IT manager leadership during crisis situations: Lessons from real-life crisis management in IT functions during natural disasters

The role of information technology (IT) managers in crisis response activities is not yet well understood. Often, attention focuses excessively on crisis preparation, also called business continuity planning, with little consideration of IT manager leadership in crisis response. However, we have a better understanding of leadership in crisis response based on the actions of general management, particularly that of public and political leaders. Could IT managers learn something from recommendations already given to the general management? This research draws on recommendations given to the general management and examines their applicability for IT managers using data from 6 cases of crisis response from Japan and Taiwan.