Managing a crisis : leadership and organizational elements essential for success

Abstract

Every organization will face a crisis at some point in its history. How well an organization handles the preparation, response and recovery from a crisis is highly dependent on the strength of its leadership and overall design. This thesis develops a framework of five leadership and seven organizational elements necessary for the evaluation of an organization's response during a crisis. Utilizing this framework, interviews were conducted with senior leaders of businesses that successfully navigated tremendous crisis situations. As a result of these interviews, I determined the leadership elements of a strong foundation of support, realistic analysis and a propensity to act had the greatest impact on the success or failure of a leader during a crisis. The organizational elements of leadership support, a strong shared vision, and the ability to think systemically were also determined essential to the effective handling of a crisis. Organizations should dedicate time and resources to cultivate the robust development of these elements as part of their crisis preparation.