From Uniview Winter 2022: Responsible leadership helps build business people and community

The list of challenges facing leaders keeps getting longer. Key employee pressures include helping employees achieve work-family balance while juggling 24/7 working from home, the ‘great resignation’ because of questions about the meaning of work following the pandemic experience, and the physical and transition risks demanded by the effects of climate change on economy and society. But what is the leadership approach leaders should consider to manage these challenges, while safeguarding a sustainable future for the business, as well as people working in their organisation and the wider community?

^{Dr Donella Caspersz}

Sustainability of business, people and the wider community

The effects of work on wellbeing are well established and documented by a growing body of research. Healthy and productive workplaces are of paramount importance to supporting employee engagement, voice and equity. We also know that work affects active citizenship within organisational life, and externally in communities. We need ethical, just and healthy workplaces to maintain and strengthen business, economy and the general wellbeing of society. This topic formed part of a discussion at the Grand Challenges Summit.

The lens has recently turned to examining the approach of responsible leadership in trying to find an answer to this question. Responsible leadership is the “art” of building and sustaining relationships with the variety of stakeholders linked to an organisation – employees, customers, suppliers, industry, community groups – on the basis of values and ethics. The aim of responsible leadership is to build sustainable organisations that create and capture value by being attuned to the demands for social change.

My research has explored responsible leadership with family business leaders in the context of the pandemic. Family businesses are 70 per cent of Australia’s businesses with most small-tomedium- size businesses being family controlled. Undoubtedly there was a preoccupation with crisis management as a result of the pandemic. Thus, some leaders – especially tourist operators – closed their doors while others downsized. However, there was also evidence of strategising to embed business sustainability by pivoting operations. For instance, one business expanded its operations to include the manufacture of personal protective equipment. There was also evidence of forward thinking where another business aggressively stockpiled inventory to be able to assure customers of supply when borders were closing and supply chains were squeezed.

Importantly, there was evidence of what is described as leaders strategising to “secure the core” of the business; that is their relationships with employees, customers, suppliers and community. Leaders reported striving to safeguard the employment, health and wellbeing of employees. A known phenomenon is that family business employees are often considered “family” mainly because the organisational footprint of family business – especially those that are small-to-medium in size – creates an interpersonal employment relationship. While there exists a debate about the implications for employees, the research found that when faced with the pandemic, leaders actively worked to protect their employees because “we’re a family company and we consider everyone part of the family”.

With customers, the research found that leaders actively engaged with their customers, through regular communications, by offering “drop in” opportunities for customers when allowed, as well as advocating, “Don’t go underground, don’t be a squirrel. Get out there and wave the flags and give people confidence they will get over this”.

Finally, they ensured that they took especially good care of the “extended family” of suppliers. One business actively directed business opportunities to “loyal suppliers” to help them survive during the pandemic, saying “we’ve been there for each other in times of good and bad. And supported each other”.

Is this a phenomenon of family business? Family values will clearly permeate family business because of family involvement in the business. As most smallto-medium-size businesses begin and mostly remain as family businesses, family values also influence this business sector.

However, apart from the tourism and hospitality businesses where sustainability was dramatically affected by pandemic border closures, most businesses remained in operation with some saying that they had the “best years” of business, even paying back what they had received in pandemic payments from the government. Does responsible leadership foster sustainable businesses? The research suggests this may be the case.

Donella Caspersz is a senior lecturer and UN Director PRME (Principles of Responsible Management Education) at the UWA Business School. Donella’s research and teaching interests focus on management, especially family business organisational issues, and employment relations particularly in the area of migration. This presentation was given at the UWA Grand Challenges Summit, February, 2022, held at the UWA Club.

UWA Grand Challenges Summit - Tomorrow’s World, Better Together

Under the banner of the two UWA Grand Challenges: A more just and equitable world post COVID-19, and Climate Change, UWA is bringing together students, industry representatives, leaders in business and government, thought leaders, academics and the community to explore the solutions for some of society’s most complex problems.

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