The economic and social conditions for companies are currently changing rapidly. Many are unable to keep pace with this change. This is one of the key findings of the study "Crisis Management and Leadership Culture – How Companies Deal with the Crisis"; conducted by the ERA Group in collaboration with the German Association for Materials Management; Purchasing and Logistics (BME). 189 companies responded to questions about how the current crises have changed their businesses and what measures they are taking as a result.
Traditional leadership patterns prevail
"The study shows that; once a crisis has been overcome; the majority of companies continue to work according to traditional patterns;" says Matthias Droste; Country Manager DACH at the management consultancy ERA Group (DACH) GmbH. Traditional patterns prevail in leadership culture. Management tools critical to success; participatory leadership and the evaluation of new products or alternative business models are still not widely used.
High demands on top management
The current situation is challenging for top management. Droste: "The demands in terms of communication and decision-making skills as well as flexibility have increased significantly." In addition; 72 per cent of second-level managers reported feeling overwhelmed when making decisions under time pressure.
Low investment in crisis prevention
"Only every second company has really learned lessons from the crises and derived measures from them;" says Droste. For example; 50 per cent of the companies surveyed have still not established a robust crisis management system; and only a third have documented the lessons learned from crises in guidelines and manuals. In addition; crisis management is not yet anchored in the corporate strategy of more than half of the companies. Droste: "This is certainly a cause for concern in view of the challenges ahead."
Operational measures: the urgent before the important
Droste: "Operational measures also show that companies are focusing on the urgent and not enough on the important." Sourcing strategies are only being adapted slowly; employer branding is being used as the predominant strategy against labour and skills shortages; and no significant progress has been made on the issue of digitalisation.
