Abstract
A caring disposition is an important and fundamental attribute of a service leader. At the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a lecture on a caring disposition in the subject “Service Leadership” was designed to help students understand the importance of caring dispositions. The curriculum design with reference to the basic concepts and theories as well as the content of the lecture are presented in this paper. In the first part of the paper, several uncaring cases are presented to serve as negative examples to inspire students’ reflection on caring leaders. Then, the three most important traits of a caring disposition, including awareness, love and nurturing people are introduced. Next, the relationships between a caring disposition and service leadership are analyzed and practical ways of improving a caring disposition are proposed. Finally, the impacts of a caring disposition on the leader-follower relationship are discussed. To provide a general overview of this lecture, the content including detailed lecture sessions and four designed activities relevant to a caring disposition are also presented in the paper.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2015
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijdhd-2015-0453
Funding Information
The Service Leadership research project at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is financially supported by the Victor and William Fung Foundation.
Repository Citation
Shek, Daniel T. L. and Li, Xiang, "The Role of a Caring Disposition in Service Leadership" (2015). Pediatrics Faculty Publications. 202.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pediatrics_facpub/202
Notes/Citation Information
Published in International Journal on Disability and Human Development, v. 14, no. 4, p. 319-332.
© 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
The copyright holders have granted the permission for posting the article here.