Crisis is a situation of transition which renders the normal operations and activities unable to satisfy or contain the immediate unexpected needs that can threaten the existence of an entity like an organization or company (Lussier & Achua, 2010). A crisis can be said to contain three segments that lean on each other namely:
Threat- the event must be able to cause great damage to target entity be it an organization, a business entity or a group of individuals.
Unexpected event- there has to be a moment of surprise in terms of inadequate preparation to counter the effect of the crisis.
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Time constraint- there is always increasing damage relative to duration of time taken to sort out the issue or control it.
Crisis Leadership Competence therefore refers to the ability of a chosen individual or selected group of people to deal with any emergency situation that may threaten the existence of an organization (Dotlich, Cairo, & Rhinesmith, 2009). It is therefore worth noting that the focus point is the fact that these events are either ongoing or has already caused damages with the resultant effects already being experienced.
Crisis Leadership Competency enables a manager to instantly distinguish between those unfortunate happenings that will either be blamed on the organization’s management or those that are entirely out of the hands of the respective institution. This is very important because it enables one to save time and pick on relevant plans of action. There are those that are sudden which give no warning hence only need reactions like unrelated public riots near the business premises that can interrupt business and cause physical damage and looting (Dotlich, Cairo, & Rhinesmith, 2009). There is the second category that arises from buildup situation directly attributed to negligence or oppression from the management function. These are often linked to psychological and emotional confrontations leads to disgruntled employees who can easily resort to sabotages or open strikes. Crisis Leadership Competency therefore is very important because it ensures managers handle these unplanned for situations, in a logical manner by ensuring the least of damage is attained from any situation. This ability enables managers to rationally diagnose upcoming difficult situations or the effects of impending interruptions to normalcy (Lussier & Achua, 2010). They are able to consequently involve strategic thinking and planning to control and manage the crisis while at the same time evaluating the employed processes for effectiveness.
In conclusion, with the versatile organizational environment that has many external factors dictating the flow of events, one cannot do without Crisis Leadership Competency being considered especially due to consistence growth, stability and expansion aspects of most modern organizations.
References
Dotlich, D. L., Cairo, P., & Rhinesmith, S. (2009). Leading in times of crisis: navigating through complexity, diversity, and uncertainty to save your business. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lussier, R. N. & Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership: theory, application, skill development. Australia: SouthWestern/Cengage Learning.
