SCHOOL LEADERSHIP DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE in UNPRECEDENTED TIMES

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2022-05

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This explanatory-sequential mixed-methods design research aims to describe the steps of an organizational change model made to sustain organizational change during the COVID-19 crisis for school leaders in Local District East, one of the local districts of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The overarching research question that guided this study was: What processes and actions did school leaders employ to promote positive, sustainable organizational change during COVID-19? John Kotter's (2012) Eight Steps for Leading Change Model served as the primary conceptual framework for this study. Data analysis led to the following significant findings: (1) Kotter's steps were grouped into four primary categories to describe processes and actions: Preparation, Activation, Outcomes, and Culture Shift. Based on the data analysis, school principals who led their schools successfully during COVID-19 implemented processes and actions linked to Kotter's Eight Step Model. (2) Kotter’s Step Six: Generating and Celebrating Short-Term Goals, and Step Seven: Sustaining Acceleration are the two steps in which school principals did not feel very successful. Some challenges arose, such as avoiding complacency when school personnel worked remotely. Most school principals expressed that emotional barrier were more difficult to overcome when implementing change. (3) The researcher found no significant correlation among all the variables except for ethnicity and communicating the vision for organizational change to all stakeholders during COVID-19. Finally, data analysis derived from the focus group conducted during the qualitative phase of this research provided the research insight into developing a high-performing school principal profile linked to Kotter's Eight Steps for Leading Change Model. It includes specific characteristics for a successful implementation of organizational change and cultural shift.

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