LEADERSHIP RESEARCH PAPER

Leadership Research Paper Instructions

Part 1 – Literature Review

• In this portion of the paper, you will conduct a literature review of the major studies of servant leadership. Note that every line in a literature review must be properly cited.
• You must cite 15 scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles in your literature review section.
• Based upon this literature review, you must develop the major criteria of servant leadership behavior.
• You may include as part of your criteria a brief summary from your individual Biblical Integration Project.
• This part is to be 3 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and in the APA current edition.
  • Levels of Achievements (Review grading rubric for additional clarity.)
    • Advanced: 3 pages
    • Proficient: 2 pages
    • Developing: More than 3 pages or more or less than 1 page

Part 2 – Leadership Interview

• You will interview an established servant leader.
• Interview your chosen leader based upon the following criteria:
  • The leader must be from a large organization (e.g. Fortune 1000 company, national non-profit organization, branch of the armed services, or a mega-church with membership over 10,000).
  • The selected leaders must have both rank (e.g. business: a division head or vice president; military: full colonel or navy captain (O-6 or above); ministry: executive or senior pastor of a mega-church) and command (e.g., he must have managerial authority. A high-ranking accountant does not qualify. However, the director of the accounting department for the whole company may qualify).
  • The selected interviewee may be active or retired.
  • NOTE: for the purpose of diversity, Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church leaders are not eligible.

• You will develop your own set of questions for the interviewee based upon the literature review and whatever else you feel is appropriate from what you have learned in this course.
• Tips for the interview process:

• Identify yourself as a graduate student doing research and make it clear that you will take no more than 30 minutes of the executive’s time.
• Explain that you are in a leadership class and that you are learning about servant leadership.
• Tell your interviewee that you have identified him/her as a servant leader and that you want to find out a real executive’s perspective of servant leadership. Have a good reason (e.g. personal knowledge, an article you have read, testimony of subordinates, etc.).
• Be sure that you can contact your interviewee again if you need to ask follow-up questions or to thank the interviewee for his or her time.

• Provide a summary of the leader’s answers.
• Develop criteria which describe the leader’s perspective on servant leadership behavior.
• This part is to be 2 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, and double-spaced.
  • Levels of Achievements (Review grading rubric for additional clarity.)
    • Advanced: 2 pages
    • Proficient: 1 page
    • Developing: More than 4 pages or more or less than 1 page

Part 3 – Comparison/Contrast

• How does the leader’s criteria for servant leadership behavior compare to the criteria you discovered from the servant leadership academic research?
• How does it compare to the things you have learned about servant leadership from the group discussions?
• Please integrate some of your scholarly sources and the required course content readings.
• This part is to be 4 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, and double-spaced.
  • Levels of Achievements (Review grading rubric for additional clarity.)
    • Advanced: 4 pages
    • Proficient: 3 pages
    • Developing: More than 4 pages or more or less than 2 pages

Completed Paper

• Length of Assignment: A total of nine (9) pages, not including the title page, abstract page, and reference page.
• Format of Assignment: APA current edition and use of scholarly tone.
  • APA/scholarly style is a set of guidelines to help you write clear and specific scholarly communication.
    • APA style refers to all aspect’s areas of writing and style and is more than the format of citations, references, and headings.
    • Avoid writing in the first person in all scholarly writing. The third-person format is the required style unless unavoidable.
    • Always include citations and references as a minimum from the module required readings to corroborate your work.
    • Font is 12 pt. Times New Roman, double-spaced.
• Number of Citations: Use of 15 scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles and the required course reading and presentations.
  • Appropriate use of citations to avoid plagiarism.
  • Acceptable sources: Scholarly articles published within the last five years, course textbooks, course lectures and presentations, and biblical scriptures from the Bible.
• Acceptable sources: Scholarly articles published within the last five years, course textbooks, course lectures and presentations, and biblical scriptures from the Bible
• Minimum requirements: Instructions highlight minimum requirements which do not automatically earn the student an A grade.
• Course Content: Review all course content each week for detailed requirements, which includes the syllabus. Since every course is different, please avoid assuming weekly requirements, including deadlines, word length, and interactions are the same. 
• Communication: Announcements, Faculty Emails, and Feedback