Abstract
The outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019 caused significant disruptions to educational
institutions around the world. Educational institutions had to find alternative ways to
minimise the effect of coronavirus on education. In South Africa, the government
introduced COVID-19 regulations to minimise the spread of the virus. These
regulations became the framework for the implementation of change within educational
institutions. However, some educational institutions continued to struggle to implement
change within COVID-19 regulation guidelines. The ability to manage change is
influenced by the development of change management strategies and the adoption of
change leadership styles that suit the situation. Therefore, this study aimed to describe
the lecturers’ experience of the change management process during the COVID-19
crisis in the Gauteng Community Education and Training College in South Africa. The
study focused on the lecturers’ perceptions of the change management process,
lecturers’ experience of change management strategies, and change leadership styles
during the crisis. The study adopted a qualitative case study design to gain an in-depth
understanding of how the participants experienced the change management process.
Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions
making use of semi-structured interviews. The college lecturer population of over 1014
participants were purposively sampled from this population. Thematic data analysis
was used to identify and interpret themes that emerged from the collected data. The
study found that the participants had a fair understating of the change management
process. It further found that different change management strategies and change
leadership styles had influenced how the participants experienced the change
management process. These results will benefit those involved in the policy-making
process within community educational institutions and fellow researchers in the field of
change management.
KEYWORDS
Leadership, education, change, qualitative, experience and management.