USING THE TRIAXIAL MODEL OF VALUES TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN A COVID-19 VUCA WORLD
A VUCA environment is challenging even the most able of business leaders, who may find their skills growing obsolete as quickly as their organisations change in this volatile, unpredictable landscape.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began at the end of 2019 in China and quickly spread globally. Millions of people around the world are infected and hundreds of thousands have died. The COVID-19 plague has brought uncertainty over the future and an understanding that the pandemic is far from over. Economic conditions are in great volatility. The complexity and ambiguity of the plague and its implications challenge the health systems in many countries and also result in a political quagmire. In short, the COVID-19 plague is an intense example of the VUCA world.
VUCA is an acronym that describes an environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity1 . Volatility means relatively unstable change; uncertainty implies a lack of knowledge as to whether an event will have meaningful ramifications; complexity suggests many interconnected parts forming an elaborate network of information and procedures; and ambiguity is the lack of knowledge as to “the basic rules of the game” (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014).
Since the late eighties and early nineties, pundits and leaders alike have asserted that we live in a “VUCA world”. A VUCA environment is challenging even the most able of business leaders, who may find their skills growing obsolete as quickly as their organisations change in this volatile, unpredictable landscape (Lawrence, 2013).
