Leading employees during times of crisis

Diplomsko delo obravnava problem organizacij pri vodenju zaposlenih v času krize. Pri tem smo se osredotočili na svetovno finančno krizo, ki je nastopila leta 2008 in na interne krize podjetij. Ker nas je zanimalo, kako se organizacije soočajo s kriznimi situacijami in kakšne prijeme na področjih motiviranja, komunikacije ali prenove poslovnih procesov uporabljajo v teh primerih za vodenje zaposlenih, smo s teoretično raziskavo in z danimi primeri iz prakse postavili temelje raziskovalnemu delu naloge. Pri tem smo uporabili deskriptivno in komparativno metodo. To znanje smo v nadaljevanju nadgradili z lastnim empiričnim delom, kjer smo opravili intervju v dveh slovenskih podjetjih s 50 (podjetje A) in 75 (podjetje B) zaposlenimi. Poleg omenjenih pristopov smo želeli ugotoviti tudi, ali bi lahko podjetja javnega značaja pri upravljanju kadrovskih virov delovala po principu podjetij iz zasebnega sektorja. Na podlagi rezultatov teoretičnega in empiričnega dela smo ugotovili, da se analizirani podjetji v času krize poslužujeta strukturiranega vodenja, kar pomeni, da so navodila jasno in strogo podana, vodenje pa je še vedno predvsem vertikalno, da bi tako zagotovili nek okvir za lažji izhod iz krize. Pri tem pa veliko pozornosti namenjajo prav novim svežim idejam, saj se zavedajo, da lahko ponovno rast vzpostavijo le z motiviranimi zaposlenimi in njihovimi dobrimi idejami, ki so do neke mere tudi stimulirane. Glede na ugotovljeno lahko sklepamo, da gre tukaj za najbolj primeren stil vodenja, ki bi lahko pomagal k ponovni rasti organizacij v času krize, kar lahko v določeni meri prenesemo tudi v javni sektor. Glede na teoretična spoznanja in zavrnitve nekaterih podjetij za intervju na predlagano temo lahko sklepamo, da nepripravljenost nekaterih organizacij na spremembe in togost njenega vodstva ovirata razvoj organizacij in s tem slabšata položaj podjetja. Ta nedinamična vodstvena struktura je značilna predvsem za javno sfero, saj je tam odsotnost trga in konkurence ne dajeta nekih zunanjih vzpodbud za spremembe. Na tem področju bo v prihodnje potrebno še veliko nadgradnje v smeri bolj dinamičnih in racionalnih vodstvenih modelov.Our main subject in thesis is a problem of organizations with leading their employees during times of crisis. Main focus in our thesis project deals with how well organizations lead their employees during times of crisis. Here we have to address two outstanding crises, that had major impact on companies, one of them is the global crisis which appeared in 2008 and other internal crisis of companies. We are interested in how well organizations dealt with crisis situations and what approaches were used to guide employees in the areas of motivation, communication and business process reengineering. Our foundation of research came from both theoretical studies and given examples from practice. Our theoretical study used description and comparative methods, followed by our empirical work where we interviewed two Slovenian companies with 50 employees (company A) and 75 employees (company B). In addition to these approaches, we want to identify if the public sector might work on principles or examples and rules of private sector companies, especially in the field of employee management. Based on the results of theoretical and empirical work, we found that companies use structured management in a time of crisis, which means that the instructions are clear and strictly enforced and management is primarily vertical in order to provide a framework for faster recovery after the crisis. These companies acknowledge that employees that are motivated come up with the most innovative and effective ideas for growth in this area, so they offer monetary or other rewards for fresh, new ideas to better crisis management. We conclude this is an appropriate leadership style because it could help to re-inspire growth in these organizations in (after) times of crisis, which may in some forms be transformed into the public sector. In sum, after taking into account our theoretical research and being denied from several companies to do interviews with them, we can conclude that an unwillingness to change in leadership styles can prevent prosperity and growth within the organizations. This stagnant management style is typical in the public sphere, because there is lack of competition in the market, giving companies little incentive to find innovative ways to grow and change. In the future we have to work on mentioned area and do lot of upgrades toward a more dynamic and rational managerial models. In order to improve our economy’s resilience after a crisis, we need to encourage our local companies to instill new and efficient management structures in order to better handle crises in the future