Whom to serve? Exploring the moral dimension of servant leadership: answers from operation Valkyrie. Issue 4 (19th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Langhof, Jan G.; Gueldenberg, Stefan
• Is Part Of: Journal of management history. Volume 27:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 537
• Page End: 573
• Publication Date: 2021-08-19
• Subjects: Ethics -- Leadership -- Servant leadership -- Historical -- Moral Imagination -- World War II -- Resistance; Management -- History -- Periodicals; Public administration -- History -- Periodicals; 658.009
• DOI: 10.1108/JMH-09-2020-0056
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-1348

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: The article aims at examining the ethical limits and risks of servant leadership. During the Second World War, the German army officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg is a loyal servant to his nation and homeland. But when he learns about the Nazis' mass murders and crimes, he begins to have doubts about whom he should serve. Being confronted with numerous moral dilemmas, he finally decides to join a resistance group. Of course, Stauffenberg's situation as colonel and leader was an extreme case. Time and again, however, managers and leaders are faced with similar dilemmas. Indeed, the current COVID-19-crisis shows that even today's leaders are repeatedly faced with almost insoluble dilemmas. The recent literature about ethics and leadership suggests a philosophy which is almost portrayed as a panacea to any ethical issues: servant leadership (SL). This study, however, questions the commonly held view that SL is always ethical. The purpose of our historical case study is twofold. First, this study explores the ethical challenges Stauffenberg (and other officers) faced and how they dealt with them. Second, this study elaborates on what responses (if any) SL would provide to these challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The applied method is a historical case study, in which the authors draw on a plethora of secondary literature, including books, reports, and articles. Findings: By analyzing the historical case of "Operation Valkyrie, " this study elaborated and identified risks and limitations of SL and pointed out ways to address these risks. In particular, SL poses risks in the case of a too narrow understanding of the term "service." Originality/value: While other leadership styles, e.g. transformational leadership or charismatic leadership, have been extensively studied with regard to ethical risks, in the case of SL possible risks and limitations are still largely unexplored.