Abstract:

During periods of organizational crisis, it is especially important for employees to feel the care and support of the employer, to trust the supervisor and follow him as a leader capable of managing and overcoming crisis situations. The social psychological climate within the work community plays a significant role in maintaining the stability of the enterprise, the formation of which is in the zone of managerial ​​responsibility. A large number of previous studies of leadership are aimed at studying the professionally necessary qualities of leaders, and less attention has been paid to the influence of their personal characteristics on the social psychological climate. To identify causal relationships between the leader's individual characteristics and the social psychological climate within the labour collective forced to work under organizational crisis, the authors used a quali-quantitative approach, including such research methods as a case study, questionnaires and narrative interviews of employees. The presented study was conducted on the basis of a dairy industry enterprise in December 2019 - January 2020 with the participation of 75 employees, who, using the assessment tools proposed by the authors, characterized the adverse factors of the intra-organizational environment, as well as the personal and behavioural features of the enterprise manager. Based on the results of the study, the authors conclude that the employees of the dairy company assess the social psychological climate as unfavourable, and the manager toxic behaviour led to the emergence of a personnel crisis, which reduces the effectiveness of efforts to maintain the enterprise stability.