Based on your experiences, news or papers you read, describe a case/phenomenon that relates to leadership  Use theories to analyse the case/phenomenon

Leadership: Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister
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Leadership: Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister
There are different styles of leadership that are adopted by leaders. Each style is supposed to help leaders influence their followers and gain their trust. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, has a leadership style that has presented a problem to him, his followers, and other leaders who have often called him out on it. He has made headlines in the news due to his passive-avoidant leadership approach on several occasions. The key problem, which is the focus of this paper, is how he can rise above his passive-avoidant approach and become a more active leader. How can leaders and followers mitigate the risks associated with a passive-avoidant approach to leadership? Passive-avoidant leadership can be described as a behavior of inaction from the leader, characterized by failure to address key problems and influence positive behavior among followers by ignoring what is happening (Holtz & Hu, 2017). Through research, it has been established that passive leadership can be demoralizing to followers due to the constant frustrations from an inactive leader (Carucci, 2020). Also, it is well known that passive leadership decreases the level of satisfaction among followers (Holtz & Hu, 2017). However, little is known about how leaders can deal with a passive-avoidant leadership approach and make the best out of their situation. The full-range leadership theory/model and the learned helplessness theory will be used to explain passive leadership. Understanding passive leadership and how leaders and followers can deal with it is important because as revealed by Holtz and Hu (2017), passive leadership is a common phenomenon that mostly serves to frustrate followers and leaders as well. A solution can only be identified if the problem is well researched and understood.
The Problem
Passive-avoidant leadership has been described as an ineffective form of leadership because the leader does nothing, more so when there is a problem that requires immediate attention (Adeel, Khan, Zafar, & Rizvi, 2018). The assumption behind passive leadership is that when a leader does nothing, no harm can come out of it. Yet, leaders' inaction can cause as much harm as action. Some of the potential harms of inaction will be discussed later in this section.
Passive-avoidant leadership is presented in two forms. The first one involves avoiding decision-making and responsibilities associated with the leadership position (Adeel, Khan, Zafar, & Rizvi, 2018). This approach is referred to as the laissez-faire approach. The second one involves ignoring the problem until it becomes too serious to ignore. This approach is referred to as passive management by exception (Adeel, Khan, Zafar, & Rizvi, 2018). Justin Trudeau’s passive-avoidant approach takes the first form whereby he avoids making decisions on key issues and sometimes even passes responsibilities to others. This can be seen in how he responded to the railway blockades in Canada at the beginning of the year. Several news outlets, including the CBC and the Globe and Mail, indicate that Mr. Trudeau avoided taking any action against the protestors, claiming that this was the responsibility of the provinces and not the federal government (Zimonjic & Tasker, 2020; Kitkup & Curry, 2020). Yet, the protests had taken hold in most parts of the country, requiring his involvement. Mr. Trudeau has also been passive on issues affecting other countries and has been asked to take an active position, especially on racial issues and violence in the United States (Blatchford, 2020). His passive leadership has become noticeable even on issues that are beyond Canada.
As stated earlier, passive leadership is a common occurrence. However, it is important to address it because of the serious repercussions it has on the leader-follower relationship. According to Wei, Lee, and Kwan (2016), passive leadership reduces followers’ commitment to the organization and its values. It also affects followers' commitment to the leader. When commitment is absent, the relationship between the leader and followers becomes strained. Additionally, passive leadership reduces followers' admiration for the leaders, which also affects the leader-follower relationship (Wei, Lee, & Kwan, 2016). Admiration in such a relationship is important as it cultivates respect and promotes leaders’ ability to influence. Passive leadership has also been linked with reduced trust between followers and their leaders. As revealed by Breevaart and Zacher (2019), passive leaders yielded little trust from their followers when compared to transformational, active leaders. This could be attributed to the fact that followers feel that passive leaders are not aware of or do not care about the needs of their followers. Also, as a result of minimal trust, followers believe that passive leaders are ineffective (Breevaart & Zacher, 2019). Passive leadership has also been associated with lower satisfaction among followers (Holtz & Hu, 2017). The frustrations that arise from passive leadership causes dissatisfaction and demoralization among followers. Given the negative effects of passive leadership discussed above, addressing passive leadership is paramount and requires a solution sooner than later. But more importantly, understanding this problem is essential because it can provide a leeway for leaders to deal with passive leadership traits. Leaders and followers have to deal with the repercussions, yet this is an area that has not received enough attention.
The Theories
To create a better understanding of the problem of passive leadership and how leaders can deal with passive leadership, it is important to first apply a theory to the problem. The full-range leadership theory (FRLT) will be applied in the analysis of the problem. FRLT is one of the most utilized leadership theories in research and practice. It was first developed by Bass and other scholars have further researched the theory over the years. According to this theory, there are three leadership styles, which vary depending on the level of leader activeness-passiveness as well as leader effectiveness (Itzkovich, Heilbrunn, & Aleksic, 2020). These leadership styles are transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. The FRLT has eight main features namely; contingent reward, idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, active management by exception, passive management by exception, and laissez-faire (Curtis, 2018). Passive leadership falls under the laissez-faire leadership style. According to the FRLT, passive leadership can either be laissez-faire or passive management by exception (Adeel, Khan, Zafar, & Rizvi, 2018). In either case, leadership is absent and followers feel unsupported by their leader. The leader not only avoids decision-making until the situation reaches its threshold but may also refuse to make decisions completely. This leaves a void in the leader-follower relationship that must be filled. According to Curtis (2018), followers fill this void through resistance. They resist the leaders’ influence because they feel that the leadership is ineffective. Understanding these specific features of the FRLT and more specifically, its sub-category of laissez-faire leadership provides leaders with an opportunity to minimize the potential harm of passive leadership while building on the possible benefits.
Learned helplessness theory is more of a behavioral theory than a leadership theory. It is based on the premise that previous experiences can cause a person to feel helpless and fail to take action when faced with a problem. In the case of passive leadership, leaders can become passive leaders due to their previous experiences (Doci, Stouten, & Hofmans, 2015). If a leader b...