Operating when there are no rules: An HRM dilemma in changing guidelines

Jada Williamson had been working for Dawson Financial for the past 15 years as Director of Human Resources. There were five other employees in the Human Resources Department. Dawson Financial was a banking and financial institution that operated in seven Midwestern states. Jada had experienced many workplace issues during her tenure with the company, but nothing could have prepared her for the Coronavirus epidemic that hit the world in 2020. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was an extremely contagious infectious disease caused by a newly discovered novel coronavirus (WHO, 2020a). Jada’s experience in dealing with COVID-19 was not unique to only this organization, nor the Midwestern part of the United States. The entire world was trying to navigate its way in dealing with the new virus. Jada’s responsibility as the Director of HR was to determine how to handle an employee's diagnosis and how to best protect the employees and stakeholders of the company. This never-before-seen virus created a crisis management situation that required a quick, yet strategic, HR response for the safety of all organizational stakeholders (Nizamidou, et al., 2019).