Leaders and co-workers – perspectives and roles

This chapter begins with a discussion on leaders and leadership. It discusses issues like, the difference between management and leadership associated with crises, the crisis leader’s primary tasks, different perspectives from research on leadership teach about successful leadership in the context of crises. The chapter deals with the importance of co-workers and how the culture of an organization creates different views and values about the role of co-workers. A large part of leadership research, as well as research on crisis management and crisis communication, is based on a perspective with the leader as a person in focus instead of leadership as a relational, mutual process. The chapter discusses the different perspectives within leadership research in order to deepen our understanding of the crisis leader’s communicative role. Managers and leaders definitely have a central communications role during a crisis. There is growing criticism of the focus on leaders as single individuals with hero-like properties.