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The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which promoting sense of community moderates the relationship between servant leadership style and socially responsible leadership (SRL) of public universities in Uganda.

The study adopted cross-sectional survey design to collect data at one point in time using self-administered questionnaires from 214 respondents to examine the relationship between servant leadership and socially responsible leadership with promoting sense of community as a moderator. The study used statistical package for social scientists (SPSS) PROCESS MACRO to establish clusters among the surveyed public universities and later a model was derived.

The study found a significant moderating effect of promoting sense of community on servant leadership and socially responsible leadership. Implying that investment in promoting sense of community creates awareness about the socially responsible leadership in public universities.

Managers of public universities need to pay keen interest in promoting sense of community to boost socially responsible leadership by building a strong servant leadership style through promoting sense of community for senior managers and leaders especially heads of departments, faculty deans and principals in public universities.

This study contributes to socially responsible leadership literature by advancing the idea that SRL is an important resource that enhances through instituting servant leadership and promoting sense of community in a complex environment. Ideally, servant leadership and promoting sense of community is one of the drivers of customer value, efficiency and effectiveness of public universities.

Uganda’s health service delivery structure includes village health teams (VHTs), grass root structures that comprise volunteers that deliver basic health services and education. VHTs do COVID-19 surveillance and rural environments are likely to be more affected by COVID-19 than the urban environments. Standard operating procedures for prevention of COVID-19 necessitate use of basic necessities, such as water, soap or masks which are not easily affordable. The VHTs as first responders in the rural areas are at times poorly facilitated and this puts their lives at risk of infection. This study applied a qualitative approach where data were collected using in-depth interviews with VHT members, community members and local leaders. Twenty-two study participants were conveniently sampled from 12 villages. The interviewees were conducted by telephone as a precaution of observing and adhering to Uganda’s COVID-19 pandemic response that included a total lockdown. Data were analysed using Nvivo and categorised in themes and patterns. Findings indicate that VHTs do health monitoring and provide reliable information regarding COVID-19 to the community members. VHTs work despite being amidst material and financial constraints. Hence, they are very helpful in resource- and health care-constrained rural communities. The rural environments were associated with lack of awareness on the pandemic, poverty, low levels of education, reluctance in complying with the presidential directives with regard to responding and preventing COVID-19, inadequate protective gears, among others.

The new post-pandemic normal reveals challenging features of living through a crisis, including a heightened sense of fear and the awareness of one’s limitations. Some of the challenges have been identified as relating to shifts in employer–employee interfaces or doctor–patient interactions; to increased effort to embrace rapid digitalisation while maintaining interpersonal relations; and to increased pressure to adapt flexibly to financial and structural changes. These are embedded in a greater (and mostly positive) consciousness of human and organisational interconnectedness.

This chapter looks at the parallel experiences of business and health systems as they endeavour to thrive during and beyond a pandemic. The authors recognise the intricate relationship between businesses and health as they feed each other’s overall growth directly or indirectly. Businesses create wealth through a healthy regard for the well-being of their stakeholders while healthcare systems are affected by their own business structures. In both cases, responsible leadership and fairness help to avoid an unhealthy prioritisation of profit.

This chapter reflects on the various routes businesses and health care can take to preserve fairness through ethical leadership. The authors focus on six stakeholders (employee, customer, shareholder, society or community, environment, and creditors) who need to be appropriately cared for and prioritised. The authors consider how promoting human competencies can affect skill acquisition, emotional intelligence, spiritual, and moral growth in both spaces. At the core of our discussion is the concept of self-leadership, which boosts the organisational leadership that in turn determines the kind of future we will have in the new normal.