Crisis leadership: a self-study of a novice departmental head
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33830/ijtaese.v6i1.1230Keywords:
change, Covid-19 pandemic, intrapersonal struggles, leader, supportAbstract
Sequel to major changes which occurred due to Covid-19 pandemic, this paper represents a self-study based on a novice departmental head in the educational context. This study focuses on a newly appointed departmental head trying to implement change among teachers with intrapersonal struggles to adapt to change because of their experience, being stagnant and for doing things the same way for over 20 years. The study reflects on leadership style and support provided to teachers during the time of the Covid-19. John Dewey’s reflective process was adopted as framework, and mixed methods approach. Thus, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from eight purposively selected participants. Questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from six teachers: three experienced and three younger ones, while interviews were conducted for two critical friends in order to collect qualitative data. The collected data were coded and analyzed using themes. The findings of the study showed among others that the newly appointed departmental head empowered and supported all teachers to adapt to change by utilizing the situational theory as a guideline. Thus, support from leaders and involving followers in decision making can change their perceptions with regards to adapting to change and feeling more at ease.
References
Al-Malki, M., & Wang, J. (2018). Leadership Styles and Jobs Performance: A Literature Review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 3(3), 40-49.
Amanchukwu, R., Stanley, G., & Ololube, N. (2015). A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and their Relevance to Educational Management. Academia.edu, 5(1), 6-14.
Badshah, S. (2021). Historical Study of Leadership Theories. Journal of Strategic Human Resource Management, 1(1), 49-59.
Best, C. (2011). Holistic Leadership: A Model for Leader-Member Engagement and Development. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 4(1), 5.
Brindusa, M. (2012). The Relationship Between Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance. Journal of Defense Resources Management, 3(1), 123-127.
Bush, T. (2007). Educational Leadership and Management: Theory, Policy and Practice. South African Journal of Education, 27(3), 391.
Carelse, E. (2018). The State of Education in South Africa. The Southern Cross. Available online: https://www.scross.co.za/2018/05/the-state-of-education-in-south-africa/
Cipriano, C., & Brackett, M. (30 April 2020). How to Support Teachers’ Emotional Needs Right Now? Greater good magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_support_teachers_emotional_needs_right_now.
DeKay, S.H. (2012). Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace: A Largely Unexplored Region. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 454-449.
Firestone. (2020). Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership. Nature Publish Group. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7254531/
Fry, J., Scammel, J., & Barker, S. (2017) Drowning in Muddied Waters or Swimming downstream? A Critical Analysis of Literature Reviewing in a Phenomenological Study Through an Exploration of the Lifeworld, Reflexivity. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 17(1), 49-60.
Fynn, A. (2013). Using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to Evaluate an Education Support NGO in Soweto. University of South Africa Pretoria, 44: n.p.
Harris, A and Jones, M. (2020). COVID-19 School Leadership in Disruptive Times. School Leadership & Management, 40(4), 243-247.
Higgs, M., & Rowland, D. (2011). What does it take to Implement Change successfully? A Study of the Behaviour of Successful Change leaders. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 47(3), 309-335.
Khan, I.U., & Nawaz, A. (2016). The Leadership Styles and the Employees Performance: A Review. Gomal University Journal of Research, 32(2), 144-150.
Khatoon, N. (2015). Emotional Stability, Self-Professional Development and its Role in Effective Teaching. International Journal of Business and General Management (IJBGM), 4(4), 9-14
Kiani, M., Abbasi, M., Ahmadi, M., & Salehi, B. (2018). Organ Transplantation in Iran; Current State and Challenges with a View on Ethical Considerations. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7(3), 45.
Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Patall, E.A., & Pekrun, R. (2016). Adaptive Motivation and Emotion in Education: Research and Principles for Instructional Design. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(2), 228–236. 10.1177/2372732216644450
Marini, S., and Milawati, M. (2020). Distance Learning Innovation Strategy in Indonesia during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Transformative Education and Educational leadership, 1, 416-421.
McNamara, K., & Buggy, L. (2017). Commuity-based Climate Change Adaptation: A Review of Academic Literature. Taylor & Francis, 22(4), 443-460.
Menci, J., Wefald, A.J., & Van Ittersum, K. (2016). Transformational Leader Attributes: Interpesonal Skills, Engagement, and Well-Being. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(5), 635-657. 10.1108/LODJ-09-2014-0178
Mestry R. (2017). Empowering Principals to Lead and Manage Public Schools Effectively in the 21st Century. South African Journal of Education, 37(1), 1-11.
Muste, D. (2016). The Role of Communication skills in Teaching Process. The European Proceedings of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty oh Psichology and Educational Sciences, Sindicatelor str. No.7, 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.12.52
O’Reilly, D., Leitch, C., Harrison, R and Lamprou, E. (2015). Leadership, Authority and Crisis: Reflections and Future Direction. Leadership, 11(4), 489-499.
Peretomode, O. 2012. Situational and Contingency Theories of Leadership: Are they the same? IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 4(3), 13-17.
Ramdass, K. (n.d). The Challenges Facing Education in South Africa. University of Johannesburg: South Africa.
Robbins, SP., Judge, TA., Odendaal, A. and Roodt, G. (2016). Organisational Behaviour: Global and Southern African Perspectives. 3rd ed. Cape Town: Pearson.
Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective thinking. Teacher College Record. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240645823_Defining_Reflection_Another_Look_at_John_Dewey_and_Reflective_Thinking
Ruzek, E.A., Hafen, C.A., Allen, J.P., Gregory, A., Mikami, A.Y., & Pianta, R.C. (2016). How teacher emotional support motivates students: The mediating roles of perceived peer relatedness, autonomy support, and competence. Learn Instr., 42, 95-103. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.01.004.
Samaras, A.P. (2011). Self-study teacher research: Improving your practice through collaborative inquiry. SAGE: California
Silkoset. (2020). Covid-19: The Dyfunctional Effect of Coercive Power to Control the Pandemic. https://www.bi.edu/research/business-review/articles/2020/12/covid-19-the-dysfunctional-effect-of-coercive-power-to-control-the-pandemic/
Smith, G., Minor, M., Brashen, H., & Remaly, K (2017). Successful Instructional Leadership Styles in Education. Journal of Instructional Research, 6, 46-52.
Smith, L., & Riley, D. (2012). School Leadership in times of Crisis. Taylor & Francis, 32(1), 57-71.
Soncini, A., Politi, E., & Matteucci, M. (2021). Teachers Navigating Distance Learning DuringCovid-19 Without Feeling Emotionally Exhausted: The Protective Role of Self-efficacy. American Psychological Association, 36(6), 494.
Starr, J. (2020). Responding to COVID-19: Short and Long-Term Challenges. Phi Delta Kappa, 101(8), 60-61.
Taghizadeh, S., Rahman, S., Hossain, M and Haque, M. (2019). Characteristics of Organizational Culture in Stimulating Services Innovation and Performance. Research Gate. doi: http://DOI:10.1108/MIP-12-2018-0561
Taylor, I. (2017). An Emerging View of Creative Actions. Perspectives in Creativity,1, 297-325.
Tench, R. (2016). Emotional Intelligence: An Essential Leadership Trait for Educators. The William and Mary Educational Review, 4(1). https://scholarworks.wm.edu/wmer/vol4/iss1/2
Tuyishime, G and Rosa, W. (2017). The Holistic Leadership Model and the Nurse Unit Manager: Assessing Requisite Leadership Competencies in the Rwandan Context. Rwanda Journal series F: Medicine and Health Sciences, 4(1), 17-21.
Wang, J., Mrudula, A., & McLean, G. (2016). Understanding Crisis and Crisis management: An Indian Perspective. Human Resource Development International, 19(3), 192-208.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Sherronay George , Chinaza Uleanya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Content Licensing, Copyright, and Permissions
1. License
International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education has CC-BY NC or an equivalent license as the optimal license for the publication, distribution, use, and reuse of scholarly work for non-commercial purpose. The non-commercial use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Creative Commons License
2. Author’s Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
3. User Rights
International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education objective is to disseminate articles published are as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, this journal permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work for non-commercial purposes only. Users will also need to attribute authors and this journal on distributing works in the journal.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain the following rights:
Copyright, and proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
The right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books, The right to reproduce the article for own purposes, The right to self-archive the article, the right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal (International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education).
The author has a non-exclusive publishing contract with a publisher and the work is published with a more restrictive license, the author retains all the rights to publish the work elsewhere, including commercially, because she/he is not subject to the conditions of her / his own license, regardless of the type of CC license chosen.
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by other authors, the signatory of this form warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this agreement.
6. Termination
This agreement can be terminated by the author or International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education upon two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education.ÂÂ
7. Royalties
This agreement entitles the author to no royalties or other fees. To such extent as legally permissible, the author waives his or her right to collect royalties relative to the article in respect of any use of the article by This agreement can be terminated by the author or International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education upon two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education or its sublicensee.
8. Miscellaneous
International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education will publish the article (or have it published) in the journal if the article’s editorial process is successfully completed and International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education or its sublicensee has become obligated to have the article published. International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education may conform the article to a style of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, referencing and usage that it deems appropriate. The author acknowledges that the article may be published so that it will be publicly accessible and such access will be free of charge for the readers
