Self- Sacrificial Leadership, a Participative Perspective: Phenomenological Approach

Examining leadership models in today's complex and uncertain conditions suggests that competitive and hierarchical based traditional leadership models do not meet the environmental challenges facing organizations and the need to pay attention to follower-based leadership styles is being felt. For this purpose, the present study was conducted with the aim of discovering the meaning and fundamental structure of self-sacrificial leadership. The case study includes the operational staff of the emergency organizations (firefighters and medical emergency staff) in Mashhad. Eighteen individuals were chosen in a purposive sampling method to reach the point of theoretical saturation. The present study employs a phenomenological research strategy and Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. Four measures of validity, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were emphasized to ensure the qualitative rigor of the present study. MAXQDA qualitative analysis software was used to classify the qualitative findings of the study. Based on the results of this study, thirteen sub-components were classified into three components. The discovered components of self-sacrificial leadership from the participants' point of view are ignoring material and spiritual assets, ignoring sources of power and self-sacrifice. Finally, based on the obtained components, a description of the meaning and structure of self-sacrificial leadership was provided. From the point of view of the operational forces of rescue organizations, the meaning of self- sacrificial leadership is a management style in which the commander and the operational manager, by emphasizing their ideals, sacrifice material and spiritual assets and sources of power, and finally the level of sacrifice of interests reaches its peak with self-sacrifice.