Traversing the storm: An interdisciplinary review of crisis leadership.
Required Readings:
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Collins, Dasborough, Gregg, Xu, Deen, He, & Restubog (2022; The Leadership Quarterly)
McCarthy, Hannah, Pitt, & McCarthy (2020; Business Horizons)
Confronting indifference toward truth: Dealing with workplace bullshit.
The prevalence of workplace bullshit and provides strategies for dealing with it.
They propose a four-step framework for addressing workplace bullshit: comprehending it, recognizing it, acting against it, and preventing it.
Workplace bullshit VS. lying: workplace bullshit as: "taking place when colleagues make statements freedomly at work with no regard for the truth"; whereas, a liar who knew the truth deliberately misrepresents the truth.
The four-step framework
Comprehend it: This step involves understanding the underlying motives (self-serving or organizational-serving motives) and agendas behind workplace bullshit.
Recognise it: to identify and distinguish workplace bullshit from other forms of communication. It involves being aware of the characteristics and patterns of bullshit
Act against it: taking action to address and counter workplace bullshit. It includes strategies such as challenging and questioning bullshit, promoting critical thinking, and creating a culture of evidence-based decision-making.
Prevent it: to prevent the creation and spread of workplace bullshit in the first place. It emphasizes practices such as encouraging critical thinking, prohibiting excessive jargon and statistical trickery, and fostering an evidence-based learning culture [6].
I will play a crucial role in addressing workplace bullshit, according. They are seen as key reasons why bullshit either exists or does not exist in their organizations.
As I have the power to create a culture that either tolerates or discourages bullshit. So, I will lead my team to set the tone for honest and transparent communication, promote critical thinking, and establish evidence-based decision-making practices.
My personal learning
I am skilled in identifying different stages of a crisis, but I am unsure about responding to internal and external crises differently. The reading helped me develop a theoretical understanding in how to respond different crises in different way such as :
Crisis leadership, categorizing crises based on attributional dimensions and examining different leadership themes associated with each type of crisis.
The effective crisis leadership actions including the importance of trust repair, ethical leadership, and communication strategies.
To tailor their responses actions and communication strategies external-unintentional crises, internal-unintentional crises, external-intentional crises, and internal-intentional crises
External-Intentional Crises: This type of crisis involves intentional actions from external sources to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Leaders: addressing the actions of the external sources, managing stakeholder perceptions.
Internal-Unintentional Crises: In this type of crisis, leaders need to address and manage internal issues by finding the reasons within the organisation. They should focus on managing the technical and structural elements of the crisis and also manage stakeholder perceptions.
The complexity of crisis leadership & the importance of understanding the specific and dynamics context
Crisis Leadership as a Process: Effective crisis leadership requires crisis leadership navigates different stages, including pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis stages.
Leadership and Management: Crisis leadership involves elements of both leadership and management. Leaders need to inspire, motivate, and guide stakeholders, while also engaging in management activities such as planning, organising, and coordinating the crisis response.
Managing Stakeholder Perceptions: Leaders need to communicate openly, honestly, and clearly to shape how stakeholders perceive the impact of the crisis and judge their response. Effective crisis communication increases leader endorsement and follower support .
Personal sources of power, such as charisma and empathy, contribute to effective crisis leadership in several ways:
Charisma: Charismatic leaders have the ability to inspire and motivate others during a crisis with a strong vision, confidence and persuasive communication skills to lead stakeholders towards a common goal hrough the crisis due to their influence because of trustworthy and credible.
Empathy: Empathetic leaders can understand and connect with the emotions and experiences of their followers during a crisis. They can build a sense of psychological safety and resilience by demonstrating genuine concern for the well-being of their stakeholders and actively listen to their concerns and needs t. So, leaders can build trust, foster open communication, and provide the necessary support and reassurance to those affected by the crisis.
Effective crisis management and recovery nees personal sources of power that contribute to effective crisis leadership by enhancing leaders' ability to inspire, motivate, and support stakeholders during the crisis.
Charisma and empathy help leaders to establish strong relationships, build trust, and create a positive and supportive environment.
Tailoring Responses to Crisis Types: Different types of crises require different leadership responses by considering the uniqueness of each crisis to adapt their actions and communication strategies accordingly.
External-unintentional crises: leaders act as shepherds, protecting and guiding stakeholders, which ensure that everyone knows what they need to do to mitigate the impact of the crisis; In shaping how people perceive the impact of the crisis and how stakeholders judge their response by communicate timely, openly, honestly and clearly.
Internal-intentional crises: leaders need to take responsibility for their actions and implement strategies to regain trust to address internal issues within the organisation that were intentionally caused and have led to a crisis. They should take responsibility for their actions, communicate openly and honestly, and implement strategies to regain trust and support from stakeholders.