While pandemic happens, we have seen the government taking actions such as keep social distancing and limit indoor events. The companies allow the workers to work from home and take a flexible approach to government decisions. During a pandemic, it is always a big challenge towards people’s decision-making in the position of leadership. With the rapid change in the situation, leaders need to be flexible and considerable while making production and employee management policies.
The author mentioned Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid in the textbook that measures two factors: “Concern for production and concern for people” (Northouse, 2019). While the leader’s concern is high for both people and results, he is using the team management style; While the leader’s concern is high on people but low of results, the leader has a country-club management style; While the leader’s concern is low on people but high of results, the leader has an authority-compliance management style; When the leader’s management style is both low on people and results, the management style is impoverished management style; And the leader lands in the middle of both is the middle-of-the-road management style.
During the pandemic, the trend of bringing more concern towards people leads to more companies trying to reach the team management style. We see with the lead of some big tech companies, policies like work from home, flexible working schedules, and increasing family care rules are implemented. We can see more company has aware of the importance of people capital and have started to transform from an authority-compliance company towards more of the team management leadership style. From what I have learned in the Human Resource classes, I can also see how the transformation is implemented. The human resource department will act as the bridge between the leaders and followers and help them communicate the concern from the people. Human Resource professions will also monitor the external news, such as the policies from the government authorities. Lastly, the human resource department will perform collective bargaining with the union, which represents the people, to help the leaders made the best decision on balancing the concern for people and result.
In sum, with the effect of the pandemic, leaders have to be more aware of the condition of their workers. By cooperating with the human resources team, the leaders can be fully aware of the change in policy and the situation of their workers to be flexible to balance their concern of workers and results.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Washington, D.C. Sage Publications.
Itgelt Gankhuyag says
Hello,
It was an interesting topic because I feel the same way as you did. Leaders were more effective during hard times. We see that real leaders are the ones who stand fiercely to problems without any doubts of giving up.
Leaders must move fast during a crisis, such as the COVID pandemic, and adjust plans when new evidence and variables emerge. Attention must be paid to both the present and what lies ahead, which is why it is critical for your employees to feel confident.
For the followers, they had a chance to become a leader. It was a great opportunity to prove them that they can qualify for a leadership position. Without any problems or crisis, no leader and follower can prove their performance.
References:
Leadership During COVID-19: Resources for Times Of Uncertainty | CCL | Learn More. (2021, September 14). CCL. https://www.ccl.org/coronavirus-resources/.
Abigail Schmidt says
Hello,
It was interesting to read your blog post as I also wrote one referencing the pandemic, but from a followership point of view. With both the followership point of view on aspects of the pandemic and your leadership point of view, it is interesting to see that the main points overlap. Followers and leaders, whether that be government or HR management, need to be able to listen and work with each other to fulfill the needs of everyone.