Abstract:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, it has triggered socio-economic responses that has affected society's lives, national security, economic activity, and organizational work cultures, among other things. As such, academic leaders have been given the task of reorganizing their processes and guaranteeing instructional quality while working with drastically reduced resources. Given that educational leadership practices are centred on a public and democratic ethics that promotes social justice, freedom and fairness in all levels of education, the present study investigated how departmental heads led their subordinates during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak with focus on democratic principles. Underpinned by an interpretivist paradigm, the study employed a qualitative research approach and a case study design in which purposive sampling technique was used to select five department heads in a rural university in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Research findings among many others revealed that COVID-19 improves the quality of leadership when combined with democratic principles such as freedom of speech, equality, justice and fairness. On the other hand, findings revealed that COVID-19 has negatively impacted the relationship between managers and employees has working remotely has interrupted trust and relationship. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that since managers require a high degree of leadership and the disposition of democratic values to guide employees toward a common goal in times of crisis, managers must first understand the variables that influences leadership in the educational sector in order to adjust to the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

COVID-19, Democratic Principles, Leadership, Management, Pandemic.