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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

HOW TO LEAD THE TEAM THROUGH THE CRISIS – COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN
BUSINESSES, SELF GOVERNANCE AND HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

ZUZANA SKORKOVÁ,

NADEŽDA JANKELOVÁ,

ZUZANA JONIAKOVÁ,

JANA BLŠTÁKOVÁ,

KATARÍNA

PROCHÁZKOVÁ

University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of business
management, Dolnozemská cesta 1, Bratislava 852 35, Slovakia
e-mail:

zuzana.skorkova@euba.sk,

nadezda.jankelova@euba.sk,

zuzana.joniakova@euba.sk,

jana.blstakova@euba.sk,

katarina.prochazkova@euba.sk

Supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of Slovak
Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences VEGA Project No. 1/0017/20 Changes
in application of management functions in the context of 4.0 industry era and its
adaptation processes – 50% and by VEGA No. 1/0412/19 Systems of Human
Resources Management in the 4.0 Industry Era – 50%.

Abstract: The onset of a COVID 19 pandemic has created a general need for
appropriate crisis management. The aim of our paper is to compare the degree of crisis
management competencies in three different types of organizations - businesses,
health care organizations and self-government organizations. Degree of crisis
management competencies was determined by the following factors - quality of crisis
communication, the leadership style, the quality of decision-making in times of crisis,
team performance and teamwork and the information sharing. The highest level of
crisis management competencies was achieved by crisis management in business,
which we proved on a sample of 122 companies. The leadership is weakest link of
crisis management in all the organizations surveyed.

Keywords: crisis management, crisis communication, COVID-19, team work

1 Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic caused an unexpected and global crisis,
which will most likely lead to permanent changes in
organizational management. The whole society was hit by the
COVID-19 crisis rapidly and unexpectedly. The crisis
management and change management are currently part of every
single company, organization or institution. Every individual had
to adapt in his ordinary work life to a large extent to the crisis,
which came unexpectedly and caught many of us off-guard. A
great deal of uncertainty is evident throughout society. Hotels,
restaurants, retail stores, sports facilities, theatres and cinemas
remained closed during the acute stage of the crisis without a
prospect of future activity.

On the other hand, these facts appeal to the need of quality
management competencies, which would be stable and
established long-term in the environment of leaders in all kind of
organizations, and which in non-standard conditions may
develop into higher management skills, and thus allow the
leaders to operate on a principle other than by trial and error
(which could have fatal consequences for all stakeholders). The
aim of our paper is to compare the degree of crisis management
competencies in three different types of organizations -
businesses, health care organizations and self-government
organizations.

The research results will help to identify the weak spots of crisis
management in each of above mentioned institutions. Our
findings can guide responsible managers from these
organizations to improve critical areas of their crisis
management. We consider it important to examine the level of
key crisis competencies in companies, thus identifying the
strengths and weaknesses of the management of individual
institutions. Leaders should invest their time in improving the
level of weaknesses, which will be significantly reflected in the
quality of crisis management of their institution.

1.1 Crisis management competencies

To manage a crisis is to manage the change (Hutchins & Wang,
2008), whereby the human factor plays a significant role in the
management of changes, which is the determinant of
success/failure in the implementation of decisions,

communication strategies, team work performance and the reach
of leadership in crisis.

The more lives that are governed by the value(s) under threat,
the deeper the crisis goes (Boin et al., 2005). For this exact
reason the Corona crisis is perceived more intensely, since it
caused a feeling of uncertainty and concerns for the health and
lives of people and their loved ones.

Crisis management creates pressure on using transformational
leadership with a focus on charismatic leadership (Johnson,
2020; Johnson & Riggio, 2004), however, with an emphasis on
maintaining strength and unity of leadership tools (Jacobides,
2020). At the same time, it creates pressure on higher and top
management, which should focus on transparent provision and
immediate sharing of information, open communication and
acceptance of non-conforming solutions (Gardner & Peterson,
2020).

Several studies show that in the context of effective crisis
management, especially during the acute stage of the crisis,
major factors of its successful management include especially
effective communication (Kim&Lim, 2020; Clementson 2020),
use of suitable people management style (Richardson, 2019;
Grant-Smith&Colley, 2018), ability of adequate decision-
making (Savi & Randma-Liiv, 2015) and the establishment of an
effective crisis team and sharing of information within
(Uitdewilligen & Waller, 2018; Lee, Woeste, & Heath, 2007).
significant factors for crisis management, especially during its
acute stage, are efficient and effective communication
(especially internal), selection of suitable management style,
flexibility of decision-making, establishment of an effective
crisis team and sharing of information within it (Pearce et al.,
2020; Bhaduri, 2019; Bowers et al., 2017; Comfort et al, 2020).

Communication is the most important tested variable in the
effect of competent crisis management on performance.
Communication becomes a strategic element to maintain the
reputation of the business (Flores et al., 2019). As the authors of
this study argue, the commitment of the employees to the
company is reinforced by communication taking place in the
form of constant and honest dialogue. The author of the
normative crisis communication emphasizes that true and
relevant information is its foundation and that information
overflow is harmful (Clementson, 2020). Although research in
the field of crisis communication has recently developed mainly
in the field of external crisis communication, internal
communication in times of acute crisis in terms of exchange of
information between managers and employees for effective
decision-making and performance, has been neglected compared
to external. The internal dimensions of crisis communication are
insufficiently researched also because the results of crisis
management are directly related to the perception of co-workers,
the creation of feelings, reactions and actions. As an organization
enters an acute phase of a crisis, the need for information
increases dramatically among co-workers. Collaborators act on
how I understand the situation and at the same time discuss the
crisis with all stakeholders, especially patients. Johansson &
Ottestig (2011) found that managers overestimate their external
legitimacy over internal legitimacy, and this is reflected in
insufficient communication skills in relation to employees.
Coombs (2007) states that communication by management
should be perceived by employees as honest, honest,
trustworthy, and transparent and open.

Tourish (2020) objects that the Covid-19 pandemic is also a
crisis of leadership theory and practice. Author compared the
decision-making process to gambling, where the leadership has
weak knowledge unproven by research. The crisis situation we
are currently facing often creates an environment especially for
populist (Schneiker, 2020) and destructive leadership (Brandebo,
2020) and he also draws attention to the fact that the crisis

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