Managing Crisis
What is organizational resilience?
The maintenance of positive adjustment under challenging conditions such that the organization emerges from those conditions strengthened and more resourceful
What is the difference between a group and a team?
Interdependence!
The degree to which the task requires interaction among team members or the extent to which team outcomes are contingent upon the actions of other team members.
What is Equity and Equality? How are they different?
Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities
Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome
What is diversity & inclusion? How are they related?
Diversity is the existence of different cultures or ethnicities within a group or organization. Inclusion is actions made to hear, respect, and understand everyone’s perspectives and backgrounds. Inclusion makes everyone feel included.
Why is ethics central to leadership?
The process of influence and power a leader holds in key decision making, accomplishing mutual goals, and establishing the organization’s and team's values.
What are the four cornerstones of effective leadership in a crisis?
1.Mobilizing a network of teams: Smart leaders understand that the typical top-down management style and flow of information and decision-making aren’t suited to times of crisis. Therefore, the leadership should set clear priorities and empower their teams to implement solutions. They should also elevate a network of decision-makers throughout the whole organization.
2.‘Deliberate calm’ and ‘bounded optimism’: Uncertainty and unpredictability naturally elicit feelings of fear and anxiety in almost all people. Good leaders are example setters and tread lines between confidence and realism.
3.Acting quickly and decisively: Leaders who need all the facts and analysis to make decisions are not suited to times of crisis. Successful leaders remain calm, take in the available information, and then act clearly and decisively.
4.Demonstrating empathy: Employees are people, parents, and children. In crunch times, they quickly slide back down the hierarchy of needs to the fundamental questions: will my family, my friends, or I be affected or hurt by this? Crisis leadership is all about understanding that all disasters are human situations, first and foremost.
What is Psychological Safety?
The shared belief that taking interpersonal risks and vulnerability is valued and expected on the team
What is the core tenant of critical race theory?
Framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society - recognizes that racism is embedded in laws, policies and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities
Interpersonal congruence: when it exists, team members are known for who you really are; limitations and all. You want the skills you have to match the skills others think you have. Get to know your teammates. Ask questions, disclose information. Improves team performance.
Intellectual humility: seeking knowledge from others and knowing that you may be wrong; being actively curious about your blind spots. Respect others.
Shared goals//Collective identity: Emphasizing shared goal and mission. We need the entire team to work together, not in silos based on surface-level traits. The “we-ness” of a group that stresses the shared attributes around which team members coalesce; members’ convergent beliefs about the team’s attribut
What are the three different approaches to making decisions regarding moral conduct? Just list!
What are the three steps leaders take when assessing and reacting to a crisis?
Sensing - To manage their scarce time, leaders have to choose where they devote their attention to but risk that they will filter out issues that need attention
Sizing - Identifying which quadrant an issue fits into requires leaders to estimate its magnitude, now and in the future.
Responding - Responding to any issue might seem routine because coming up with a plan, delegating responsibility, and overseeing execution is what a leader does daily. However, one key to dealing with unfolding events is recognizing that by definition they are evolving and require an adaptive response.
What are the six enabling conditions (questions) that lead to effective team functioning?
(1) Is it a real team? (2) Does it have a compelling purpose? (3) Does it have the right people? (4) Are the norms of conduct clear? (5) Is there support from the organizational context? (6) Is there team-focused coaching?
What is Optimal Distinctiveness Theory?
Social identities derive from a fundamental tension between two competing social needs—the need for inclusion and a countervailing need for uniqueness and individuation. People seek social inclusion to alleviate or avoid the isolation, vulnerability, or stigmatization that may arise from being highly individuated.On the other hand, too much similarity or excessive deindividuation provides no basis for self-definition, and hence, individuals are uncomfortable in situations in which they lack distinctiveness. Being just a number in a large, undifferentiated mass of people is just as unpleasant as being too alone.
What role do men play in the diversity conversation? Do they face any challenges?
Men must speak up and encourage supportive conversations surrounding diversity. Silence can be equally damning.
Men face discrimination when challenging traditional gender roles such as pink collar jobs, conversations around mental health, and paternity leave.
Why are leaders unethical? Define each reason!
Omnipotence - Feeling so aggrandized & entitled that you believe the rules of decent behavior don’t apply to you
Cultural Numbness - Playing along, gradually beginning to accept and embody deviant norms
Justified Neglect - Thinking of more immediate rewards such as staying on a good footing with the powerful
How can organizations be more resilient? Must get all five for full credit!
•Seek advantage in adversity.
•Look forward: crises can accelerate long-term transformational change.
•Measure beyond performance (e.g. flexibility, adaption).
•Prize diversity & appreciate the value of variation and divergence.
•Change as the default.
What are three common mistakes managers make when staffing teams?
•Assuming “the more the better” and putting too many people on the team.
•Assuming people who are similar to one another will get along better
•Assuming that everyone knows how to work in a group
How can we deal with polarized mindsets
The solution lies in breaking this oversimplified extreme view by introducing complexity and nuance. Studies show that presenting these topics as a complex matter with a number of viewpoints and multiple shades of grey made them rethink their views
What are the three types of diversity? Include an example of each
Surface-level diversity - Differences in overt biological characteristics such as race, gender, age
Deep-level diversity - Differences among attitudes, beliefs, & values; traits that are not readily visible, but emerge over time. Ex: knowledge, beliefs, skills
Hidden diversity - Deep-level diversity that may be concealed or revealed at discretion by individuals who possess them. Ex: sexual orientation, hidden disability, economic background
What are nudges? Give your own examples!
Leaders gently encouraging those around them to make more ethical choices by sharing information and encouraging people to rethink - creating more value by shaping the environment in which others make decisions.
Ex: organ donation as the default
What are the four types of crisis leaders may face? How should they react to each type?
Siren Songs- Significant issues that are likely to diminish over time. Leaders should watch & wait.
Clarian Calls- Significant issues likely to remain significant. Leaders should be all in.
Normal Noise- Small issues likely to remain small. Leaders should not get drawn in.
Whisper warnings- Small issues that might become significant. Leaders should nip things in the bud.
How can you increase creativity in teams? Must get at least 5 for full points!
•Write down your thoughts when it comes to mind
•Encourage participation from all team members
•Develop psychological safety and connection before sharing
•Anonymously share ideas
•Individual brainstorm à team discussion & analysis
•Express any ideas that come to mind, no matter how strange
•Design thinking (focus on empathy)
What four things can you do as a leader to encourage inclusion and discourage stigma & subtle exclusionary behaviors?
Be vulnerable.
Model healthy behaviors.
Build a culture of connection through check-ins.
Communicate more than you think you need to.
What are three common ways that organizations are trying to address diversity and equality? Include a strength and weakness of each approach.
Affirmative Action - Practices that compare the composition of an organization’s workforce to available labor pools and address underutilization of women and minorities.
Diversity Training - Programs designed to reduce individual biases and create awareness of the importance of diversity in an organization.
Targeted HRM - Practices that incorporate both individual performance and demographic characteristics into human resource decision-making processes.
What are the two types of ethical dilemmas? Which one is more challenging? Give your own example of each
Right v. Right - Ethical issues emerge when two core values come into conflict with each other
Right V. Wrong - Ethical issues emerge when a core moral value has been violated or ignored