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SHA, ZHANG (2022) A case study on x Company's leadership during COVID-19. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]

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Abstract

Abstract Leadership as a concept receiving extensive attention in organisational settings has never ceased to be researched. This existing literature has provided a variety of various theoretical underpinnings for leadership, thus providing a set of fixed paradigms for the practice of leadership. However, the COVID-19 has challenged the existing leadership paradigm. The pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to organisations and has far-reaching implications for the world. Therefore, it is questionable whether the existing leadership paradigm can cope with the crisis. Importantly, in this study, relatively little has been said about leadership in the developing international context, especially when considering the challenges posed by the COVID-19 . Therefore, to enhance the researcher's further knowledge of crisis leadership and to guide the transformation of leadership in practice, a company in a developing country was used as the subject of the study. This company was chosen because the China's particular economic policies and circumstances have led to a change in the organisation's leadership. In order to examine the shift in leadership in the organisation and its impact, LMX theory was used to guide the conduct of semi-structured interviews with senior managers and employee questionnaires after reviewing relevant theories. The statistical results of the research survey explored the leadership changes and impacts that exist within the organisation from the perspective of both leaders and followers. The results show that leaders within the organisation have implemented stricter prevention measures and increased the frequency of communication with followers to reduce the COVID-19 challenges. On the other hand, there was also evidence that leadership shifts in the organisation had improved the quality of relationships within the organisation, which positively impacted employee behaviour and attitudes. However, the study also found that employees perceived these leader behaviours to have a limited impact on the organisation. Therefore,

3 companies could consider distributing leadership down the line to increase the impact of leader behaviours by building effective teams. The research findings yield some critical considerations for policy and practice. The findings of this study will make a positive contribution to the organisations and members selected and help companies solve existing problems. Furthermore, by refining the empirical research on crisis leadership, future research in this area can be facilitated.

Item Type:	Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Keywords:	English
Depositing User:	Zhang, Sha
Date Deposited:	25 Apr 2023 13:02
Last Modified:	25 Apr 2023 13:02
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/67608

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