Higher Education Leaders' Framing of Organizational Decisions During COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, academic leaders were pressed to respond to the growing health crisis. The rapid response and decision-making necessitated heightened vigilance, emotional intelligence, and attention to institutional turbulence. To understand the pattern of planning and action from academic leaders in response to the global health crisis, we conducted a study to explore the framing of decisions among academic deans during COVID-19. In this qualitative study, 10 participants were interviewed via Zoom using 10 questions designed to gather data related to both a leadership framing theory and management styles in the time of crisis. Qualitative data analysis identified common themes which aligned with Bolman and Deal's leadership frames of structural, human relations, symbolic, and political domains.