This master thesis investigates the role of leadership in facilitating how employees process the sudden loss of a coworker in a German consultancy firm. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with eight employees, the case study explores how leaders supported their teams during a period of organizational loss and grief. Using an abductive approach and thematic analysis, three key themes emerged from the data. Firstly, employees reacted to the sudden death with shock, sadness, and reflections on life and work. Secondly, coping mechanisms such as information-seeking, community engagement, emotional expression, and action were observed among employees. Lastly, leadership tasks encompassed setting the stage for emotions, effective communication, and sustaining the business. On the basis of these themes found in the case study and previous research, we propose a theoretical framework that breaks down the complex task of leading employees through the sudden death of a coworker into four stages: Prepare, Acquaint, Lead, Evaluate. Each stage contains several leadership actions which show the duality of emotional and business-related tasks. These stages serve as a guideline for leaders who learn about the sudden death of a coworker first and want to support their employees through coping with the incident. This framework and the findings highlight the critical role of leadership in navigating grief and trauma and shaping organizational climate.The study contributes to the literature by providing insights into employee perspectives on sudden loss and offering practical implications for effective leadership in times of sudden employee death.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-129816 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Ruoff, Clara, Glibowska, Paulina |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för management (MAN) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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