Tremendous tribe, I need your help! I am searching for an organization that has successfully navigated its way through a challenge as part of my doctoral research on the perceptions of leader effectiveness in an organizational crisis. My goal is to conduct a case study on follower motivation and engagement as the crisis unfolded, and the team emerged on the other side. At the core of the proposed research is the study of leader perceptions in the follower's mind.
In today's global and interconnected world, companies are judged by their ability to weather a crisis. Leaders will most likely face at least one major critical situation in their careers. The eruption of a catastrophe draws leaders and followers together in a unique manner. While normal operations can carry a degree of less than engaged members, when survival is at stake, it's all-hands-on-deck to right the ship. The cost of underconfidence of the leader in followers, or the price of low support of followers in their leader, is a weight no organization can carry through a contingency response. Various factors formulate the perception of leader/follower assessment. Understanding how these perceptions become a reality is vital in building stable organizations capable of longevity. 
My goal is to conduct a case study where I will interview employees who have remained employed by the organization in crisis and within the reporting structure of the crisis leader. I will also interview the leaders/supervisors as well to compare the perspective of leaders and perspective of followers; i.e., what the leader experiences versus what the followers see.
If you are an organization that meets the following criteria, I would welcome the chance to share more information and explore the opportunity to research your responses:
- Small business of 500 employees or less
- Private company; not publicly traded nor a governmental entity
- The organization has successfully navigated the crisis and is still in existence
- The crisis threatened the future survival of the organization
- The crisis was unexpected
- The company is at least one year past the end of the crisis
- The crisis happened in the last 3 to 5 years
- The entity is within a one-day driving distance of Harrisburg, PA
Once permission is granted, I will meet with the President/CEO/gatekeeper to review the questions and request 25 to 30 individuals for my sample population.
- The sample size is 5 supervisors/leaders; 25 workers/individual contributors
- Participants were in each other’s chain of command for the duration of the crisis
- One group whose tenure is 1 to 3 years
- One group whose tenure is 3+ years
- May be individuals who have since left the company if they were in the organization throughout the crisis.
Sample questions will include:
- Describe a worker that impacted you?
- Did the leader motivate you to stay? If so, how?
- How did you see your direct supervisor in the crisis?
- How did you see your follower(s) in the crisis?
All responses will be confidential, and no names will be released. Each of the participants will also have a release form to sign detailing the process and that this is entirely voluntary. I will deliver a briefing to the organization with the results of my research and make myself available for follow-on questions or training related to the findings.
This is a tremendous opportunity for a small business to show the research world what leaders and followers can do together so they can successfully navigate the inevitable crises that are a part of our modern-day business world!
Interested in more information or know an organization that may fit the description? Please drop me a line at tjones@tremendousleadership.com.
