Impact of COVID-19 on an Educational Institution of India

The year 2020 has made a mark in the history of mankind. India, too, was affected by the pandemic. To ensure a curb on the spread of the disease, India adopted a sequence emergency mechanism. It announced the closure of all educational institutions along with all the other establishments as a part of strict social distancing measures. The traditional mode of teaching and learning transitioned into online teaching. Online learning and virtual classrooms became the 'new normal'. The analysis was carried out using the data collected through structured questionnaire from 35 teachers in Kottayam District, Kerala a southern state of India. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. It is evident from the study that the teachers lack in the use of various teaching methods for motivating and encouraging students. Further on, since the teachers were caught off guard, they had not received any formal or professional training to conduct online classes or use the advanced modes of technology.

The Banking Sector During COVID-19

In this chapter, the authors explore the banking sector during coronavirus era by using Bahrain Islamic Bank as a case. Overall, the pandemic has speeded several decisions and actions in the digital transformation journey of the banking sector. Prior literature has identified four main strategies, namely retrenchment, preserving, innovating, and exit in response to a crisis. The findings show that the decisions taken by Bahrain Islamic Bank support the preserving and innovating strategies, which are mostly related to the continuation of its operations and preservation of its market share and customers as well as digitalization of their services and reliance on technological solutions to cope with the precautionary measures imposed by the pandemic.

Adaptive Performance

COVID-19 has prompted an urgent need for organisations to adapt to continuously changing circumstances. Given the unpredictable challenges, a traditional, tightly planned approach to managing episodic change is likely to be suboptimal. Based on the need to manage continuous change and ensure workplaces are prepared for further unexpected events, it is argued that developing employees' adaptive performance is a better approach. Drawing on the literature identified in Park and Park's recent review of adaptive performance and its antecedents, the authors conduct a parallel review of the managerial implications of these findings. Findings are organised into sections related to employee selection, training, work design, leader behaviour, and organisational climate. Each practical recommendation is reviewed in terms of its feasibility of implementation and likely effectiveness.

New Challenges for Leading the Change for the Psychological Consequences of Pandemics

With the needs for change and adaptation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, management of the concerns regarding workplace loneliness, work alienation, and spiritual well-being stands as a critical challenge for the organizations. Although these concepts are not new and have increasingly been a focus of attention in recent decades, contemporary radical changes in work methods and work concept such as increased use of technology, digitalization, social distancing at work, and virtual working make them much more crucial for the success of organizations. The purpose of this chapter is to address adverse psychological work-related outcomes of the pandemic and provide practical implications and recommendations for leaders for effective management of the processes regarding these outcomes during and after the pandemic.

Change Management Strategies as the Nexus of Performance Improvement in African Universities Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, which started in China in late 2019, came as the perfect storm at a time when leadership in African universities is leaving much to be desired. This status quo is what has triggered the current chapter, which sets out to explore responsive leadership development and the change management interventions that are required after the pandemic and which can make universities' operations agile. The chapter aims to investigate the nature of change management interventions, including agile talent management. This can help to ensure that African universities are effective and efficient in Africa post-COVID-19. The chapter employs different research methods; for instance, a literature review is synthesised on previously published studies that relate to the relevant applications and impacts of agile transformation in universities as a way of guiding leaders in their response to the challenges of a post-coronavirus world. Furthermore, the document analysis followed examines a number of documents related to leadership, development, and change post the pandemic.

Shock Leadership

Global crises that jolt entire systems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can place groups, organizations, and communities in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments that affect all sectors of society, having potentially disastrous effects including high morbidity and mortality rates, political upheaval, and extensive disruption of entire economic systems, causing damage that can last for months or even years. Effective leadership is a pivotal organizational commodity in times of normalcy, and it becomes increasingly critical during crises and the subsequent environments of discontinuous change. There has been a consistent level of international criticism regarding national, state, local, and corporate leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. This chapter explores the leadership challenges associated with highly chaotic environments and introduces an advanced model of leadership—shock leadership—and leadership development framework necessary for higher leader reliability and effectiveness in disasters and other crises.

Necessary Changes in Healthcare of German-Speaking Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly gained urgency in Germany for implementation of new structures in healthcare sector to take care of seriously ill COVID-19 patients. The shortage of skilled healthcare workers, which has already been discussed before the pandemic situation, has become more tangible than ever. Society relies on a properly working healthcare system, especially in a pandemic like the one we now witness. After the comparatively mild course of the first COVID-19 wave in Germany, the interest in long overdue changes decreased. The second wave of the pandemic occurred in Germany as well. Also, in the meantime of the first and the second wave, numerous findings were collected and presented, where changes could have an effect. To motivate going forward, the text describes John P. Kotter's model of change management, eight steps to describe necessary changes in organizations and leadership in the German healthcare system.

COVID-19 and Leadership

The main aim of this chapter is to investigate and report the specific personality traits, attitudes, styles of individual leaders, and learning experience of Bahraini leaders during COVID-19. A qualitative study technique used in order to purse the objectives of this research. Semi-directive interviews were conducted with 15 Bahraini leaders from different companies and sectors. The data was analysed and discussed based on themes related to the crisis management and effective leadership style. The results revealed that an exceptional leadership style has emerged in the Bahraini organizational environment to instill confidence and resilience to staff, customers, and external stakeholders during crisis. The findings of the current study will offer a comprehensive framework for effective leadership performance in times of crisis. In addition, the results of this study will be beneficial for the field of gender and culture studies, for instance culture diversification and its relationship with leadership styles.

Success Factors of Future-Viable Organizations in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted societies and will be succeeded by economic and social dynamics. Therefore, organizations need to adapt and seize new opportunities quickly. To learn from the early part of the COVID-19 crisis, 24 leader interviews were conducted and categorized based on the integrative model of leadership behavior. In consequence, eight success factors were derived that foster the future-viability of organizations in times of crisis: the three success factors, (1) providing iterative leadership within uncertainty, (2) promoting absolute customer-loyalty, and (3) providing sustainable public value, foster coordination with internal and external actors and provide meaning. Two factors, (4) promoting a culture of trust and (5) establishing collaborative ecosystems of organizations, promote cooperation and sustain trust. The final three success factors, (6) creating an agile culture, (7) driving digital processes, and (8) ensuring economic agility, enhance agility by activating internal and external resources.

COVID-19 Being Positive Strategically in the Context of SDG and NDC

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and nationally determined contributions (NDC), normally operated in silos at national level in developing countries despite their greater interrelation, require an aligned implementation. The chapter probes into the opportunities visible in the actions of different actors to tackle COVID-19 that can be continued or replicated for combating the menace of climate crisis and achieving sustainable development in post-COVID times. This chapter discusses the challenges that the contemporary issue of sustainability has faced due to the occurrence of this pandemic. The chapter concludes that at a time when no one wishes to be tested positive for COVID-19, there is a need to be positive strategically so that the potential opportunities of achieving goals and commitments under SDG and NDC could be sensed and seized by re-configuring resources and capabilities according to the actual needs for a sustainable future.