Leadership agility and its manifestations during the crisis: Qualitative evidence from African SMEs

Abstract

Agility is one of the primary features called for from firms during global disruptions. In this paper we analyze organizational agility and leadership agility during the crisis in the under-researched African context. Based on a qualitative case study on 30 SMEs from Nigeria and Ghana, the study shows how organizational agility at operational level and agile leadership at the person level are inter-linked. Our findings further highlight the multidimensional nature of leadership agility that may create resilience for the firms. We suggest two contextual issues of African firms, their exposure to institutional voids and their experience during the Ebola virus, make our cases show significant resilience in the crisis. Specifically, the cases exhibit supply chain agility, flexible sources of raw materials, online transactions, flexible running costs, flexible and efficient resource utilization, total quality management, lean production, flexible staff contracts, flexible wages, flexible shift patterns, improved communication, and improved staff motivation during the crisis. Through our findings, we link these attributes to our cases’ resiliency-creating and humanity-stressing leadership agility in crisis.