BUSI 503 Week 6 Case Study Response Forum 3 Example

Reviewed by Thomas Kerrigan, MBA, CPA · Liberty University · Updated

This BUSI 503 Week 6 sample is a Case Study Response Forum 3 post, answering a composite group paper that presents Cheryl Bachelder's turnaround of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen as a case of servant leadership. The response agrees that the case fits the theory, since Bachelder made franchise owners the people her company served, and it connects her approach to the seven servant behaviors that Liden and colleagues measured. It then presses the group on two questions the paper left open: whether servant leadership explains anything that transformational leadership does not, and how Bachelder handled the adaptive challenge of changing a culture that had blamed its owners. Research on the incremental value of servant leadership and Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet support the points. Liberty University's BUSI 503 grades each response forum at 50 points in this MBA leadership course.

CourseBUSI 503 Leadership Theory (BUSI503)
Module/Week6
AssignmentCase Study Response Forum 3
Paper typeCase study response post
Lengthabout 437 words (thread and replies). Course guide: a response of at least 300 words to another group's case study paper, with at least 2 citations in current APA format
FormatAPA 7 citations and reference list
Points50
SchoolLiberty University Online
ProgramMBA
Where it sitsModule/Week 6 in Liberty's published BUSI 503 course guide; current sections can differ
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for BUSI 503 Week 6

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Case Study Response Forum 3: Servant Leadership at Popeyes

BUSI 503 Leadership Theory, Case Study Response Forum 3 Post

Thread by [Student Name]

The group case study being answered is a composite; Bachelder's book, the research and the Scripture cited are real, and the post follows the response requirements in Liberty's public course guide for BUSI 503.

Response to Group 3

Why this part earns its pointsThe opening names the group's claim and agrees with the part the evidence supports before raising questions.
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Your group argues that Cheryl Bachelder's turnaround of Popeyes after 2007 is a clear case of servant leadership, and I think the paper makes that case well. Bachelder (2015) describes deciding that the company's first job was to serve its franchise owners, the people whose restaurants actually produced its results, rather than to manage them as a problem. Liden et al. (2008) built a servant leadership measure around seven behaviors, including emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, and creating value for the community. Several of the practices your paper describes, such as asking owners what was hurting their restaurants' profits and fixing those problems first, look like putting followers first and helping them succeed in exactly the sense the measure captures.

I would push the paper on two points. First, a reader could argue that Bachelder was simply a strong transformational leader with a humble style. Northouse (2019) lists the theory's overlap with neighboring approaches among its main criticisms. Hoch et al. (2018) put the question to a meta-analytic test. After holding transformational leadership constant, they found that ethical and authentic leadership told researchers little more about employees' results, but servant leadership still added meaningfully to the prediction of how well employees performed and how often they helped beyond their formal duties. That finding gives your group a way to argue that the servant label is not only a description of Bachelder's personality. Adding it to the analysis section would strengthen the paper. It would also help to say which of Bachelder's choices a transformational leader would not have made. Her decision to make the profitability of owners' restaurants one of the company's main measures of success is a good candidate, because it put the followers' results at the center of the leader's own scorecard. A vision speech can be given by anyone; judging headquarters by someone else's profit is a costlier signal.

Why this part earns its pointsThe second question applies another chapter's theory to the group's case, which shows course knowledge beyond the assigned topic.
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Second, your paper describes a culture that had long blamed owners for poor results. Changing that is what Heifetz et al. (2009) call an adaptive challenge, one that cannot be solved by an expert's fix because it requires people to change their own assumptions. How did she help her executives give up the habit of blaming owners? If the group's sources describe that process, it would show servant and adaptive leadership working together.

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and told them to follow his example (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, John 13:14-15). Bachelder's choice to serve the people below her in the hierarchy is a modern echo of that act, and your paper could make the connection explicit.

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References

Bachelder, C. (2015). Dare to serve: How to drive superior results by serving others. Berrett-Koehler.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.

Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316665461

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.01.006

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.

What the BUSI 503 Week 6 instructions ask

Week six of BUSI 503 covers servant leadership and adaptive leadership in Northouse along with Scripture and a lecture, and requires Case Study Response Forum 3 together with the first quiz. In each of the four response forums, students read another group's case study paper and post a response of at least 300 words with at least two APA citations, engaging the paper's analysis rather than summarizing it. The response forums let every group's research be tested by the class, so a strong post adds evidence the group did not use or raises a question the paper did not answer, while staying respectful of the authors' work.

How this BUSI 503 Week 6 example is built

The response opens by naming the group's main claim and agreeing with the part the evidence supports. It then maps Bachelder's practices onto the dimensions of servant leadership measured by Liden and colleagues, which gives the agreement a research basis. The middle of the post raises the question critics put to servant leadership, whether it is distinct from transformational leadership, and answers it with a study that tested both. A second question asks how the group's paper would treat the culture change as an adaptive challenge in Heifetz's sense. A brief biblical note on Jesus serving the disciples closes the response and keeps the argument specific. Each question is phrased so the group could answer it in a revision, which keeps the critique constructive.

BUSI 503 Week 6 grading rubric: where the points go

Response forums are graded on course knowledge, engagement with the specific group paper, citation requirements and word count. Instructors expect at least two sources cited in APA, Northouse's terms used precisely, servant leadership's antecedent conditions, behaviors and outcomes, the distinction between technical and adaptive challenges, and evidence that the writer read the group's paper closely. Responses that simply praise the paper or restate its summary earn less than those that test its claims. Biblical integration counts most when it speaks to the theory under discussion, as servant leadership's roots in Christian teaching make easy here. A respectful tone toward the group matters too. Posts are also read for whether the questions they raise could improve the paper.

BUSI 503 Week 6 help: mistakes that cost points

Read the group paper twice, the second time listing its claims and the evidence for each. Pick one claim to support with new evidence and one to question. Cite at least two sources, and a study the group did not use carries more weight than the textbook alone. Name the group's argument in your first sentence so readers know what you are answering. Write as a colleague, and leave the group a question they could take up if they revise. Count the words to clear 300, and remember Quiz 1 is due the same week. Responding early gives the group time to reply.

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BUSI 503 Week 6 questions, answered

What is BUSI 503 Case Study Response Forum 3?

The third of four 50-point response forums, in which students answer another group's case study paper with at least 300 words and two APA citations, due in Module/Week 6.

Where can I find a free BUSI 503 Week 6 sample paper?

This page gives a full BUSI 503 Week 6 case study response on servant leadership at Popeyes, with research on servant and transformational leadership.

What is servant leadership?

An approach, first named by Robert Greenleaf, in which the leader's first concern is the development and welfare of the people being led, on the view that serving others well leads to strong performance and to followers who serve in turn.

How is servant leadership different from transformational leadership?

Transformational leaders focus followers on the organization's vision, while servant leaders focus first on followers themselves; research suggests servant leadership explains some outcomes beyond what transformational leadership does.

What else is due in BUSI 503 Module/Week 6?

Quiz 1, an open-book test covering the Northouse and Kouzes and Posner material from the first weeks of the course, is due alongside the third response forum.

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