Session Information
26 ONLINE 24 A, Leadership In Times of Uncertainty, Digitalization And Times Of Turnover
Paper Session
MeetingID: 892 8566 1812 Code: 9UEw3w
Contribution
Throughout the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, we see that the concepts of crisis and uncertainty are used interchangeably in order to determine the change that nations, societies and organisations are undergoing at all levels of their functioning. However, it could be said that any potential crisis triggers a period of uncertainty since everything changes and the need to redesign and redefine what we do and how we do it is more visible than ever. Currently, there is an increasing degree of reference to crisis and uncertainty in school organisations due to the unprecedented change derived from the global pandemic and its effects on the various education systems across the globe. In fact, almost a decade ago, Shrivastava et al. (2013) argued about the important aspects of understanding crises and developing crisis management skills, in general, since societies live in the eye of a “perfect storm” with issues related to global financial crisis, global climate crisis, global poverty crisis, all of which interact and affect all stakeholders.
Overcoming the uncertainty by opting for a “one-size fits all” approach usually ends in disappointment, as what worked in one set of contextual relationships does not necessarily work in a different context. Thus, the question remains whether concepts of uncertainty management practices from the business sector might offer valuable insights for school principals to translate twofold challenges such as innovation/risk avoidance that appear worldwide at the systemic level (OECD, 2020) into opportunities rather than non-resolvable constraints. In that regard we postulate that constant change as the new norm, forces us to re-think pre-conceptions and to challenge traditional kinds of sense-making as well as decision-making processes with regard to the internal and external context of our schools. Consequently, with regards to the conceptual foundations and research evidence-based key practices related to uncertainty management, we focus on decision-making processes as a response to challenges stemming from the inside as well as from the outside of the organisation, from a context-sensitive leadership perspective (Hallinger, 2018; Gronn and Ribbins, 1996). Thus, the main thrust of this paper is to examine decision-making from a contextual sensitivity aspect in an effort to identify factors from the business sector, which could inspire school leadership in terms of sense making and issue formulation as well (Hallinger and Snidvongs, 2008).
Thus, this conceptual paper is organised around five sections. In the first section, we try to provide a conceptual basis of the two main terms, crisis and uncertainty. The second section examines how leaders in the business sector deal with crisis and uncertainty in general, but especially during the decision-making process. The third section focuses on educational leaders and their ways of navigating through crisis and uncertainty in an effort to make sense and proceed with clarity. In the fourth section, we provide some observations and lessons learnt about how leaders in both sectors make the best possible decisions and with what characteristics they try to lead, under the circumstances (Hallinger and Snidvongs, 2008). In the final section, we try to define the way forward in order to improve on the further development of school leaders during times of crises.
Method
This is a conceptual paper which examines diachronically the issues of uncertainty, not only in terms of context and decision-making, but also having in mind leaders’ and leadership’s main characteristics as well. The question remains whether concepts of uncertainty management practices from the business sector might offer insights for school principals in order to make connections between what is happening inside and outside the organization. Thus, methodologically, we began with an extensive and systematic review of the literature (Aravena Castillo & Hallinger, 2017) of both the business as well as the educational leadership sectors, with a specific emphasis on decision making processes of leaders under uncertainty and crises. The current review involved the evaluation, analysis and synthesis of the data based on our overall aim to examine decision-making from a contextual sensitivity aspect in an effort to identify factors from the business sector, which could inspire school leadership in terms of sense making and issue formulation. Data synthesis allows the identification of modal trends and furthering our understanding of successful and effective knowledge production (Aravena Castillo & Hallinger, 2017). We would like to emphasise that we do not view our paper as an exhaustive overview and synthesis of existing knowledge in either the business or the education sectors. Rather, we regard this paper as a first attempt to better understand crises in the education sector (such as protracted school closures with no light at the end of the tunnel). We believe that this has been done more holistically (and for much longer) in the business sector (or better in profit making organizations rather than in the non-profit ones), where the pressure for profits and quick gains from stakeholders is usually greater than the pressure exerted on public schools. By saying this, we do not assert that the education sector has not been confronted with disruptive and large-scale changes in the past. What we are stressing is the magnitude of the disruption and the number of unknown factors included in this difficult situation. Finally, we are attempting this in order to stimulate the discussion forward.
Expected Outcomes
Oftentimes, school leaders have been faced with the task of reconciling challenges from ever changing contexts stemming from the inside and the outside. They seem to be more concerned with what is going on within their organization than with what is going on outside their organization. However, it becomes evident that trust, communication and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders are extremely important aspects that educational and business leaders must have in mind when making decisions under crisis and uncertainty (Beauchamp et al., 2021; Teo et al., 2017; Thornton, 2021). It is equally evident that educational leaders lack the training about issue/problem formulation as well as aspects of behavioral decision-making processes in order to reach the best possible decisions under the circumstances. In addition, school leaders, during any crisis, could promote a number of entrepreneurial leadership skills. An educational entrepreneur is the one who achieves collaboration with a wide range of potential school stakeholders and acquires different resources so that the school organization operates and runs smoothly (Brauckmann and Pashiardis, 2011; Brauckmann – Sajkiewicz and Pashiardis, 2020; Pashiardis and Brauckmann, 2019). This is deemed more important than ever during times of uncertainty. Therefore, a new sense- and decision-making approach requires the skill of balancing, at first sight, seemingly contradictory or incompatible challenges. Understanding (in a proactive way) the needs and interests of various groups inside and outside the school secures a better school climate of trust and strengthens the school community over time. Having said that, we have to acknowledge that, depending on a school’s state of development and given structures, the school leader´s degrees of freedoms to make connections across and between contexts may differ. However, school leaders need to learn to act faster with clearer and constant communication during times of crises and uncertainty.
References
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