The Concept of Servant and Islamic Leadership: A Comparative Analysis

Mahazan Abdul Mutalib Wan Mohd. Fazrul Azdi Wan Razali

Univevsiti Sains Is lam Malaysia

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore and examine the similarities and dijferences between the concepts of Servant Leadership (S-L) and Islamic Leadership (I-L) through identljying the characteristics of both concepts as represented in the literature. Data,for analysis were collected from three major secondary sources: the literature of Islamic Leadership (I-Lj, Servant Leadership (S-L), and General Leadership (G-L). The result of an approach based on hermeneutics and content analysis revealed that the concept of Servant Leadership (S-L) accords with Islamic Leadership (I-L) particularly in the aspect of how both of the concepts focus on the aspect ethical leadership. Moreover; based on the nineteen clusters of Islamic Leadership (I-L) designed to examine the ten characteristics of Servant Leadership (S-L) in the open and axial codingprocess, this research found that the ten characteristics of S-L accord with the nineteen clusters, except inJive clusters: justice and equity; profit-orientation; moderation and balance; spiritual, religious, faith in God andpiety; and coerciveness under certain circumstances with limitations. The diferences have suggested that in general the literature of Servant Leadership (S-L) should be enriched with more ideas pertaining to other aspects of leadership, for example Islamic Leadership (I-L) besides those to do with organisational leadership, while the literature of Islamic Leadership (I-L) should be enriched with more information pertaining to contemporary leadership processes and contexts.

Keywords: Islamic leadership, servant leadership, hermeneutics, content analysis

Introduction

This article discusses three themes that arose based on the content analysis procedures conducted on the characteristics of Servant leadership or S-L (Dittmar, 2006; DeGraaf,