Emotions that arise when facing a critical incident in the field of effective leadership: comparative study between novel and expert directives

Abstract

The research seeks to analyze the emotional response of the novice and expert school leader when a critical incident occurs, that is, an unexpected and destabilizing contingency in the school organization. The design corresponds to a case study of an interpretative nature, where the emotions that are at the base of the decisions made by directors in critical situations were analyzed. The data collection considered social research techniques through focus groups, which allowed capturing the emotions experienced by directors in a more vivid and dialogic way, when confronted with a critical incident, complemented by an online digital logbook in which the registry of the critical incident associated with the leader and the relevance of the emotions that arise when facing such unforeseen situations. The results found showed that there are differences between new and expert leaders when facing a critical incident. Novice directors, unlike experts, expressed a greater negative perception of the emotions that arose before the incident. In addition, expert directors made more meaningful reflections and showed more concern for the school community, whereas, the new director exhibited behaviors mostly motivated by concern for one"s professional career and protecting one"s image as an authority figure.