Crisis Leadership: Experiences of School Principals Before, During and After Pandemic

Abstract

While the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of crisis management and crisis leadership in school leadership, it has also revealed the limited scope of research in this area. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the crises encountered by school administrators and the leadership strategies they developed before, during and after the pandemic from a holistic and process-oriented perspective. In doing so, the study seeks to reveal how the crises encountered and the leadership strategies changed across these different periods. The research based on the lived experiences of school administrators was conducted with phenomenology. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 23 school administrators working in different types of schools and analyzed using inductive content analysis. The findings indicated that, before the pandemic, school administrators relied on leadership strategies such as open and effective communication, a calm and solution-oriented approach. During the pandemic, however, they developed more context-sensitive leadership strategies, including sensitivity to emotional needs, situational flexibility, taking initiative and collaborative leadership. Following the pandemic, school administrators displayed technology leadership, learner-centered leadership, transformational leadership and supportive leadership. The findings revealed that crisis leadership was a dynamic process shaped by societal needs, school type and centralized educational structure. The implementation of case-based crisis leadership training and the development of leadership competencies providing social-emotional support are suggested to prepare school administrators for potential future crises.

Keywords

• Crisis management
• Crisis leadership
• Pandemic

Kriz Liderliği: Okul Yöneticilerinin Pandemi Öncesindeki, Sürecindeki ve Sonrasındaki Deneyimleri

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemisi, okul liderliğinde kriz yönetimi ve kriz liderliği becerilerinin önemini görünür hale getirirken, bu alandaki araştırmaların sınırlılığını da ortaya koymuştur. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışmanın amacı okul yöneticilerinin karşılaştıkları krizleri ve geliştirdikleri liderlik stratejilerini pandemi öncesi, pandemi süreci ve pandemi sonrası dönemleri kapsayan bütüncül ve süreçsel bir bakış açısıyla incelemektir. Böylece, farklı dönemlerde karşılaşılan krizlerin ve benimsenen liderlik stratejilerinin nasıl değiştiğinin ortaya konulması hedeflenmektedir. Okul yöneticilerinin deneyimlerine odaklanılan bu çalışma fenomenoloji deseni ile yürütülmüştür. Veriler, farklı okul türlerinde görev yapan 23 okul yöneticisi ile gerçekleştirilen yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler aracılığıyla toplanmış ve tümevarımsal nitel içerik analizi yöntemiyle çözümlenmiştir. Bulgular, pandemi öncesinde okul yöneticilerinin açık ve etkili iletişim, soğukkanlı ve çözüm odaklı yaklaşım gibi liderlik stratejilerine yöneldiklerini; pandemi sürecinde ise duygusal ihtiyaçlara duyarlılık, durumsal esneklik, inisiyatif alma ve iş birlikçi liderlik gibi bağlama duyarlı stratejiler geliştirdiklerini göstermiştir. Pandemi sonrasında ise okul yöneticileri teknoloji liderliği, öğrenme merkezli liderlik, dönüşümcü liderlik ve destekleyici liderlik özelliklerini sergilemiştir. Araştırma sonuçları, kriz liderliğinin bağlama göre şekillenen bir yapıya sahip olduğunu; toplumsal ihtiyaçların, okul türünün ve merkeziyetçi eğitim sisteminin bu süreçte önemli belirleyiciler olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Bu doğrultuda, okul yöneticilerinin gelecekte karşılaşılabilecek kriz durumlarına daha hazırlıklı olabilmeleri için örnek olay temelli kriz liderliği eğitimlerinin yaygınlaştırılması ve sosyal-duygusal destek sunmaya yönelik liderlik becerilerinin geliştirilmesi önerilmektedir.

Keywords

• Kriz yönetimi
• Kriz liderliği
• Pandemi

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