Change Management in Digital Environment Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scenario from Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

The entire world has been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. In the education sector, the current crisis brought upon by this pandemic is a quintessential adaptive and transformative challenge without a preemptive measure or standard operational procedure in place. Leaders in education are required to precipitously strategize and plan responses as the pandemic runs its course. To ensure academic success amid the COVID-19 pandemic, effective change and transition management needs to be an area that leaders of learning institutions focus on. The management of educational institutions is to derive a framework to support the academic learning of students as well to alleviate issues for at-risk students due to this crisis. Therefore, this chapter aims to explore change management procedures and digital transformation in higher education institutions (HEIs) amid the current COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the chapter provides elaborations on the issues and challenges encountered in the implementation of e-learning during the pandemic from the management’s perspective. A qualitative approachHigher education institutions (HEIs)qualitative approach with a single case study design was used in this research. Data was collected through purposive sampling techniquePurposive sampling from three members of the top management team in a private higher education institution in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In-depth thematic analysis of the findings explored five dimensions which included the journey of implementation, the leader’s role in managing change, policies and procedures, best practices, and preemptive measuresPreemptive measures as the key practices of change management in the implementation of digital environment amid the pandemic crisis. Furthermore, several prominent themes have been identified reflecting the issues and challenges in the implementation of e-learning during the time of COVID-19: technology resource and funding, stakeholders including staff and students, assessments and learning outcomes, mental health as well as practical courses and research work.