approach, a leader does not simply plan on the safe side, but leads by taking a significant, ongoing risk—of achieving overall goals or approaching total failure. Servant leadership can be an extremely important leadership philosophy to match the complex conditions of the modern environment. This was explored in the current paper, through the analysis of the global success of the Starbucks café chain.