How companies overcome crisis through the sharing of information and teamwork performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The goal of our research was to determine how crisis management competence affects employee performance of teams and the conditions in the acute stage of the crisis during the pandemic. We have used the mediator model to identify the relations. The study was carried out on a research sample of 122 companies after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia (March - April 2020). The respondents in the research sample were managers at different company levels. The study tests the positive association between leadership in crisis and employee performance of teams, which is mediated through the sharing of information, team organization of work and cognitive diversity, supporting crisis management competency. The research results prove that employee performance of teams during the acute stage of the crisis may be positively affected through crisis management competences amplified by information sharing and team cooperation. The study contains knowledge important for managing company competitiveness, because it introduces demonstrable findings on the content of crisis management competences in relation to employee performance. The study results are internationally relevant and the content of the discussion applicable, because the pandemic has hit globally regardless the political or economical borders.