COVID-19: A Global Pandemic Despite Mitigation Efforts - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the year 2019, the first patient of COVID-19 was announced in china (Chinazzi, 2020). Over time, the spread became rampant. By 2020 many countries in the world had recorded cases of COVID-19 patients (Chinazzi, 2020). World Health Organization, after that, declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic worldwide. Every country set policies and measure to ensure they contain the pandemic, however, despite all the efforts deployed by nations globally to mitigate the spread of the virus. Thousand of people have succumbed due to COVID-19. The world went to stand still (Kraemer, 2020). The economy is declining as the majority of the businesses are shut. The only elements that have been assets to the efforts to combat the virus were management principles.

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Management principles entail planning, organization, leading, and control (Slack, 2018). Federal governments globally have been at the forefront of implementing the policies in the process of combating COVID19. For a national government to initiate a project, there must be in-depth consultation over the issue. This results in planning. Seemingly, in the pandemic, the governments have been able to come up with measures including the closure of borders, enforcing lockdowns, imposing cessation of movement, curfew, among others (Kraemer, 2020). These measures were not only imposed as a, by the way, but the management principles were also fully applied to reach these prime decisions.

Several federal governments formulated an emergency team that was able to carry out surveys and report on the way out (Kraemer, 2020). For instance, when the United States started recording a considerable number of COVID -19 patients, they imposed a lockdown, same to France and some other nations. The decision was arrived upon only after using the management principles. This means that, at first, the federal governments had to draw a plan. Planning is an initial stage of basic management principles (Raj, 2017). For instance, the governments had to figure out the best measure that could easily contain the coronaviruses' spread in their nations. Before imposing the lockdown, they had to plan on how they could cushion their citizens in the period. However, it had to be planed for how long the lockdown could take place. The majority of the nation who imposed the lockdown enforced it for twenty-one days, after which they eased the restrictions while others like the United States added the other twenty-one days (Kraemer, 2020). The crucial element that could not be forgotten in the planning, despite the lockdowns, curfews, and cessation of movement, essential workers were granted a chance to continue working. This necessary work included food distribution, media, and broadcasting, among others.

After planning, the next principle is organizing. This is an essential element in management. It heavily determines how successful the project will be (Raj, 2017). It should be noted that that organization doe not involves structures alone. It also includes other resources like human resources. In the pandemic, the governments had to organize their strategies well. Baring in mind that majority of the businesses were close, the economy was therefore profoundly affected. Every cent counted in the period. Financial, apart from ordinary people planning for their expenditure, the federal governments also had to restructure their budget as huge allocation was allocated to the health sector to ensure that the disease is contained (Chinazzi, 2020). Therefore, they had to organize on how to implement the planned strategies. Human resources, such as soldiers, played a significant role. Different departments were arranged to play different roles in the efforts to put COVID-19 at bay. They had to organize how to distribute food, maintain peace, and offer health services, not forget education (Chinazzi, 2020).

Another essential element of management, control also influenced the spread of the coronavirus. In a company, the manager should be able to control the operations within (Grant, 2017). Same to the federal governments, after formulating, planning, and organizing the measures, it was their role to control the processes. Monitoring doesn't necessarily mean dictating (Grant, 2017). To some extent, suggesting is enough. For instance, in the pandemic, the governments used the soldiers to implement lockdown, curfews, cessation of movement, among others (Chinazzi, 2020). They had to ensure that everything is in place.

Finally, leading is another principle of management. This is how the top officials, managers influence others towards certain aspects (Grant, 2017). In the period, leading was very crucial. The government officials had a huge role to play by ensuring that they influence their citizens, for instance, holding daily briefings on COVID-19 status in the country. This was an initiative that paved the way for the officials to raise their concerns about the disease. It was the best avenue where the leaders persuaded civilians to adhere to the new normal, wearing masks, keeping social distances, avoiding crowds, washing hands, and sanitizing (Chinazzi, 2020).

Management principles have heavily impacted on the efforts of containing COVID-19 worldwide. Federal leadership has been at the forefront to apply the elements to ensure that they mitigate the virus. Planning, organization, leading, and control have been the leading principles adhered to before enforcing any other idea (Raj, 2017). As already indicated, lockdowns, curfew, cessation of the movement were reached upon after deploying the four aspects of management.

References

Chinazzi, M., Davis, J. T., Ajelli, M., Gioannini, C., Litvinova, M., Merler, S., ... & Viboud, C. (2020). The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Science, 368(6489), 395-400.

Grant, D. B., Trautrims, A., & Wong, C. Y. (2017). Sustainable logistics and supply chain management: principles and practices for sustainable operations and management. Kogan Page Publishers.

Kraemer, M. U., Yang, C. H., Gutierrez, B., Wu, C. H., Klein, B., Pigott, D. M., ... & Brownstein, J. S. (2020). The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Science, 368(6490), 493-497

Raj, R., Walters, P., & Rashid, T. (2017). Events management: principles and practice. Sage.

Slack, N., & Brandon-Jones, A. (2018). Operations and process management: principles and practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.