Jaime Hadley

Business Analysis of Nehemiah

The book of Nehemiah provides illustration for several key theories of organizational

structure, leadership, and management. In the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah

exemplifies the qualities of servant and transformational leadership, while managing the specific

tasks and people associated with the project. He simultaneously reinstates forgotten structure

within Judah and introduces change to a flawed system. Through Nehemiah’s own ingenuity and

the strength of God, the wall of Jerusalem is rebuilt and structure reintroduced to its people.

The Times 100: Business Case Studies (2014) defines leadership as the act of

establishing direction, purpose and the necessary capabilities among a group of people.

Nehemiah begins his journey with acts of leadership, identifying over-seeing goals with the ‘big

picture’ in mind. As opposed to the minutiae of management, leadership requires inspirational

and innovative thinking, as well as the ability to rally others towards a cause. Nehemiah looks

past the obvious destruction and disarray of the wall and people of Jerusalem, setting a goal to

rebuild the wall and reestablish the people of Judah. Through his actions, Nehemiah best

personifies servant and transformational leadership.

According to Lead like Jesus (Blanchard and Hodges 2008), servant leaders, those who

put the needs and desires of their followers before their own ambitions, must place their ego at

the altar. A leader may choose to let their heart’s ego to “edge God out” (Blanchard and Hodges

2008) or to “exalt God only” (Blanchard and Hodges 2008). By electing to exalt God only, a

leader acts as a servant rather than a self-server. The leader disregards the pride and fear that

leads to self-serving decisions, instead choosing humility and confidence (Blanchard and Hodges

2008). Nehemiah leaves his place of comfort, working in the city of Susa as the King’s cup

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bearer, to take on a formidable task with great risk of failure, thinking only of the Lord’s purpose

and the future of the people of Israel (Nehemiah 1:1, 11 NLT). In his initial plea to the Lord,

Nehemiah displays great humility, confessing that he and his family have “sinned terribly by not

obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that [God] gave us through [His] servant

Moses” (Nehemiah 1:7 NLT). He places confidence in his success only through the Lord’s will,

pleading for favor when going before the King.

The concept of transformational leadership aligns closely with that of servant leadership.

Through the hands (actions) and habits of a servant leader(Blanchard and Hodges 2008) ,

Nehemiah accomplishes success in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem with transformational

leadership. According to the "Full Range Leadership" model, transformational leadership

behaviors include “individualized consideration (compassionate leadership), intellectual

stimulation (thinking outside of “the box”), inspirational motivation (exciting the masses/sharing

the vision), and idealized influence (walking the walk)” (Barbuto and Cummins-Brown 2007).

Nehemiah could have attempted to rebuild the wall by offering some incentive to those willing to

help in physical labor, ignoring the social and inspirational needs of the people entirely. Instead,

he placed value on the needs and concerns of his followers. Nehemiah goes so far as to devote

his time and that of his servants to constantly be working on the wall, refusing to burden the

people with financial tolls set up by former governors (Nehemiah 5:16 NLT).

As a servant leader utilizing transformational leadership practices, Nehemiah effectively

communicated his vision of an empowered Jerusalem and inspired the people to aid in his cause.

He ‘does what he said he would do’. In The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Posner 2008),

Kouzes and Posner identify this “DWYSYWD” principle as key to the success of any leader.

They posit that the basis of leadership is credibility, and that only through the establishment of

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personal credibility can a leader maintain loyalty and effective relationships with followers.

Employing these three leadership theories, Nehemiah achieves his goals of rebuilding the wall of

Jerusalem, reestablishing God’s law in the city, and organizing the people of Israel.

Nehemiah works first as a leader and then as a manager in pursuit of his goals. Contrary

to the job of a leader (to inspire, to see the big picture), a manager must organize people and

resources to accomplish tasks (The Times 100: Business Case Studies. 2014). The manager

(whether acting with leadership qualities or otherwise) quantifies the leader’s vision into steps

and systems of completion. After deciding that the wall of Jerusalem be rebuilt, Nehemiah

overcomes his first obstacle of transitioning from his life in the palace to hands-on leader of

Jerusalem. In the first chapter of Nehemiah, he requests from the King time to visit his homeland

and letters to ensure his safe passage thereof.

Arguably the most challenging part of management is change. A manager plans for the

one constant in a business (or organizational system): change. In Management Challenges for the

21st Century (Drucker 1999), Peter Drucker tasks managers to “build into the enterprise…a

systematic policy of innovation, that is, a policy to create change.” (Drucker 1999). A manager

must adapt strategy to fit change. When enemies of Jerusalem threaten in Nehemiah Chapter 4 to

overthrow the workers building up the wall, Nehemiah adjusts his building strategy. Splitting his

work force in two, Nehemiah charges half of the people with guarding the city and the remaining

half to work with “one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon” (Nehemiah

4:14 NLT). By doing so, he continues work in pursuit of the rebuild while simultaneously

protecting against attack.

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One of Drucker’s policies that the “change leader needs to develop is the exploitation of

success” (Drucker 1999). Basically he says that a leader must focus on the areas in which the

team shows success, drawing focus away from areas which are problematic. Nehemiah allows

the growing problem of enemy threats to ‘starve’ by listening to the voice of God and ignoring

fear. When receiving messages from Sanballat and Geshem (Nehemiah 6:2 NLT) aimed to

distract, Nehemiah refuses to rise to the bait. He focuses on the success of the wall rebuild,

replying “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and

meet with you?” (Nehemiah 6:3 NLT). He allows the problems of threatened defeat to starve by

not paying his enemies mind and working harder to achieve his aim.

Nehemiah employs management techniques to overcome social and personal obstacles of

his people as well. Effective management, according to "Does Management Really Work?"

(Bloom, Sadun, and Van Reenen 2012), includes identifying targets, providing incentives, and

monitoring progress. In Chapter 5 of Nehemiah, the common people of Israel begin to complain

to Nehemiah about the oppressive conditions forced upon them by those of privilege.

Overburdened with mounting debt and famine, the people have been cornered by those with

wealth into selling their own children to make ends meet. Nehemiah, angered by these

conditions, speaks to “these nobles and officials” (Nehemiah 5:7 NLT), instructing them to

forgive debts and cease charging interest and taking advantage of the lesser conditions of their

brethren. He provides “incentive” for the leaders to follow his edicts by praying to the Lord to

keep them honest in their doings, issuing consequence for those who are not.

In their management study, Bloom, Sadun, and Van Reenen found that practices and

systems implemented by management must be monitored and revisited in order to ensure

success. Drucker states (in parallel) that “the change leader [continually] puts every product,

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every service, every process, every market, every distribution channel, every customer and end-

use, on trial for its life” (Drucker 1999). After establishing ethical business practices and re-

issuing the order of God’s law in Judah, Nehemiah revisits to oversee the progress of the city of

Jerusalem. In Chapter 13, Nehemiah learns that several of his reformations have been

disregarded, with the men marrying foreign women and refusing to honor the Sabbath.

Nehemiah reestablishes order by “purg[ing] out everything foreign and assign[ing] tasks to the

priests and Levites, making certain that each knew his work.” (Nehemiah 13:30 NLT).

Leaders and managers work towards the completion of goals by utilizing people and

implementing systems within organizations. The Times 100: Business Case Studies glossary of

terms (2014) says that an organization operates to organize resources to add value. Those

resources may be raw materials, marketing strategies, machines and systems, people, etc.

Nehemiah guided and developed the people and physical resources in his organization to rebuild

the wall of Jerusalem. Chapter 3 of Nehemiah describes the initial organization structure of the

restoration project. Each family member or group works to rebuild or reestablish the walls and

gates nearest to them. In this structure, each member of the workforce remained engaged in the

project due to personal connection to its completion.

Maslow suggested with his Hierarchy of Needs (Brenner, Rick. 2014) that people,

individually and as part of an organization, must have their needs tended to in a specific order to

be successful. A person must first have physiological needs satisfied (food, water, etc) and then

feel a certain level of safety in order to move forward to emotional need fulfillment. When the

people in Nehemiah Chapter 5 begin to complain that they lack the food and resources to care for

their families, Nehemiah realizes that he must resolve their concerns in order to move forward

with the rebuild. He speaks to the upper echelon holding the majority in debt and releases the

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people from unfair financial bonds. Nehemiah also refuses to receive money and food from the

common people, though "the former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the

people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces of silver" (Nehemiah

5:15 NLT).

Chapter 7 of Nehemiah details the registration of the people of Israel by Nehemiah,

reinstating structure in Israel. Inspired by God, Nehemiah decides to register the people,

identifying through genealogical record the status and place of settlement for each family.

Several families are disqualified from serving as priests and relocated. At the end of this

restructuring, Nehemiah reports that "the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the

Temple servants, and some of the common people settled near Jerusalem... [while] the rest of the

people returned to their own towns throughout Israel." (Nehemiah 7:73 NLT).

In addition to need fulfillment, culture plays a great part in the structure and success of

organizations. Culture present within an organization stems from combinations of the

geographical region of the organization (though this is lessening due to increased globalization),

personal values and beliefs of those within an organization, and the culture implemented by the

leadership of an organization. An organization's culture effects work patterns and

interactions/socialization between leaders and subordinates. Nehemiah disrupts what has become

the integrated culture of the people (the mixing of the Jewish culture with those of foreign

influencers) and restores the law of God in the land. Through the prophet Ezra, the tithing system

and upkeep of the temple are put into place and the laws of God brought down through Moses

regain prominence. In Nehemiah 10:1, the people agree upon the restored order of leadership,

putting into writing the names of the governor (Nehemiah), the priests, the Levites, and the

leaders. Nehemiah follows up with his changes in Chapter 13 of Nehemiah, making note of areas

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where the law has been disregarded and implementing immediate change. This follow-through

further entrenches the introduced culture of the organization.

The book of Nehemiah serves as a detailed example for several theories regarding

leadership, management, and organization. Nehemiah proves to be an excellent servant leader

and employs transformational leadership techniques to rally the people of Israel toward the goal

of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. He manages the specifics of the project, adapting to change

and focusing on successes. Nehemiah restructures the organization of Israel, tending to the needs

of the individuals comprising the organizations, implementing a system of registration and

leadership, and reintroducing the God-lead culture of Israel's past. Through careful strategic

planning and follow-through, Nehemiah leads the people of Israel in the restoration of the wall of

Jerusalem and reestablishment of Israel.

Jaime Hadley

Bibliography

Barbuto, Jr., John and Lance Cummins-Brown. 2007. "Full Range Leadership." NebGuide.

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=198 [accessed 23 March

2014]

Blanchard, Ken and Phil Hodges. 2008. Lead Like Jesus. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Bloom, Nicholas, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen. 2012. "Does Management Really Work?"

Harvard Business Review. http://hbr.org/2012/11/does-management-really-work/ar/1

[accessed 23 March 2014]

Brenner, Rick. 2014. "The Hierarchy of Needs for Project Organizations." Chaco Canyon

Consulting. http://www.chacocanyon.com/essays/hierarchyofneeds.shtml [accessed 23 March

2014]

Drucker, Peter. 1999. Management Challenges for the 21st Century. New York: HarperCollins Publishers

Inc.

Kouzes, James and Barry Posner. 2008. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-

Bass

Nehemiah. Bible.com. YouVersion, 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

<https://www.bible.com/bible/116/neh.13.nlt>.

The Times 100: Business Case Studies. 2014. "The Times 100 Glossary of Terms."

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/glossary/#axzz2wu3DHngK [accessed 23 March 2014]