Keywords

Coronavirus, COVID-19, Bad leadership, Mismanagement.

Introduction

Over the first four weeks of the new decade, the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, spread from the People’s Republic of China to many other countries, and by the end of February 2020 was found all over the world (Surveillances, 2020). Considering the severity of this epidemic, the international community is mobilizing to find ways of dramatically accelerating the production of interventions. The objective is to rapidly control the availability of appropriate tests, vaccines and medicines that can be used to save lives and prevent further major crises (Khan et al., 2020).

World experts on COVID-19 met on 11 to 12 February 2020 to evaluate the existing level of awareness of the new virus, agree on important research questions that needed to be answered urgently and on ways of working together to promote and support priority research to curb the outbreak and prepare for future outbreaks. The participants at the meeting were more than three hundred scientists and national public health experts from a broad variety of disciplines as well as major research funding agencies to discuss a COVID-19 research map (WHO, 2020).

According to WHO (2020), the research topics covered were: virus: natural history, transmission and diagnosis; virus origin, work on animals and the environment; human-animal communication control interventions, epidemiological studies; clinical characterization, prevention and control of diseases, including safety of healthcare workers; candidate vaccines r&D; moral testing considerations; and incorporation of the social sciences in the response to the outbreak. Scientists established key knowledge gaps and research goals, and exchanged ongoing scientific data, thereby speeding up the production of vital scientific knowledge to help monitor the COVID-19 emergency. In fact, the responsibility does not lie with the experts and pharmacologists. Pharmacologists cannot do anything if they are not supported and funded by national leaders. Thus we can say that the main and first causes of this great catastrophe are the leaders of countries and their bad leadership in a world full of dangers; and also their mismanagement of the world’s resources and their focus on financing weapons and wars at the expense of the priorities and needs of people (Remuzzi & Remuzzi, 2020).

Now, many national leaders are facing a similar critical time, as COVID-19 threatens the lives of millions across the globe, unless swift and coordinated action is taken to combat it.

There is no easy way out of this crisis, which increases the problems faced by world leaders, as they must first choose the optimal strategy to deal with the epidemic, a difficult task; at the same time they bear the enormous responsibility of spreading reassurance in the hearts of their citizens and persuading them to follow the orders of the authorities (Boin et al., 2016), even if this means compliance with decisions requiring them to adhere to “social divergence”, and the consequent high costs borne by individuals, including side effects employment sectors, for example (Culbert, 2017).

So any wrong move could undermine confidence in the authorities and unleash turmoil that would increase the existing risks from the epidemic. Nevertheless, we have to wait, to see whether our nations’ leaders can rise to the occasion, by dealing appropriately with the crisis we face today Figure 1.

Is the Corona Virus a Crisis of Bad Leadership, or Mismanagement?

Medical science experts warned national leaders several years ago of the great danger coming and facing the world and humanity, through the emergence of dangerous and deadly viruses (Subirana et al., 2020; Bill Gates, 2015; Cheng et al., 2007). We now find that world leaders were not moving or preparing for crises and are not preparing to face the dangers to humanity, despite these warnings from medical experts. This proves that the world suffers badly from poor leadership and mismanagement.

Does this represent a crisis of leadership, or mismanagement (Boin et al., 2016)? The researcher believes that a global crisis existed before the appearance of the pandemic through a mixture of leadership ideologies and mismanagement. The Table 1 below compares leadership features and management goals.

Table 1 Comparison of Leadership Features and Management Goals
Leadership	Management
Allow others to grow up with them	Encourages others to get bigger
Persuades officials	Fears those responsible
Creates capabilities	Depends on the possibilities
Handles errors	Documents errors
Concerned with souls	Concerned with texts
Prioritizes	Interests are priorities
The art of empowerment	The art of incapacity
Silent to listen to others	Silences others to speak
Adopts thoughtful strategy	Hesitates with conflicting tactics
Driving is responsible for failure	Blames others for failure
Takes care of results	Busy with details
Driving means the chair	The goal of the chair
Concerned with the right action	Concerned with the satisfaction of officials
Inspires	Orders and ends
Understands the system	Reads the system

Taxonomy of bad Leadership

Since the scandals of Enron, world.com companies and other mismanagement and leadership, those involved in corporate leadership are increasingly realizing that one of the most fundamental, if not the most important, challenges is to lead companies with responsibility, honesty and integrity (Dalgic & Caliyurt, 2019; Gherai & Balaciu, 2011).

But the difference remains in which leadership is the actual responsibility in a time of globalization, and what makes a responsible leader? How can responsible leadership be developed? Responsible leadership determines the important dimensions of leadership in the business organization and focuses on the distinction between the capabilities and competencies that individuals have to lead people, which extend to organizations in global, multicultural and complex work environments (Haque et al., 2019; Waldman & Siegel, 2008). In addition, scholars categorize and understand bad leadership. According to Kellerman (2004) there are seven styles of bad leadership:

• Incompetent: The leader and at least some supporters lack the desire or ability (or both) to keep successful action going. We will not generate meaningful change in at least one critical obstacle to leadership.

• Rigid: The leader is rigid and unyielding, and at least some followers are. We may be knowledgeable but we cannot or will not adapt to new ideas, new knowledge or changing times.

• Intemperate: The leader loses self-control, and followers who are unable or unwilling to respond effectively are supported and encouraged (Perkel, 2005).

• Callous: The leader is uncaring or unkind, and at least some followers are. The needs and wishes of most members of the organization, particularly subordinates, are ignored and discounted.

• Corrupt: The leaders and some followers at least, lie, cheat, or steal. They put self-interest ahead of the public interest to a degree that goes beyond the standard.

• Insular: The leader and at least some followers reduce or ignore the health and welfare of individuals outside the party or organization for which they are directly responsible.

• Evil: The leader commits atrocities, and at least some followers do. They use pain as a tool for power. The harm can be psychological, physical or both (Perkel, 2005).

The result of some or all of these aspects of bad leadership is not only the global epidemic but also the huge losses caused to the global financial markets. In a video recorded five years ago at a TED Talks conference, the famous American billionaire and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, predicted that the world was not ready to deal with epidemics. He said that when he was little, the disaster we were most concerned about was nuclear war. Today, the greatest risk of a global catastrophe may not look like war, but we should substitute “viruses” for “nuclear” (Bill Gates, 2015). “If anything will kill more than 10 million people, in the next few decades, it will likely be a highly contagious virus, instead of war; ... not missiles, but microbes, and part of the reason is that we have invested a large amount in nuclear detection, and have invested very little in a system that helps prevent the epidemic, and we are not prepared for the next epidemic” (cited in Loughran & McDonald, 2020).

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the COVID-19 disaster is a crisis of mismanagement and bad leadership, for several reasons. First, there are many experts who have warned about the danger facing the world from the spread of a disease like COVID-19, but because of poor leadership, all the world leaders ignored these warnings. Second, COVID-19 started to spread in December 2019 and world leaders took no action to limit this spread until it had reached all around the world; this is clear evidence of poor leadership due to their inability to read reality and anticipate the future, and to prepare to face any global problems.

In line with the previous discussion about the pre-emptive knowledge of the occurrence of crises, epidemics were common in the ancient world, sometimes blamed on bad leaders. The famous Greek poet Hesiodos wrote that Zeus, the legendary god of Greek myths, would train bad leaders through military defeats and epidemics. The poetry of the Iliad also describes the bad rulers who were destroying their people with their recklessness, as “bad shepherds destroying their flocks”. Nevertheless, ancient historians such as Polybius in the second century B.C. and Levi in the first century B.C. were also trying to search for rational interpretations of epidemics, such as climate change and pollution. The historian Thucydides narrated how the plague, allegedly of Ethiopian origin, struck Athens in 430 B.C., and explained symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath and delirium. Greek epics, plays, legends and ancient poems reminded the population of their need for leaders who were able to plan for the future, considering the lessons of the past and not repeating its mistakes. Epidemics were considered to test the intelligence of leaders.

Finally, the global imperative for the research community is to maintain a high-level discussion platform which enables consensus on strategic directions, nurtures scientific collaborations and, supports optimal and rapid research to address crucial gaps, without duplication of efforts.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Faculty of Technology Management and Business (FTMB) University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) for funding this research (under research fund E15501, Research Management Center, UTHM). The support given by Research Center, UTHM for providing the facilities to perform this research is highly appreciated.

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