| Course | DBA-8800 Ethical Leadership and Cultural Competency in the 21st Century |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Module 4 written assignment: being an inclusive leader |
| Length | About 572 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Doctor of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for DBA 8800 Module 4
Belonging Without Sameness: Building Inclusive Leadership Among Warehouse Supervisors
Student Name
Doctor of Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
DBA-8800: Ethical Leadership and Cultural Competency in the 21st Century
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Belonging Without Sameness: Building Inclusive Leadership Among Warehouse Supervisors
Defining Inclusive Leadership
Shore et al. (2011) described inclusion as feeling accepted as one of the group while still free, and even encouraged, to be different. Their framework separates inclusion from assimilation, where people belong only by conforming, and from differentiation, where people are valued for difference but kept outside the group. Randel et al. (2018) built on that framework to define inclusive leadership as a set of leader behaviors that facilitate group members' sense of belonging and of being valued for their uniqueness, and they proposed that such behaviors increase members' willingness to contribute their perspectives.
Norman (2023) gives the idea a practical voice: inclusive leaders do not wait for difference to cause trouble but seek it out as a source of better decisions. The research and the textbook agree that inclusion is something leaders do, repeatedly, not a value they hold.
Why It Matters
Nembhard and Edmondson (2006) studied newborn intensive care teams and found that when leaders asked for and thanked people for their input, staff felt safer to speak, and teams that felt safer took more part in improvement work. Leader inclusiveness also softened the effect of status: lower-status professionals felt safer to speak when leaders invited them. Our warehouses have their own status ladder, with English-speaking senior pickers and day managers near the top and newer night associates near the bottom. The study suggests that supervisors' behavior can narrow the distance.
Assessing Our Supervisors
To assess where we stand, I turned the research into five behaviors a supervisor can be observed doing, and asked a sample of associates on each shift to rate their supervisor anonymously in their own language.
The pattern is consistent: supervisors are polite but rarely invite input, and information and good assignments flow to people who share their language. Night supervisors, most of whom came up from day crews, scored lowest on making information reach every language group.
| Behavior | Share of supervisors rated often or always |
|---|---|
| Asks associates for their ideas before deciding | 35 percent |
| Thanks people by name for a specific contribution | 58 percent |
| Makes sure each language group hears key information | 29 percent |
| Responds to a mistake by asking what happened before assigning blame | 41 percent |
| Rotates desirable tasks fairly | 32 percent |
A Development Plan
The program will run six months. It starts with me and the operations managers, since supervisors watch how leaders above them behave. Each of us will choose one behavior from the table, practice it in our own meetings and ask for monthly feedback from our teams. Supervisors will then join small learning groups of five that meet every two weeks to plan one inclusive behavior, try it on the floor and report what happened. Bilingual leads will help supervisors run huddles that reach every language group. After six months, associates will rate supervisors again on the same five behaviors.
My own habit to change is speaking first. In leadership meetings I usually state my view early, which, if Nembhard and Edmondson are right about status, discourages others from offering different ones. I will ask for others' views before giving mine.
Conclusion
Inclusive leadership, as research defines it, balances belonging and uniqueness and is built from repeated, observable behaviors. Our supervisors' ratings show where those behaviors are missing, and a development program that begins with senior leaders and measures change gives the firm a way to build them.
References
Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(7), 941-966. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.413
Norman, M. (2023). The boldly inclusive leader: Transform your workplace (and the world) by valuing the differences within. Greenleaf Book Group.
Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U. (2018). Inclusive leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 190-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2017.07.002
Shore, L. M., Randel, A. E., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., Holcombe Ehrhart, K., & Singh, G. (2011). Inclusion and diversity in work groups: A review and model for future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1262-1289. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310385943
What the DBA 8800 Module 4 instructions ask for
The written assignment set beside Module 4, Being an Inclusive Leader, is one of four in DBA-8800, together worth 60 percent; the syllabus sends students to each module for its specifics. Expect to define inclusive leadership from research, identify the behaviors associated with it and its outcomes, assess leaders you know against those behaviors and plan development, including your own. Norman's The Boldly Inclusive Leader provides the practitioner view, and journal research supplies the evidence. Make the behaviors observable, so that progress can be judged, and include yourself in the plan, since the seminar treats ethical and inclusive leadership as personal practice. Ratings gathered from the people a leader supervises make the assessment far more convincing than the writer's own impression.
How this DBA 8800 Module 4 example is built
The paper defines inclusive leadership through Shore and colleagues' balance of belonging and uniqueness and Randel and colleagues' model, then joins the textbook's practical view. Nembhard and Edmondson's study of intensive care teams links leader inclusiveness to psychological safety and shows it can offset status, which the paper applies to the warehouse's own hierarchy. An anonymous rating of 31 supervisors on five behaviors, reported in a table, shows where inclusion is missing. A six-month plan starts with senior leaders, uses small learning groups and repeats the ratings. The writer names one personal habit, speaking first, to change. Repeating the same ratings after six months gives the plan its own test of whether behavior changed.
Reading the DBA 8800 Module 4 grading rubric
An inclusive leadership paper scores well when its definitions are accurate, its behaviors are tied to outcomes, its assessment is honest, its development plan is workable and the writer looks at their own conduct. Credit goes to papers that define inclusion precisely, distinguishing it from assimilation, rather than equating it with diversity. Turning research into observable behaviors that can be rated shows applied understanding. A development plan that includes senior leaders and a measure of change shows realism. Personal reflection that names a specific habit, connected to research, shows the self-awareness the course expects of ethical leaders. Mentors also look for development that lasts months rather than a single workshop, since behavior changes through practice and feedback.
DBA 8800 Module 4 help from the desk
Papers lose marks when they describe inclusive leadership as a set of values without behaviors, when they assess leaders without any evidence or when the development plan is a single training day. Others leave the writer out of the picture. Define inclusion from a research source, list behaviors a person could be seen doing, gather some evidence on how often they happen and design development that repeats over months. Name one change you will make yourself. A free first draft of your own DBA-8800 Module 4 assignment can be prepared on the leaders you know. Keep the number of target behaviors small, three to five, so leaders can practice them and associates can notice the difference.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More DBA 8800 and Doctor of Business Administration sample papers
- DBA 8800 Module 1: Written Assignment: Leading a Change to How Supervisors Are Promoted at a Port Warehouse Firm
- DBA 8800 Module 2: Written Assignment: When a Mixed Workforce Helps and When It Divides
- DBA 8800 Module 3: Written Assignment: Taking Bias Out of the Promotion Panel
- DBA 8800 Module 5: Final Project: A Change Plan for Psychological Safety on the Night Shift, Presented in Slides
- DBA 8040 Module 3: Written Assignment: Crafting a Strategy and Ranking Its Objectives
- DBA 8090 Module 3: Written Assignment: Diagnosis and Resistance at a Marine Contractor
- DBA 8060 Module 3: Discussion: A Star Schema and a Scorecard for DAKOKOO's Retail Contracts
- DBA 8000 Module 2: Written Assignment: The Traps Hidden in the Core Lab Decision
DBA 8800 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free DBA 8800 Module 4 sample paper?
The written assignment above builds an inclusive leadership program for warehouse supervisors at a port logistics firm.
What is inclusive leadership?
Leader behavior that helps group members feel they belong while being valued for what makes them different, as Randel and colleagues define it.
What is the difference between inclusion and assimilation?
In assimilation people belong by conforming; in inclusion they belong while keeping and contributing their differences.
How does leader inclusiveness affect psychological safety?
In intensive care teams, Nembhard and Edmondson saw that leaders who asked for and valued input made speaking up feel safer, most of all for staff low in the hierarchy.
What does DBA-8800 Module 4 cover?
Being an inclusive leader: the behaviors through which leaders create belonging and value uniqueness in diverse groups.