ORGANIZATION’S MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP DURING COVID 19

PANDEMIC

A SCOPING REVIEW OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH PAPERS

INTRODUCTION

The COVID 19 pandemic was an unpredictable crisis that has caused unprecedented loss to
all kind of firms and organizations. Research by (Eddy, G. 2019) has shown that only those
organizations have protected themselves from immense loss due to this pandemic who have
understood the changed scenario immediately and have adapted change management
strategies within their organizations. Besides, this the sudden outbreak of COVID 19 has
affected the health, mind and behavioral attitudes of the victims to a greater extent (Faizan, R.
&Zehra, N. 2016).

This research is done to extract informative material from some very authentic research
articles regarding COVID 19 crisis and change management. The scoping review approach
seems to be very realistic and relevant through which one can synthesize the important
information which is the most unbiased extract because it is never taken from a single article.
The study will focus on the research methods adapted by this research and will summarize
the research findings of the collected articles in this review article.

Objective of the Research

This review article has gathered informative data from the selected studies and summarized
the research findings to sum them up collectively. The basic aim is to identify and evaluate
the most appropriate management and leadership changes required to boost up the interest
rate and turn out of employees.

We have conducted a thorough analysis of the three research articles collected. These articles
mainly focused on the same topic which is change management and leadership approached
during the pandemic scenario. This study has adapted the methodology of five major steps
that are mentioned as below;

1- Identifying the research questions and hypothesis crafted for each research
2- Mentioning and finalizing the sorted-out research articles
3- Evaluating their methodology and investigating how these researches have been
proved valid by the research scholars
 4- Charting, collecting, summarizing and reporting the results collected by these research
paper
5- Extracting a valid conclusion from these articles collectively.

IDENTIFYING RELEVANT ARTICLES

EXCLUDED ARTICLES 10
(Title and summary of the
articles were not relevant
to the objectives of study)
ARTICLES ADDED FROM
GOOGLE

INCLUDED ARTICLES
SEARCHING FOR RELEVANT 6
ARTICLES BY KEYWORDS
ON GOOGLE

METHODOLOGICAL
SCREENING AND 3 RELEVANT ARTICLES
PRACTICAL SCREENING
SELECTING THE BEST SELECTED FOR STUDY
ARTICLES

Figure 1 Research Article Selection Process

I have adapted two distinct strategies to select the most relevant articles. First of all the basic
topic to be reviewed is decided and then the relevant articles are searched with the help of
related keywords. The study under focus is organization management and leadership
approached during the pandemic situation. So, the key used were organizational management,
leadership approaches, COVID 19 pandemic and change management. A little research
resulted in a long list of articles that were based on the same topic. The next step of article
selection was to sort out journal articles only because they are the most reliable and authentic
source of information.

Relevant articles were restricted to the latest period i.e., not older than 2020. Still lot of
articles were collected and the final selection was made on the basis of research methodology
used in these articles. Our main focus was on quantitative research article where the research
findings are cross checked through some statistics software like SPSS, STATA or thematic
analysis of interviews taken during research.
 MAIN SECTIONS OF THE ARTICLES
5% 2%

General discussion on Crises

30% Management
23% Relationship with Stakeholders
challenges and Difficulties dis-
cussion
Good Management and Leadership
Practices
Discussions about Implication of
Different Leadership Approaches
Conclusion and Recommendations

24%
29%

Figure 2 Different Sections of the Articles Selected

Selecting Research Article

To review the research on the topic of management and leadership practices during the
pandemic crises, we have selected three research journal articles. The three articles basically
revolve around the different managerial and leadership behaviors required to overcome the
covid 19 pandemic crises. All three are based on quantitative research where a hypothesis is
created in the beginning of the article which will be then checked for the validity purpose.

A short summary of the content present in these articles can be seen through different
sections of these articles. Our research and selection have identified that all the three articles
contain 29% of content on the implications of different leadership approaches during the
pandemic. 24% data contained in these articles is regarding good management approaches
and tactics. A major portion of 23% is discussion and investigation of different challenges
and problems that are connected with COVID 19 pandemic and organizational management.

Collecting, Summarizing and Reporting the Results

Once the three quantitative research articles were selected, the main focus was made on the
hypothesis created in these articles and how they are checked for validity.
Change Management and Leadership during Crises

Paper 1 Review:

Title: Navigating change in the era of COVID-19: The role of top leaders’ charismatic
rhetoric and employees’ organizational identification

Author: Cen April Yue

As per the research of (Yue, 2021), most of the organizations have revealed that one of the
biggest reasons behind the loss they faced was the manpower factor. Research has shown that
employees felt reluctant to accept the sudden changes in their workplace, working style and
management change within their organization. As (Yue, 2021) has mentioned in his research
that pandemic has made the employees to stay at home and work remotely for the
organization. This new change in the work style has made the employees confused and has
declined their output (Folger, R. &Skarlicki, D.P. (2000). Pre-designed crisis management
plans is always the foremost requirement of every organization if they want to overcome the
unseen challenges (Yue, 2021).

(Yue, 2021) stated that employees should be trained to work under any kind of condition and
this can only be achieved if they are guided by a charismatic and rhetoric leadership
approach. (Butcher, D& Atkinson, S. 2001) have claimed in their research that employees opt
to quit their job and leave the organization when they find a drastic change in their working
environment

Materials and Methods

The major aim of this research study is to investigate and understand how different
organizations managed their functionality and maintained their profitability during the
outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic. This research has also investigated the most appropriate
management and leadership approaches that can help an organization in recovering from the
crises of pandemic.

Our first research paper was about navigating change within the organizations during
pandemic situation and investigating the role of top leadership in this context. (Yue, 2021) in
their research has highlighted different leadership approaches that can affect the turnover
intention among the employees and keeping it stable during the pandemic. (Yue, 2021) has
identified that how different leadership approaches can lead to retain the turnover intention
during the change management period. Hypothesis created in this research revolve around the
relationship between leadership approach and employee’s turnover retention and the main
focus is kept on change management during pandemic.

(Yue, 2021) has conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate the reliability of the
constructs developed to investigate the hypothesis. A research survey is designed to collect
responses from the employees of some prominent organizations. The research survey
comprised of closed-end questions that are asked to investigate the behavioral and attitudinal
responses of employees against the change in their organization. Moreover, the effectiveness
of leadership style adapted by supervisors and its influence has been investigated through this
survey. The responses collected are checked against the Likert scale and differentiated on the
basis of variables created for the questionnaire.

Result discussion Paper 1:

As per the findings of research conducted by (Yue, 2021), charismatic leadership with its
significant feature of inspiring the followers should be adapted. Moreover, a change
management program should be implemented with the mutual consent of the stakeholders of
the organization so that the firm can cope up with the changes caused due to pandemic. (Yue,
2021) further emphasized that top leaders should apply a charismatic rhetoric approach
during the change process so that the followers can be motivated to adapt the change.
Effective commitment to transform the working style by the employees lead to reduce their
turnover intention rate.

Hypothesis created by (Yue, 2021), has also been proved valid as the research results show a
clear bonding between charismatic rhetoric and employee’s turnover intention. Effective
willingness to change from the employee’s side mediates the process of adapting changes
(Burnes B.,1999). The results of this research paper also identified that it is the need of the
day that charismatic leadership should prepare their followers prior to change and should
navigate turbulent changes throughout the crises period. Another significant finding of (Yue,
2021) was that affective commitment to change encapsulates employee’s perception towards
change process and make them believe that changes are beneficial for the growth and
prosperity of the organization.

Change Management and Leadership during Crises

PAPER 2 Review:

Title: How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the leadership and the direction of the
organization

Author: Sharmineh Kakoulidis and Dekyi Hederstedt

Main Body:

(Hederstedt, 2021), has researched that only those organizations have recovered from their
loss who have followed appropriate leadership approaches that were effective enough to
motivate their employees to accept these changes. (Hederstedt, 2021) has proved in his
research that coping up with managerial changes always leave a declining impact on the
overall productivity of the employees.

Research Questions:

1. How has the leadership and the direction of the organization been affected during
the Covid-19 pandemic?
2. How has the customer's needs affected the organization?

Change Management and Leadership during Crises

As per the research of (Hederstedt, 2021), COVID 19 crisis period, uncertainty and extreme
threats to organization’s future always demand to go through the current organizational
practices, transform functionality according to changing environment, acquiring new talent
and capabilities and implement new managerial strategies to adapt these changes (Bass. B.M,
&Avolio 1994).

(Hederstedt, 2021) has identified that COVID 19 crises has affected the working individuals
by dividing them into three distinct groups. First those who have to work remotely, second
those who were enforced to adapt changes to their work style within the workplace and the
third ones were those who were fired from their job due to failure in accepting changes (Bass.
B.M, &Avolio., B, 1994). Sudden changes and unseen crises are more of a threat for the
employees because they have to face and adapt them under every condition. Job insecurity is
the biggest barrier to adapt to changes.

Materials and Methods Applied:

Once the quantitative research articles were selected, the main focus was made on the
hypothesis created in these articles and how they are checked for validity.

(Hederstedt, 2021) through their research have revealed the challenges that are connected with
the crises management and how leadership and management can overcome the crises created
by COVID 19 pandemic. The hypothesis created in this research are regarding the leadership
behavior and the expectations of employees while performing under three pandemic related
crises contexts.

As per (Creswell, J. W. (2011), the hypotheses are also built to figure out the impact of
leadership gender on supervising the employees during crises situation. Primary data for this
research is collected through a research questionnaire which was distributed among the
different scales’ employees (both male and female) belonging to different organizations.
Various stats tests like regression and correlation analysis were taken to check the validity of
the hypothesis.

Result Discussions

Research conducted by (Hederstedt, 2021), have presented five different sustainable working
approaches that can work perfect during the change management. These working methods are
identified after taking detailed interviews and online surveys from the organizational heads
and employee’s sector. (Hederstedt, 2021) has investigated that adapting the change during
crises is a combined effort of leadership, strong management and employee’s dedication. As
per the findings of this research, agility and flexibility is mandatory for the management and
employees to tolerate changes and face risks (Bass. B., &Avolio., 1994).

Review Article 3:

Title: Leadership During Crisis: An Examination of Supervisory Leadership Behavior

and Gender During COVID-19
Author: Connor J. Eichenauer, Ann Marie Ryan, Jo M. Alanis

Main Body:

(Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has argued that it is the need of the day to bring new ways of
doing business, if the organizations want to fight against the challenges caused by pandemic.

Research by (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022), has focused on the concept of change as a planned
change that starts with a recognition of problem and analysis of the crisis process through
various stages. His research has further identified that change can never be adapted until the
top management and their leadership have a flexible nature and have prior training to adapt
changes. Further research has convinced the management to avoid all such circumstances that
can decline the output of their employees (Faizan, R. & Zehra, 2016).

(Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) proved that changes always stand as a threat of job insecurity in
front of the employees and creates resistance to change in them. Under such circumstances,
only strong leadership can work as motivational forces and employee’s empowerment agents.
(Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) argued that organizations where management do not focus on
developing leadership power in their managers and fail to communicate about change with
their employees are always defeated by the unseen challenges. Employees turnover intention
during pandemic highly depends upon the leadership approach adapted by the organization
(Haque, A.U., &Yamoah, 2014).

Materials and Methods Used:

This research paper is also based upon the COVID 19 pandemic crises and investigating the
fact that how the organizations leadership and management has been affected by it. This is a
bit different kind of research because the methodology adapted for this research is both
qualitative and quantitative. (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) in their research have taken two
different tools of collecting primary research data i.e., face -to- face interviews with the
management personnel and employees.

This research has also adapted digital survey that has been conducted from a large group of
employees to better understand employee’s narrative related to this topic. Later the responses
collected are checked for their validity through different stats tests and a thematic analysis of
the interview responses collected. (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has created five different
themes to discuss for the thematic analysis of the interviews conducted during the research.

Results and Findings:

Research done by (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) during the pandemic situation has also
shown some important facts about the change management and leadership requirements. The
research has highlighted that how leadership have managed the critical situations brought by
pandemic and how leadership efforts to manage the change are evaluated by the employees
(Haque, A.U., & Yamoah, F. (2014). The research done by (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has
investigated that leadership’s main task is to give prior training to the employees for adapting
changes. The management navigation progress for adapting changes were also discussed in
this research.

Overall Conclusion:

This review study is conducted to analyze the research conducted by some reliable papers on
the topic of COVID19 pandemic and management strategies to adapt changes. The main
objective of this study is to investigate the pandemic crisis management practices adapted by
organizations and what role is played by leadership in preparing the employees to adapt the
workplace changes.

(Hederstedt, 2021) has claimed that non-flexible employee’s attitude always resists towards
accepting changes. A major finding of (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has depicted that in the
times of crises situation, change is not only required at the top leadership level but their
approach towards change should have a profound impact on employee’s workplace behavior.
(Yue, 2021) has identified that how different leadership approaches can lead to retain the
turnover intention during the change management period.

(Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has emphasized that under unseen circumstances, it is the
responsibility of the management to support their employees, understand their problems and
motivate them through different ways. Self-recognition, appreciation and conducting training
programs are the best ways to adapt to changes. (Connor J. Elchenauer, 2022) has claimed
that charismatic leadership can work perfect in preparing the employees to head off the crisis
time.

REFERENCES:

Bass. B.M, &Avolio., B, J (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through

transformational leadership. Bass. B (1985) organizational dynamics 13(3).

(Burnes B.,1999) Managing Change, a Strategic Approach to Organizational Dynamics,

Pitman Publishing, London

Butcher, D& Atkinson, S. (2001) Stealth, secrecy and subversion: the language of change:
Journal of organizational change.

Connor J. Elchenauer, A. M. R. J. M. A., 2022. Leadership During Crisis: An Examination of

Supervisory Leadership Behavior and Gender During COVID-19. Jouranl of Leadership and
Organizational Studies, 29(2), p. 236.
Creswell, J. W. (2011. Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating
quantitative and qualitative research. Boston: Pearson Education

Dawson, Catherin. (2000). Practical research methods. New Delhi. UBs Publishers and
Distributors Ltd.

Elias, S.M. 2009. Employee commitment in times of change: Assessing the importance of
attitudes towards organizational change, Journal of Management. 3

Faizan, R. &Zehra, N. (2016). Quality Work-Life as predictor to Organizational Commitment

under contrasting Leadership Styles: I.T Responses from Pakistan's private software houses.
Global Journal of Management and Administration, 16(6), 9-23

Folger, R. &Skarlicki, D.P. (2000). Unfairness and resistance to change: hardship as

mistreatment, Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Geldenhuys. P (2008). The impact of feedback on changing organizational culture: Southern

African business review12 (1),37-66.

Haque, A.U., &Yamoah, F. (2014), Gender Employment Longevity: I.T Staff Response to
Organizational Support in Pakistan, International Journal of Academic Research in Business
and Social Sciences, 4(12), 324-347

Hederstedt, S. K. a. D., 2021. How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the leadership and
the direction of the Organization, s.l.: s.n.

Yue, C. A., 2021. Navigating change in the era of COVID-19: The role of top leaders’
charismatic rhetoric and employees’ organizational identification. Elsevier Public Health
Emergency Collection, 47(5), p. 119.