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Leadership in Times of Uncertainty

The purpose of the study was to research leadership during uncertainty to identify managerial implications on organizational performance and enhance the limited body of academic literature available on the topic currently. The implications regarding leadership are not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic but instead widely applicable to leadership during uncertainty overall. The pandemic simply provided an example of uncertainty, which was the context. Additionally, as mining is a global industry with widespread follow-on effects on global economies - authors believe that the results from this research are not limited to the mining industry itself and instead widely applicable to senior-level managers in multinational organizations worldwide. The methodology implemented ensures that leaders at any level can extract practical guidance from this research to determine how they may act during times of uncertainty and potential flow-on effects of their chosen leadership style.  Organizations can remain relevant, achieve long-term success and maintain the expected level of performance through uncertainty by adopting a transformational model of leadership that addresses the needs of a fluctuating environment. Uncertainty is the shortage of knowledge and information about probabilities of the future state of events. Organizational leaders need to provide the necessary guidance, inspiration, and motivation to the members because their approach influences the organizational performance. Essentially, people look up to their leaders during uncertain times. The research results showed that transformational managers could offer idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration to team members during uncertainty. These outcomes were achieved through encouraging two-way communication, providing necessary guidance and inspiration to bring out and encourage new idea generation and critical thinking.  Results of the research further showed that transformational leadership has positive effects on organizational performance. Teams functioned properly without much supervision, members remained motivated, the workforce interacted more efficiently, and creative ideas came out when leaders and managers practiced a transformational leadership style. Organizational performance increased through meeting deadlines, maintaining the flow of work, KPIs, production, and non-financial metrics such as culture and safety considerations.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-85763
Date January 2021
CreatorsChoudhury, Wasim Subhan, Collins, Dion
PublisherLuleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik, konst och samhälle, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik och samhälle
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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