SERVANT LEADERSHIP AS AN IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC FOR BASKETBALL COACHES AND BUSINESS LEADERS

Abstract

Business and basketball organizations, although different from the point of view of their activity, have various similar characteristics. One of these characteristics is the fact that leaders can be found in both business and basketball teams. In addition, leadership is a much-researched aspect in both areas. The article focuses on servant leadership as it can help coaches and business leaders become more effective, it can allow them to help develop others more efficiently and thus, it can help them in gaining the trust of their followers, which can then lead to an improvement on the part of the team´s performance. That is why the aim of this paper is to provide an insight into how and why servant leadership can be considered an important characteristic for basketball coaches, business leaders and their respective organizations. By undergoing a literature review analysis on the topic of servant leadership in basketball and business, various similar aspects between coaches and business leaders have been identified. The results show that basketball coaches and business leaders are more easily followed, trusted, and respected if they apply a servant leadership style. More so, as some researchers pointed out, this servant leadership characteristic of basketball coaches and business leaders is yet to be fully accepted as a model for successful leadership in sport and not enough research has been undergone in order to examine how servant leadership affects the organizational culture. This can be considered as the main reason why further research on the topic is needed.