The global scale and unpredictable nature of the current COVID-19 pandemic have put a significant burden on health care and public health leaders, for whom preparedness plans and evidence-based ...guidelines have proven insufficient to guide actions. This article presents a review of empirical articles on the topics of “crisis leadership” and “pandemic” across medical and business databases between 2003 (since SARS) and—December 2020 and has identified 35 articles for detailed analyses. We use the articles’ evidence on leadership behaviors and skills that have been key to pandemic responses to characterize the types of leadership competencies commonly exhibited in a pandemic context. Task-oriented competencies, including preparing and planning, establishing collaborations, and conducting crisis communication, received the most attention. However, people-oriented and adaptive-oriented competencies were as fundamental in overcoming the structural, political, and cultural contexts unique to pandemics.
The Covid-19 pandemic has severely tested the leadership and communication abilities of political leaders globally. Guiding an effective response to the global pandemic has required leaders to ...demonstrate not only effective planning and coordination skills, but the ability to communicate clear consistent messages in an empathetic manner as well. In New Zealand the first confirmed case of Covid-19 was recorded on February 28 and over the course of March and April 2020, 1,132 further cases of Covid-19 were confirmed and 19 deaths - a much lower transmission rate than most industrialized nations. On 27 April 2020, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that they had won the battle against community transmission of Covid-19. This paper analyses the speeches and public statements (n = 40) made by Prime Minister Ardern in March and April 2020 through the lens of crisis leadership and crisis communication. In particular, it looks at the use of different mediums (parliamentary statements, daily briefings, Facebook Live broadcasts and podcasts) as mechanisms for engaging in narrative and dialogue with the public. The paper underscores the importance of communication in crisis management and looks at how positive and consistent messaging inspires confidence and social solidarity.
PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to identify traits and behaviors of organization leaders that were deemed helpful by employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis is an ...exploratory qualitative study that utilized online surveys. Data from 155 participants were subjected to content analysis.FindingsSeveral interrelated traits and behaviors of effective crisis leadership were identified. These were clustered into three superordinate themes – attending to the person, taking charge and showing the way forward and sustaining the spirit.Research limitations/implicationsFindings from this paper can be furthered by conducting quantitative studies to validate themes and/or test a conceptual model of effective crisis leadership. Gathering data from other populations at different points in time during the COVID-19 pandemic may also be useful.Practical implicationsA review of leadership development programs and organization norms and values is recommended in order to ensure that they are consistent with crisis leadership competencies.Originality/valueThis paper helps address the gap on follower-centered perspectives about organizational leadership responses to crises and highlights the importance of care and compassion in leading employees during difficult times.
This article contributes to knowledge and understanding about leading schools during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis by reviewing 21 articles published during the immediate period of the pandemic ...(during 2020–2021). Key findings include the value of leaders supporting and connecting the school community with a view to establishing a more resilient and responsive style of leadership during a period of major crisis. Furthermore, supporting and connecting all members of the school community to address equity through alternate strategies and digital technologies provides opportunities for leaders to build capacity in staff and students to respond to further changes. Implications and recommendations are discussed in the light of these findings.
•This review contributes to knowledge and understanding about leading schools during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.•Our review highlights the value of leaders supporting and connecting the school community with a view to establishing a more resilient and responsive style of leadership during a period of major crisis.•Supporting and connecting all members of the school community to address equity through alternate strategies and digital technologies provides opportunities for leaders to build capacity in staff and students to respond to further changes.
This research examined whether female (vs. male) leaders are preferred during a pandemic when stereotypically feminine leadership is deemed useful. We hypothesized that citizens prefer female (vs. ...male) politicians when the crisis is framed as a social (vs. economic) crisis because they believe it requires feminine (vs. masculine) leadership. In a pilot study and three online experiments with US residents (Ntotal = 1675), we manipulated crisis type or a leadership candidate's gender for a task force. While participants indicated that a crisis framed as social (vs. economic) required more feminine leadership, they did not appoint a woman more or rated her as more suitable for the social crisis (vs. economic crisis or a no‐crisis situation). Furthermore, the female (vs. male) candidate was not perceived to possess more feminine leadership traits. Overall, participants did not rely on gender stereotypes when explicitly evaluating politicians. We discuss potential explanations for these unexpected results.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on education provision worldwide. School leaders, teachers and parents found themselves in uncharted circumstances, which hugely ...impacted their roles in promoting children’s learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles played by leaders, teachers, and parents during the COVID-19 crisis. This paper discusses teaching and learning in this time of crisis. The study sampled 10 head teachers, 60 schoolteachers and 57 parents representing 10 primary schools in five districts in the Lindi region of Tanzania. A postmodernism lens was applied to respond to questions about the strengths and weaknesses of support structures, such as parents, teachers, and local and central government, in the era of COVID-19. Data indicate that teachers, parents, and even the government, had to try various approaches to shift between different roles involved in addressing learning demands in the era of COVID-19 in Tanzania. Generally, the study identifies complex tensions between the support structures, that had been brought on by the pandemic. It is through understanding the complex tensions and balancing various roles that we can begin to understand the teaching and learning landscape in times of crisis.
Presidents have difficult roles regardless of systemic context and in times of crisis their work is especially complex. While the body of work on presidents generally is growing, understanding of ...their role in crisis is underdeveloped. In this study, we enhance research on presidential crisis leadership by applying the competing values framework to a unique set of interviews with 14 presidents from eight nations. Our results highlight the value tensions that were and are experienced by presidents during crisis as these leaders manage local needs with national guidance. The most common values discussed include control, collaborate, and create, while the value of compete was rarely referenced.
Background
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. The crisis that follows presented significant adverse challenges for ...organizations and business leaders around the world. The present study aims to explore how the extreme context of the COVID-19 influenced crisis leadership, with emphasis on coping and adaptive approaches, in Norwegian leaders during the early stage of the pandemic.
Materials and methods
A group of 11 Norwegian business leaders from different private sector companies were subject to an in depth, semi structured interview after the first 9 months of COVID-19. A sensemaking perspective and the Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS) were used to interpret the results.
Results
The pandemic called for crisis leadership and a rapid adaptation to a radically changed situation. Restructuring of organizational processes and introduction of new routines were followed by support and caring for their employees during the first wave of the pandemic. All the leaders coped well with the situation, and some were excited over the opportunity to make a difference in this demanding and stressful situation. Many emphasized that the pandemic was an external threat, resulting in an acceptance of the situation, more transparency, collaboration, and generosity within the organization. Especially the willingness to change was challenged in a positive way. A more blurred line between office and home, and absence of social activities were mentioned as negative outcomes.
This article investigates whether and how gendered leadership makes a difference in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The country-level variances in the initial trajectories provide a unique ...comparative setting that allows us to examine the link between leadership and performance, moderated by institutional contexts - democracy and representation. Using daily panel data over the first half of the year 2020 across OECD countries, I find that women-led countries show epidemiologic patterns different from male-led countries. The effect of gendered leadership was contingent on the maturity of democracy and the degree of gender representation in both parliament and bureaucracy.
An economic recession is a type of crisis originated from external factors that may imperil an organization’s survival depending on the intensity and duration of the crisis. In peripheral European ...countries, such as Portugal, the recent financial crisis had devastating effects on various business activities. As a result, Portugal represents an important case study in examining how some corporate leaders have handled the economic recession successfully. I interviewed 20 corporate managers to capture their perceptions of the leadership traits and behaviors exhibited by their CEOs in guiding their companies through the recession. In economic recessions, negative constraints do not affect the most effective leaders, who instead erect barriers against the high-pressure conditions to create a supportive, positive work environment. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, leaders must act as blocking agents against the negative social impacts of the economic crisis, including the fragility of trust in organizational life (i.e., a barrier against distrust), uncertainty of the future (i.e., a barrier against uncertainty), and toxic emotions (i.e., a barrier against toxic emotions).
PDF
