HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERS' FRAMING OF ORGANIZATIONAL DECISIONS DURING COVID-19

A.L. Burch¹, M. Salas-Provance², A. Kuamo'o³

¹A.T. Still University, Dean, Mesa, United States, ²A.T. Still University, Vice Dean, Mesa, United States, ³A.T. Still University, ATSU Master of Public Health Student and Senior Admin Assistant, Mesa, United States

Background: In March 2020, academic leaders were pressed to respond to the growing health crisis related to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, more commonly known as COVID-19. The rapid response and decision making necessitated heightened vigilance, emotional intelligence and attention to institutional turbulence. To understand the pattern of action from academic leaders in response to the global health crisis, we conducted a study to explore the framing of decisions among academic deans in schools of health professions during COVID-19.

Purpose: Our purpose was to explore how deans in schools of health professions in the U.S. responded to challenges during this period of crisis.

Methods: An internet search was conducted of deans in Schools of Health Professions. Seventy individuals were invited to participate. Due to the initial low response rate, the randomized selection process was modified and approved by the institution's IRB to one of direct invitation to individual deans. 10 participants confirmed participation in the study. The investigators were blinded to the individuals who accepted the invitation. The 10 participants were interviewed by the study's research assistant. The one-time blinded Zoom interview consisted of 10 questions designed to gather data related to both a leadership framing theory (Bolman and Deal, 2017) and management theory in the time of crisis (Nichols et al., 2020).

Results: Qualitative data analysis included identifying common themes from the interview transcripts to increase the understanding of leadership responses to the 10 questions posed. Questions were categorized and aligned with Bolman and Deal's leadership frames of structural, human relations, symbolic and political domains. Results were organized under broad thematic categories which included emotional intelligence, perceived expectations, shifts in structure, shifts in power and resources, trust as a leadership trait, and management strategies. 60% of participants identified that they "dialed up" their emotional intelligence skills and stated that this was necessary to "remain calm in the storm". Organizational shifts in power, resources and personnel were frequent. 40% of the participants identified that external influences from state, local and the federal government increased during the period of study. Findings included that deciding with precision was challenging due to ongoing uncertainty and that "best guesses" more accurately described the period.

Conclusions: Trust appeared as a strong theme and necessary leadership trait. Leaders mentioned "how they were going to get to the other side" frequently. Further work is needed to consider the urgent decision making leaders within schools of health professions must make in times of global health pandemics. Future studies are needed to add to the evidence of identifying best practice models for leaders in health professional education that protect both student progression and faculty/staff employment in times of crisis.

Implications: Students and employees across the nation in health professional higher education had lives and learning disrupted during the COVID-19 onset and escalation stage. Some will never recover from the unpredictable changes and rapid responses required by health professional higher education from March to October 2020. Future work connecting trust with agile organizational strategy is needed in order to weather unpredictability in the future.

Funding acknowledgements: The study did not receive funding.

Keywords:
Crisis
Decisions
Leaders

Topics:
Professional issues: business skills, leadership, advocacy & change management
Education
COVID-19

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: The ATSU-Arizona IRB reviewed the qualitative research project proposal and per code of Federal Regulations, the project was approved as an exempt human research study. Please see the uploaded IRB approval for details.