Servant leadership : importance and practice of characteristics for selected Adventist academy administrators in the North Philippine Union Mission

Abstract

The purpose guiding this research was to ascertain the present condition of servant leadership in Adventist secondary schools in the North Philippine Union Mission (NPUM). This involved the development of an appropriate instrunent for measuring servant leadership in this population. The method used in this study was that of descriptive survey. Twenty seven administrators and 61 teachers from 8 selected academies in NPUM were involved in this study. The principal instrument, Servant Leadership Characteristics Description Questionnaire (SLCDQ), consisted of two scales: practice. The SLCDQ covered four concepts of servant leadership that viewed leaders as God's servants, shepherds, stewards, and developers of leaders. From these four concepts, 12 characteristics of servant leadership (subscales) were derived. Data treatment included descriptive statistics and t tests. The level of significance was set at .05. The findings showed that there were significant differences between administrators and teachers concernig the importance of servant leadership characteristics on 2 out of the 12 characteristics (leading by example and focusing on relationship). No siqnificant differences in perception were found between administrators and teachers concerning the practice of servant leadership characteristics. The scores on the "Importance Scale" for administrators revealed that 11 of the 12 servant leadership characteristics were perceived as very high. The scores on the "Practice Scale" for administrators revealed that 11 of the 12 servant leadership characteristics were perceived as high and one was perceived as very high. Teachers' ratings were quite similar. A comparison between the "Importance Scale" and the "Practice Scale" revealed significant differences for both administrators and teachers. The characteristics of servant leadership were rated consistently higher on the "Importance Scale" than on the "Practice Scale." The study concluded that the philosophical perspective of secondary school administrators appears to be very compatible with servant leadership. Furthermore, the administrators basically lived in harmony with their belief regarding servant leadership. However, administrators still have some room for improvement. They need to conlinue to narrow the discrepancy between the ideal expectation and their practice. Recommendations to administrators were (1) to continue to demonstrate the servant leadership style which creates a positive climate conducive for spiritual growth and development, (2) to periodically assess the spiritual leadership characteristics of secondary school administrators, and (3) to conduct in-service training to update certain administrators who may not value or practice certain servant leadership.