Beilstein, C. M., Lehmann, L. E., Braun, M., Urman, R. D., Luedi, M. M., & Stüber, F. (2020). Leadership in a time of crisis: Lessons learned from a pandemic. Best Practice & Research Clinical Anaesthesiology, 35(3).
This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is testing the communication skills of leaders across institutions, particularly their preparedness and flexibility in addressing the pandemic. This article is written by Beilstein et al., affiliated with the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Bern University Hospital in Switzerland. The article’s intended audience is healthcare leaders. The article could also be helpful to stakeholders, including students, political leaders, and communication experts.
This paper is similar to Watkins and Clevenger’s (2021) and Hayes et al.’s (2021) studies, which explore the role of leaders during the pandemic. However, unlike Watkins and Clevenger (2021), who examine educational systems, Beilstein et al. (2020) explore political leaders’ communication failures during the pandemic. This article will be important because it addresses the poor communication gap among political leaders and provides valuable insights into the topic under study.
Farhan Saputra. (2021). Leadership, communication, and work motivation in determining the success of professional organizations. Journal of Law, Politics and Humanities, 1(2), 59–70.
This article is written by Farhan Saputra, an economics and business faculty student at Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya in Indonesia. The Journal of Law, Politics, and Humanities has accepted it. This paper asserts that for an organization to be considered professional, it must possess three key indicators: effective leadership, robust communication channels, and high employee motivation (Saputra, 2021). Its findings are similar to those in Mens et al.’s (2019) study, which found that good communication and motivation are critical for startup organizations.
However, while Mens et al. (2019) conducted a mixed-methods study, only a comprehensive literature review was conducted on the subject. The paper will contribute to this study by demonstrating how social and psychological factors foster effective leadership. The intended audience for the study was the University lecturers and other students within the University. Scholars and students wishing to expand their knowledge on the topic can use this source.
Fernandez, A. A., & Shaw, G. P. (2020). Academic leadership in a time of crisis: The coronavirus and COVID-19. Journal of Leadership Studies, 14(1).
The central theme of this article is how leaders should react and communicate during times of crisis. The paper is written with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, which may introduce bias. One of the authors, Dr. Fernandez, is a neurosurgeon and an educational practitioner at Barry University, Florida, US. His co-author, Dr. Shaw, is a full professor at the same institution and previously worked at the University of North London. The target audience for the article is academic leaders, though other stakeholders may find it helpful.
Like Saputra (2021), this study concludes that during times of crisis, leaders should embrace servant leadership, communicate clearly, and be more flexible when addressing future challenges (Fernandez & Shaw, 2020). This work will inform the discussion of leadership and communication, exploring how leaders are supposed to behave in challenging situations and the best decisions to make.
Hayes, S. D., Flowers, J., & Williams, S. M. (2021). “Constant communication”: Rural principals’ leadership practices during a global pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 5.
The paper is written by Sonya D. Hayes, a leader in policy studies at the University of Tennessee, Jamon Flowers, a lecturer at the University of Georgia, and Sheneka M. Williams, a lecturer at Michigan State University. The study’s intended audience was leaders in organizations other than schools. Based on the findings and recommendations drawn from this study, the intended audience for the article is educational practitioners, particularly those in leadership positions.
This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on leadership practices and recommends effective communication strategies, aligning with the work of Beilstein et al. (2020). This article suggests that all leaders are committed to their work and are similar, which could be argued as incorrect, as leaders are sometimes different (Watkins & Clevenger, 2021). The criteria for including this paper in the study are that it provides practical recommendations on how leaders should respond during times of crisis.
Men, L. R., Chen, Z. F., & Ji, Y. G. (2021). Cultivating relationships with startup employees: The role of entrepreneurs’ leadership communication. Management Communication Quarterly, 35(4), 089331892110179.
This paper explores the role of leaders’ communication in motivating employees. Author Linjuan Rita Men is an associate professor in the Department of Public Relations at the University of Florida. Zifei Fay Chen is an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco. Yi Grace Ji is a professor of communication at Boston University. Yue et al. (2019)’s study leveraged a random online survey of (n=1027) startup employees and found that good communication and motivating languages contribute to positive relationships with employees during startups (Mens et al., 2019).
Contrary to Yue et al. (2019), the sample for this survey was drawn from China, demonstrating that effective communication is associated with leadership success. Men et al.’s (2019) study will contribute to this work by demonstrating the role of a CEO’s good communication skills in an organization. The intended audience for the study is all leaders, particularly those in for-profit organizations.
Momeny, L. S., & Gourgues, M. (2019). Communication that develops: clarity of process on transformational leadership through the study of effective emotional intelligence communication. Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry, 16(2), 226–240.
This article demonstrates that transformational leadership is not trait-based and can be taught through effective communication styles and emotional intelligence. One author is Leonard Scott Momeny, a Warrant Officer 4 in the US Army and a faculty member of Texas College. Michael Gourgues is also an army lieutenant colonel and an MBA holder from Webster University. This article is made for the general public to make them aware that leadership is not based on innate skills but on trainable features.
The principles from this article align with those of Beilstein et al. (2020), who suggest that leadership skills can be systematically passed from one person to another. However, these two articles contradict Beilstein et al. (2020), which favors unsystematic teaching. The rationale for this study is that it guides how communication can help create influential leaders. Additionally, the study provides some real-world recommendations for leaders about being influential to their employees
Sangal, R. B., Bray, A., Reid, E., Ulrich, A., Liebhardt, B., Venkatesh, A. K., & King, M. (2021). Leadership communication, stress, and burnout among frontline emergency department staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods approach. Healthcare, 9(4), 100577.
The intended audience for this article was leaders working in the educational sector. This article is written by competent authors such as Rohit B Sangal, a professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale University, Alexandra Bray of the Yale University School of Management, and Beth Lienhardt, MD, at the Yale New Haven Hospital, among others. Like Men et al. (2019), this study used electronic media, with surveys completed via text messages.
Three themes emerged from the study, including consolidation of prior information, consistency of communication, and bi-directional communication (Sangal et al., 2019). Sangal et al.’s (2019) study offers communication guidance to business and other leaders on how to address the commonly recurring problems within an organization. Thus, the study has been included in this topic because it highlights the leadership challenges the pandemic has brought and the best ways to address them.
Watkins, D. V., & Clevenger, A. D. (2021). US political leadership and crisis communication during COVID-19. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 1901365.
This article is written by Dr. Daryl Watkins, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Dr. Aaron Clevenger, a dean for international programs at the same institution. Dr. Watkins has a background in Navy aviation, transportation, and IT. In contrast, Dr. Clevenger has a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication and a master’s degree in educational leadership, demonstrating that experts wrote this article. The article’s intended audience is policymakers, particularly those within state institutions, and students taking political science courses. However, other users may find the article helpful.
The insights presented by Watkins and Clevenger align with those of Beilstein et al. (2020), who identified mistakes and deficits among leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article contributes to the research by demonstrating that possessing good communication skills can make leaders appear more attentive and effective, particularly during times of crisis.
Yue, C. A., Men, L. R., & Ferguson, M. A. (2019). Bridging transformational leadership, transparent communication, and employee openness to change: The mediating role of trust. Public Relations Review, 45(3).
The article explores the impacts of transformational leadership and effective organizational communication when organizations change their operations, with the intended audience being leaders and future leaders. Its authors work for the Department of Public Relations in the College of Journalism and Communication at the University of Florida. They used a random sample of (n=439) to find the interplay between transformative leadership, effective communication, and organizational trust (Yue et al., 2019, p.1).
The paper agrees with Watkins et al. (2019)’s finding that providing truthful and substantial information is critical for ensuring trust with the people with whom leaders are communicating for change. However, this study uses a different context to deal with organizational change, while Watkins et al. (2019) deal with handling crises. This article fills the knowledge gap regarding how leaders need to communicate with their workers. The insights for the study are helpful for the topic of leadership and communication under study.
Yue, C. A., Men, L. R., & Ferguson, M. A. (2020). Examining the effects of internal communication and emotional culture on employees’ organizational identification. International Journal of Business Communication, 58(2), 232948842091406.
The authors of this article are affiliated with the University of Florida. This study leveraged an online survey conducted on (n=482) full-time employees in the United States. Like Yue et al. (2019) and Mens et al. (2019), the study’s results showed that good internal communication and motivating language caused employees to have a more positive culture. However, unlike the two studies mentioned above, this study also reviewed the impacts of non-emotional expressions and underlying values and assumptions on organizational culture.
This study was mainly targeted at leaders and policymakers in various organizations. Scholars can use Yue et al. (2020)’s study for further research, filling a gap in the effects of internal communication. This article is important because it conducts a quantitative analysis of the internal forms of communication that organizational leaders can adopt to achieve a positive organizational culture.