Navigating Turbulent Waters - Leading One Manitoba School in a Time of Crisis

Oct 15, 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped school leadership, demanding flexibility, creativity, and continuous innovation. Guided by institutional theory, the paper explains how leadership adaptations are shaped by environmental pressures, including coercive actions from government or regulators, mimetic attempts to emulate practices, and normative expectations from professional standards. Using a qualitative co-constructed autoethnographic approach, it traces the Manitoba COVID-19 timeline, identifies stakeholders and pressures, and documents a principal’s leadership adaptations, highlighting emotional and physical burdens.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Institutional theory and environmental pressures

Qualitative autoethnographic approach

Manitoba COVID-19 timeline and stakeholder pressures

Leadership adaptations and emotional/physical toll

Navigating Turbulent Waters: Leading One Manitoba School in a Time of Crisis Merli Tamtik & Susan Darazsi University of Manitoba Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the practice of school leadership, requiring greater flexibility, creativity, and innovation. Guided by institutional theory, this paper suggests that leadership adaptations are influenced by environmental pressures such as coercive (e.g., from governmental or regulatory agencies), mimetic (e.g., attempts to emulate best practices from other schools), and normative pressures (e.g., professional standards endorsed by professional societies or unions). By using a qualitative co-constructed autoethnographic approach (See Kempster & Iszatt-White, 2012), the paper presents the Covid-19 timeline in Manitoba, identifying stakeholders and associated environmental pressures. It also features the personal leadership adaptations experienced by a school principal (Susan). The findings suggest that coercive pressures are mostly associated with creativity and inventive leadership practices. Mimetic pressures may lead to copying behaviours, and normative pressures are associated with enhanced foundational knowledges, all depending on contextual factors. The findings also highlight the significant emotional and physical toll the pandemic has taken on school principals. Keywords: leadership adaptations, environmental pressures, COVID-19, Manitoba public schools The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the practice of school leadership (Harris, 2020; Jarvis & Mishra, 2020; Pollock, 2020). In crisis, leadership competencies arise that are fundamentally different from those required under normal circumstances. Decisions directly affecting the health and well-being of a whole school community need to be made quickly and under pressure, requiring decisiveness, flexibility, and innovation (Netolicky, 2020; Van Wart, 2005). School leaders are expected to use unconventional approaches to solve problems emerging from unfamiliar circumstances (Hemmer & Elliff, 2020). Uncertainty and unpredictability are doubled by various environmental pressures that differ depending on local contexts (Burch et al., 2020; Pollock, 2020). These differences may involve conflicting or absent government responses, changing staffing situations, and varying degrees of vulnerability emerging from inadequate infrastructure and socio-economic differences among student groups (Harris & Jones, 2020; Hemmer & Elliff, 2020; Virella, 2020). The sensitivity and unfamiliarity encountered in crisis test leaders’ knowledge, skills, and overall leadership capacity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there seems to be a general assumption that school leaders naturally possess expertise and control over situations that can be characterized as ambiguous, complex, and constantly evolving (Harwati, 2013; Netolicky, 2020). However, recent literature on crisis leadership has pointed to the following problems: 1) a lack of preparedness among school administrators (Jarvis & Mishra, 2020; Thornton, 2021; Tourish, 2020); 2) a dearth of empirical knowledge on how to lead ina time of pandemic (Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2020; Harris, 2020; Smith & Riley, 2012); and 3) a need for different theorizations, as mainstream leadership theories are not applicable in situations of radical uncertainty (Tourish, 2020). There are a few emerging insights that provide a starting point for examining school leadership practices in a global pandemic. For example, Netolicky (2020) observed an increase in leaders’ individual decision-making autonomy to make deliberate choices and take innovative risks for their schools. Harris and Jones (2020) and Pollock (2020) suggested the importance of context in pandemic leadership responses. Leaders benefit from establishing and sustaining a collaborative organizational culture through networking practices (Azorin, 2020; Harris & Jones, 2020; Kidson et al., 2020). Hemmer and Elliff (2020) d

FAQs

What does the paper examine about school leadership during COVID-19?

It examines how school leadership practices adapt under crisis conditions, emphasizing flexibility, creativity, and innovation shaped by environmental pressures.

Which types of environmental pressures influence leadership adaptations in the study?

The paper highlights coercive pressures (government/regulators), mimetic pressures (emulating best practices), and normative pressures (professional standards from societies or unions).

What does the paper find about the effects of the pandemic on school principals?

It finds that coercive pressures are mostly linked with creativity and inventive practices, while it also documents a significant emotional and physical toll on principals.

Oct 15, 2026

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