On Leadership, Age and COVID-19 Surge

 

                                      (photo: youtube,com)

Iska tuig na ta di makalihok! The Philippines’ quarantine measures reached overseas publications, citing the country being placed under one of the world’s longest lockdowns. Time Magazine and Vice Asia published reports on March 15, which is considered the “lockdown anniversary” in Metro Manila. On March 12, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte imposed 30-day community quarantine over the National Capital Region to help contain the transmission of the virus which causes COVID-19.

Catalina Ricci S. Madarang of the Philippine Star reported: The quarantine, which others considered as a lockdown, was supposed to only run from March 15 to April of last year. The Philippines is still under such restrictions in different phases—the general community quarantine and the modified version.

But is this measure helpful in preventing the spread of the virus?

In the World Health Organization Wester Pacific’s tally on March 16 of this year, Philippines still tops the highest new infections in 24 hours with 5,395 cases and also the highest in total number of cases with 626,893 on record. The Philippines is followed by Malaysia with 1,208 new cases. In the total number of cases, second place goes to Japan with 448,688.

Over a year into the pandemic, the country has broken its record of highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a day with 7,103 infections on March 19, 2021, the Department of Health reported. CNN Philippines reported: The last record was on Aug. 10 with 6,958 infections.

The total surged to 648,066 with 11.3% or 73,264 active or currently ill patients. It is also the highest active case count since August. At least 93.9% of the active cases have mild symptoms, 3.3% have no symptoms, 1% are in critical condition, 1.1% are in severe condition and 0.59% are moderate cases.

In performing basic research especially in the implementation of certain laws and mandates, the researchers correlate the profile of the implementers to the level of implementation of the orders. With such, recommendations for policy making and even decisions are anchored to the scientific way dealing with crafting them. Also, implications are studied through an array of literature so to better the study.

Yes, the profile of the leader can be correlated to the outcomes of his leadership.

Let us start with gender. It is important to understand variables relevant to effective leadership. Gender is one such variable that must be examined with regard to optimizing leadership effectiveness. The topic of gender and leadership deserves serious and thoughtful consideration and discussion because of professional, political, cultural, and personal realities of the twenty‐first century. Women and men have been, are, and should be leaders.

With the rigid study this writer had on “The Implementation of R.A. 9262, the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act” it was found out that there is no significant relationship between the sex/gender of the implementer and the implementation itself.

What about age? We see the president as ageing and he oftentimes accept this fact. Robert Smither, PhD (2020) posited that age doesn’t seem to impact a leader’s willingness to step up, issue directives, and provide rewards for performance.  In contrast, however, age does seem to affect a leader’s openness to change. As leaders grow older, they become less willing to make changes and are less interested in innovation.

A study by Vincent Barker and Geroge Mueller (2002) found that older leaders spent less on research and development than younger ones.

Research also suggests that older leaders are more likely to take a passive approach to their leadership role—for example, delegating many duties and becoming actively involved only in crisis situations. They are also more likely to maintain the status quo rather than respond to new opportunities that arise. In some situations, maintaining rather than innovating would be a positive; in others, a negative (Smither, 2020).

Data analyses are important in decision-making. If older leaders spend less on research, it implies that they are not that interested with the data which are glaringly telling the people something. A set of proactive advisers who are credible to the leader must do the research tasks for them to “influence” his decisions.

And who are “delegated” by the leader to do the leading among the people? A delegating leadership style is a low task and relationship behavior approach to leadership where a leader empowers an individual to exercise autonomy. Employing this approach entails providing the individual with the big picture, then trusting them to deliver agreed-upon results.

This discourse is focused NOT on the age of the president but how his age allowed him to pick the people he delegates to do some important tasks. The Philippine Inquirer reported on May 2020: President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to retain Metro Manila police chief Maj. General Debold Sinas, who was recently embroiled in a “mañanita” controversy, “erodes” the public’s confidence in the government’s ability to enforce quarantine measures, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.

The palace needs a set of young researchers who connect the dots, delve deeper into data and allow analyses to take place. They have to be listened since data (quantitative and qualitative) matter.