Leading Change in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to explore the change leadership procedures of e-learning implementation within HEIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter provides insight into the issues and challenges encountered amid the implementation as well as forward plans to pre-empt similar issues for future crises. A qualitative multiple-case study approach was used, and data were collected using the purposive sampling method from three members of the leadership team as well three lecturers from five private higher education institutions in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. Through comparative method of data analysis (grounded theory), complemented with Miles and Huberman's framework, the findings were analyzed to reveal emergent themes and sub-themes. Data from findings revealed the commonalities found in the way that Malaysian private HEIs dealt with the digital change leadership during COVID-19, how leaders navigated these changes, and the policies they implemented, along with best practices in the change administration.