2 Healthcare Leaders in COVID-19 and Relationships with Trust, Teamwork, and adaptability Research Critique – RES 7011 May 3, 2022 Healthcare Leaders in COVID-19 and Relationships (Trust, Teamwork, and adaptability) -Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world at the most unexpected moment, and it directly or indirectly impacted the livelihood of all people across the globe. Many programs were abruptly disrupted, and people were forced to adjust to different styles of living (Howe et al., 2021). Likewise, the organizations were not spared. The virus forced many organizations to change their initial strategies and come up with new measures to guarantee their survival in the business world. The virus increased pressure in all industries which created the need for stakeholders to join forces and synergize towards combating the pandemic and recovering. The leaders in different organizations had to create stronger relations with their employees to handle the impacts of the crisis and enhance productivity in the midst of the pandemic. Several other aspects such as trust, teamwork, and adaptability had to be put into consideration to guarantee sustainability and survival for the different stakeholders. The healthcare industry has been extremely affected by the pandemic despite its preparation (Lukasik & Porebska, 2022). By scrutinizing the impacts of COVID 19 on healthcare and other industries, the paper argues how the incorporation of trust, teamwork, and adaptability on employer-employee relationships enhanced the overall performance and sustainability of different stakeholders and organizations during the global pandemic. The three aspects are key to enhancing employer-employee relations. Trust in the workplace implies a situation whereby employees experience a culture of honesty, mutual respect, and psychological safety (Goh et a., 2013). Teamwork is the combined effort of a group to achieve a common objective in the workplace. On the other hand, adaptability entails the ability to be flexible and able to change to achieve maximum success (Pulakos et al., 2017). COVID 19 impacted negatively various industries such as manufacturing, technology, sports, travel, and tourism among others. The long term sustainability of any organization is dependent on many factors and chief of those will be the quality and ability of the leader of such organization. Since leader who are authentic have the unique ability to engage and positively affect organization’s outcomes by influencing followers. This positive influence led to a dependency and relationship that is essential for organization’s trust and teamwork that helps organization to navigate and adapt during high pressured period like COVID-19 (Chen & Sriphon 2021). In the context of this paper who do we consider to be a good leader? These are leaders who can positively impact organization productively and positively towards achieving their goals by influencing employee to engage impact the set .

1. 2
Healthcare Leaders in COVID-19 and Relationships with Trust, Teamwork, and
adaptability
Research Critique – RES 7011
May 3, 2022
Healthcare Leaders in COVID-19 and Relationships (Trust, Teamwork, and adaptability) -
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world at the most unexpected moment, and it directly or
indirectly impacted the livelihood of all people across the globe. Many programs were abruptly
disrupted, and people were forced to adjust to different styles of living (Howe et al., 2021).
Likewise, the organizations were not spared. The virus forced many organizations to change
their initial strategies and come up with new measures to guarantee their survival in the business
world. The virus increased pressure in all industries which created the need for stakeholders to
join forces and synergize towards combating the pandemic and recovering. The leaders in
different organizations had to create stronger relations with their employees to handle the
impacts of the crisis and enhance productivity in the midst of the pandemic. Several other aspects
such as trust, teamwork, and adaptability had to be put into consideration to guarantee
sustainability and survival for the different stakeholders. The healthcare industry has been
extremely affected by the pandemic despite its preparation (Lukasik & Porebska, 2022). By
scrutinizing the impacts of COVID 19 on healthcare and other industries, the paper argues how
the incorporation of trust, teamwork, and adaptability on employer-employee relationships
enhanced the overall performance and sustainability of different stakeholders and organizations
during the global pandemic.
The three aspects are key to enhancing employer-employee relations. Trust in the workplace
implies a situation whereby employees experience a culture of honesty, mutual respect, and
psychological safety (Goh et a., 2013). Teamwork is the combined effort of a group to achieve a
common objective in the workplace. On the other hand, adaptability entails the ability to be
flexible and able to change to achieve maximum success (Pulakos et al., 2017). COVID 19
impacted negatively various industries such as manufacturing, technology, sports, travel, and
tourism among others. The long term sustainability of any organization is dependent on many
factors and chief of those will be the quality and ability of the leader of such organization. Since
leader who are authentic have the unique ability to engage and positively affect
organization’s outcomes by influencing followers. This positive influence led to a
dependency and relationship that is essential for organization’s trust and teamwork that helps
organization to navigate and adapt during high pressured period like COVID-19 (Chen &
Sriphon 2021). In the context of this paper who do we consider to be a good leader? These are
leaders who can positively impact organization productively and positively towards achieving
their goals by influencing employee to engage impact the set organization goals (Fernandez &
Shaw, 2020).

2. The goal of this paper is to argue that the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the need for good
leadership that engenders trust, collaborative teamwork, and adaptability between the healthcare
leaders and employees as vital to their success.
COVID-19 disrupted many programs in individual lives and in different organizational setups.
For instance, companies had to retrench several workers and retained a few of them in order to
cut down on costs of operations and lower the chances of getting into losses. Due to the
pandemic, most organizational operations are being carried out from home. According to Parker
et al. (2020), roughly 6 out of 10 workers who are about 59% of employees in the United States
admit to working from home. This literary meant that much more productivity was expected
from the remaining employees. In the medical sector, healthcare leaders and other stakeholders
such as the nurses would be forced to increase the rate at which they worked in order to provide
proper medical care to the number of COVID 19 patients which was increasing day by day
(Michalec & Lamb, 2020). This was the same case in almost all the departments. The researchers
and scientists were forced to spend sleepless days and nights in the labs in order to come up with
the vaccine for COVID 19 and this was a hard task considering the fact that the virus was
mutating continuously. More pressure was also on the different governments as they tried to
come up with solutions for the citizens. Different government bodies were working tirelessly to
link with other stakeholders and experts so as to gather the right information and make informed
and accurate decisions in efforts to combat the menace. There was a lot of work pressure which
resulted in a lot of work-related stress and depression. Work pressure also resulted in reduced
productivity and difficulty in concentrating hence there was a need to create an environment of
trust and emotional dependency to relieve all pressure.
Review of the Literature
Trust and Emotional Dependency Relieve Work Pressure
Trust and emotional dependency in the workplace are key to enhancing the performance of
different members and teams within an organization. For members to emotionally depend on
each other, there ought to be an environment of trust. Trust in the workplace enables members to
freely communicate their vulnerabilities and issues to other workers and even the leaders which
help create a synergistic culture that improves overall performance (Joniaková et al., 2021).
When the workers communicate their struggles with colleagues, they are able to offload some
emotional burdens and relieve their pressure. For trust to be cultivated, leaders have to employ a
number of strategies such as creating a diverse and inclusive culture whereby all workers or
members are free to participate and contribute towards achieving a common goal. Trust and
emotional dependence helped relieve stress during the COVID 19 pandemic in various ways.
Leaders also became willing to listen more to different members of the groups. When workers
such as nurses are given the chance to make contributions, they actually realize that they are not
the only ones responsible for fighting the disease (Ametz et al., 2021). The feeling that all
members are working towards achieving a common goal reduces pressure and enhances
performance. In an environment of trust, employees are able to be given genuine feedback by
their leaders. For instance, when nurses were given genuine feedback on their areas of work, they
clearly understood their strengths and weaknesses (Arnetz et al., 20210. They worked on their
weaknesses and improved their performance which relieved their work-related pressures.

3. Appreciation of workers’ efforts such as the nurses by their leaders made them feel
recognized and have a sense of belonging which helped relieve work-related pressure and
enhanced productivity (Joniaková et al., 2021).
Leadership Can Facilitates Performance with Engagement, Trust
Leadership that creates trust and employee engagement using a team-based conceptualization
may have better outcomes in these trying times for healthcare workers (Goh., et al., 2013). It is
important that leaders create trust in employees because high levels of trust brought about
increased productivity and facilitated relationships, which ultimately led to increased team
performance (Baka et al., 2021). Leadership is all about intentional modeling of the employees
and influencing positive emotions which enable them to excel in their work. Positive
relationships are key in developing an environment of trust among all stakeholders involved. A
good relationship between managers and employees would enhance productivity. A positive
relationship plays a critical role in ensuring the mental well-being of an individual (Fernandez &
Shaw, 2020). Teamwork encouraged and strengthened individuals to combat the rapidly
spreading infection despite the overlying burden. Via interactions, people would learn different
ways of coping and managing stress which could have led to depression. On the other hand, a
communal relationship entails a worker assuming responsibility for the well-being of their fellow
colleagues. A communal relationship is encouraged by good leadership (Traylor et al., 2021). It
implies that one individual is willing to bear the cost of another individual. A communal
relationship ensures the bond between two individuals is strengthened. For example, after the
emergence of COVID-19, There were frequent changes in policies as the scientific community
tried to adapt to a quickly changing pandemic. Adaptability was integral to everyday workplace
and life experience. A level of competence is achieved thereby increasing the likelihood of
achieving the best outcomes in terms of performance (Goh et al., 2013). During the period of
COVID-19, coordination and teamwork were fostered between health workers and the
government. Consequently, trust was built since the public could trust the government that it had
the ability to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Collectively, both positive and mutual relationships enhanced the performance of healthcare as
well as improved patient outcomes. Although COVID-19 brought many disadvantages, it
strengthened a positive relationship between employers and employees. During times of COVID-
19, social interactions between managers and employees were significantly reduced (Catalyst,
2020). People could work from home. Working from home had a negative impact at first. It was
a new normal that forced people to adopt new measures for living. After adapting to the new
normal, managers and employees would safely work at home. Working at home enhanced trust
among leaders and employees since services were perfectly delivered even without supervision.
A positive relationship is based on trust and commitment. The role of leaders was well
understood because managers were expected to maintain the economic sustainability of the
company regardless of social interactions (Yücel, 2021). Not all the managers maintained the
sustainability of their organizations but only those who embraced positive relationships
maintained the fruitful performances. A good positive relationship facilitates mutual
relationships hence increasing the performance of organizations as it fosters a friendly working
environment. Health workers across all health settings were extremely committed to stopping
further infections (Kniffin et al., 2021). Healthcare scientists firstly carried out the research to

4. establish the causal agent of the unknown killer disease. This alarmed the public and provided
regulations and guidelines for curbing the pandemic. Health practitioners were forefront in
providing education on measures to be put into account in a bid to mitigate the disease. This
portrays a great commitment to saving the lives of individuals and can be symbolized by a
positive attitude towards leadership.
When COVID-19 increased, Directly Proportional to Leadership Engagement
In healthcare settings, health workers such as nurses had to adjust in order to attend to the
increasing number of patients (Łukasik and Porębska, 2022). Containing COVID-19
pandemic was paramount to the survival of the world and increase workers demand led to
increased leadership engagement. Managing COVID-19 is observed to be directly proportional
to the leadership engagement (Joniaková et al., 2021). In other words, if there is laxity among
leaders, there is a likelihood of higher infections. If there is leadership teamwork, it becomes
possible for a country to mitigate the spread of the virus. Effective management should always
be characterized by the ability to adapt and embrace any changes that arise (Schraff, 2021).
COVID-19 came unexpectedly and turned out to be a crisis. In such a crisis, effective leadership
engagement is absolutely necessary for any organization and its people. It is thereby the
responsibility of any leader to encourage their followers by directing them on what to do. After
the emergence of the pandemic, most governments came together to provide a reliable solution
to their citizens. In the USA, the government in conjunction with other non-governmental
organizations took the liability of protecting people by instilling possible control measures that
eventually were deemed as a “success―. Similarly, if the government did not get concerned
about the devastating pandemic, it would spread faster hence causing more deaths than expected.
From this perspective, leaders and company managers should embrace team cohesion as well as
innovative strategies especially when there is an occurrence of a pandemic (Michalec & Lamb,
2020).
Relationship leads to quality leadership that helps during high-pressure moments
COVID 19 had many negative implications for humans such as a dramatic and extreme loss of
human life. When pandemics happen, they affect all aspects of life and the impacts are felt
emotionally, physically, psychologically, and even mentally. Conditions worsened in all
industries and even the world’s best economies were shaken (Joniaková et al., 2021). This
led to the loss of many jobs and many families became devastated not having any clue about
what to do (Narayanamurthy & Tortorella, 2021). There was a drastic change in people’s
standards of living as many were forced to adapt to lower standards of living while others were
forced to be dependent on the governments and the help of other well-wishers for donations
since they were not able to feed themselves and their families. Schools were closed as a means to
prevent the spread of the disease through contact, but this had negative emotional implications
on the emotional well-being of most students. Moreover, parents were in extreme anxiety as
there was so much uncertainty about how long the disease was going to last. There were also a
lot of social stigmas against victims of COVID-19 and also their family members in general.
This left the victims and their families hurting even more. All these negative implications led to
social distress and high-pressure moments and there was more massive social unrest than ever
before.

5. The disease hit almost all stakeholders in the economy. For people to win and overcome such a
pandemic, there should be extreme synergy among all relevant bodies and individuals. For
instance, healthcare workers had to coordinate efforts in order to attend to the rising cases of
patients. Relationships between the healthcare leaders and the other stakeholders in all
departments have to be emphasized much since a failure to do so would lead to more casualties.
Nurses have to work extra hard than normal and had to adjust to different programs such as
being assigned duty in a very different geographical location. Leaders from different hospitals
have to coordinate and keep the government updated with the right statistics so as to enable them
to make informed decisions. For example, more hospital beds were delivered to the areas where
the disease had spread rampantly. Lastly, concrete relations were created among different
scientific research bodies especially those that were concerned with the manufacturing of
vaccines (Baka, Ścigała & Grala, 2021). They had to brainstorm and come up with accurate
measures and strategies considering that the virus kept on mutating from time to time.
Good relationships also enhance quality leadership in other fields apart from the medical sector.
There should be a lot of synergy between employers and employees in order to make working
from home a success (Yang et al.,2020). During the COVID 19 pandemic, this helped save the
jobs of many employees who would be otherwise laid off and be left hopeless with no means to
survive. Moreover, the leadership created from the employer-employee relationships also
guaranteed the success and survival of many organizations which helped release the pressure
from all the stakeholders involved (Chen & Sriphon, 2021). Likewise, the technological sector
synergized with the businesses to ensure smooth operations and easier connections between the
employers and employees. Various technological aspects such as video conferencing helped in
enhancing communications between employers and employees and made the delegation of tasks
become easy, more fun, and smooth. Additionally, different organizations and even individual
philanthropists joined hands to help fund the marginalized individuals and families. Some people
in the society were very disadvantaged by the disease than others hence they required help
desperately. If it were not for the donations made by different stakeholders, more people would
suffer and even starve to death which would create more social pressure and unrest.
In conclusion, it is important to understand that teamwork is the best option for overcoming and
coping with pandemics. It is only coordination that facilitated the achievement of the best
outcome. It is the role of leaders and managers to incorporate positive leadership in order to
guide other people in making appropriate decisions, especially during a difficult time. Trust
should be also embraced at all levels to promote reliability among employees and managers.
People are encouraged to trust the system in decision-making when there is an occurrence of a
pandemic. If trust is enhanced between the leaders and the public, there are high chances of
maintaining sustainability despite the weight of the burden (Baka et al., 2021 and Chen &
Sriphon, 2021). Adaptability is a concept that should be well grasped by all the individuals
within the society. Every individual must be always ready for change since the future is
unpredictable. Understanding adaptable measures will in turn aid both managers and employees
to overcome difficult times (Pulakos et al., 2017).
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