Explain how elements of each approach examined this week could be integrated into a broader, more
inclusive theory of leadership. How would your new approach seek to explain what comprises a good
leader? Provide examples that would help to support your theory.
The following conditions must meet in the essay:
1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 1400 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant
examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don�t use Wikipedia web site.
6) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
Inclusive Leadership Approach 2
How Elements of Situational, Skills, Style and Trait Leadership Approaches Can Be Integrated
Into a More Inclusive Approach
Leaders use different approaches in their duties and responsibilities. However, there is the
question of why some leaders fail yet others successfully thrive. The answer lies in the leadership
approach that each leader chooses to follow. Among the approaches that have been discussed
and are available for leaders to select include the skills style, trait and situational approaches to
leadership (Yammarino et al. 2012). Despite the fact that all these traits are good and make good
leaders according to the way leaders use, them, creating a more inclusive approach can help. As
a point of view in this paper, there is a belief that integrating all the approaches of leadership in
an all-inclusive approach will enhance the performance and effectiveness of all leaders and
leadership in general.
When leading a group of people, it is obvious that leaders apply their personal attributes
to some extent in the bid to make their goals come out successfully. In the case that a leader
chooses to make much use of their traits, they are termed as using the trait leadership approach to
ensure their success. In the trait leadership approach, a leader can apply some aspects of their
traits including demographics, personality, confidence and intellectual ability (Zaccaro 2007). In
the process, they exert some kind of pressure on their followers to heed and follow what is
needed. In an inclusive leadership approach to enhance leadership effectiveness, it is important
Inclusive Leadership Approach 3
to apply some of these aspects provided that they provide positive effects on the people. If the
results are negative, then such a trait should be cut out.
On the other hand, the behavior of a leader also qualifies as among the aspects that
leaders choose to use. The style leadership approach was developed from the trait leadership
approach (Conger 2004). In its argument, it put forth a claim that a leader that uses their natural
style trait fall in the style leadership approach (Conger 2004). However, there are two kinds of
behavior that leaders in this bracket use either knowingly or unknowingly. The two kinds of style
in style leadership approach include task oriented behaviors and relationship oriented behaviors.
In most cases, leaders use the two types of behaviors and combine them to make the style
leadership. In relation to an inclusion leadership approach, looking down at the style leadership
approach will do injustice to leadership. To integrate the approach into leadership practices, a
leader should look out for a beneficial style that will reward both parties. In my example, I once
worked in an organization where the leader simply used his style to manage people. For
example, if he woke up in the morning and felt like rewarding us, he could give all of us a small
token of appreciation. However, he could use his mood to make us work. If we saw him in a
relaxed and happy mood, we always knew that he was approachable on that particular day. to
use, it seemed like he loved using his style.
The skills and abilities of a leader can make or break them (Uhl-Bien, Marion &
McKelvey 2007). However, there are two views that come in when discussing this particular
leadership approach. One of the groups that discuss the theory has a claim that skills are acquired
and developed in an individual (Uhl-Bien, Marion & McKelvey 2007). However, the other group
claims that skills and abilities in leadership are inbuilt (Uhl-Bien, Marion & McKelvey 2007).
Despite the two opposing views, the skills leadership theory has held together to make it as a
Inclusive Leadership Approach 4
notable approach that can become instituted in a more inclusive leadership approach. In an
inclusive leadership style, the use of skills, traits and style in decision making will proof vital.
The skills that apply in the skills leadership approach include conceptual skills and technical
skills (Uhl-Bien, Marion & McKelvey 2007).
Among the key leaders in the world that have made a name for themselves through their
skills and abilities is the Amazon founder and current CEO Jeff Bezos. According to the people
that have worked closely with Bezos, they have a claim that he is one of the finest leaders in the
world at the moment. Bezos mixes his skills and abilities to run his multi-billion company in the
modest of manners (Büchler et al. 2006). Apart from his skills, Bezos has employed his style and
traits to make sure that everything in his company goes according to plan. For example, he out
rightly uses his integrity, passion and fairness to treat his company clients and employees (). In
relation to his style, his natural character has built success for him as a renowned leader and
worker.
There is also another leadership approach that can apply in the all-inclusive approach to
leaders. The situational leadership approach recounts that all skills, abilities, and style do not
count if the situation that a leader is in does not allow (Sims Jr, Faraj & Yun 2009). In a harsh
environment, the situation leadership approach demands that a leader should apply an autocratic
kind of leadership to make things work (Sims Jr, Faraj & Yun 2009). However, in the situation
that all things are going well and there are no difficulties, such a leader gets at will to use any
style to run their duties and responsibilities (Sims Jr, Faraj & Yun 2009). In another situation
where a leader has trust in their employees because they are trained and competent enough to
carry on with their duties, the leader can choose a laissez-faire system (Sims Jr, Faraj & Yun
Inclusive Leadership Approach 5
2009). As a result, the situation determines what the employees will use to make decisions and
impact their activities.
Back to the example of Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, he is a leader that
integrates all the leadership approaches to enhance his credibility and accountability. For
example, he has a belief that self confidence as a way of succeeding (Büchler et al. 2006). On the
other hand, the same individual hails education and skills as a mandatory requirement for a
leader to succeed. In an all inclusive leadership approach, leaders will become advised on how to
integrate the various approaches to make their careers and ambitions successful. An effective
leader encompasses several aspects including being a good communicator, well educated,
enthusiastic, respectful, charming and open to change (Büchler et al. 2006). The quality of being
open to change will enable an inclusive leadership approach to develop to help leaders grow in
their respective roles and duties (Howard 2005).
Before engaging the all the approaches in ensuring that an all-inclusive approach comes
up, there is need to answer the question of the extent to which all the approaches will have to
apply in achieving a state of equilibrium. The ability of a leader to practice all the available
options in succeeding in roles differentiates successful leaders from failures (Howard 2005). As a
result, all leaders have an equal chance to decide on what to put in more and how o regulate them
in order to achieve accountability and effectiveness.
In conclusion, integrating all the approaches of leadership in an all-inclusive approach
will enhance the performance and effectiveness of all leaders and leadership in general.
However, the approach should define a clear strategy on what is more important than the other
and where and when to apply them. If the situation works, leadership will become efficient to
realize the maximum potential of business entities and organizations.
Inclusive Leadership Approach 6
Reference List
Büchler, P., Martin, D., Knaebel, H. P., & Büchler, M. W, (2006), Leadership characteristics and
business management in modern academic surgery, Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery,
391(2), 149-156.
Conger, J. A, (2004), Developing leadership capability: What’s inside the black box?, The
Academy of Management Executive, 18(3), 136-139.
Howard, W. C, (2005), Leadership: Four Styles, Education, 126(2), 384-391.
Sims Jr, H. P., Faraj, S., & Yun, S, (2009), When should a leader be directive or empowering?
How to develop your own situational theory of leadership, Business Horizons, 52(2),
149-158.
Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B, (2007), Complexity leadership theory: Shifting
leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era, The leadership quarterly, 18(4),
298-318.
Yammarino, F. J., Salas, E., Serban, A., Shirreffs, K., & Shuffler, M. L, (2012), Collectivistic
leadership approaches: Putting the “we” in leadership science and practice, Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, 5(4), 382-402.
Zaccaro, S. J, (2007), Trait-based perspectives of leadership, American Psychologist, 62(1), 6.
