The Role of Strategic Change Management in Enhancing Academic Institutions’ Sustainability

Asa Romeo Asa, Johanna Pangeiko Nautwima and Jesaria Khom-Oabes
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Asa Romeo Asa: Namibian-German Institute for Logistics, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
Johanna Pangeiko Nautwima: Namibia Business School, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Jesaria Khom-Oabes: Department of Governance and Management Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia

International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, 2023, vol. 9, issue 3, 41-53

Abstract: This study aims to highlight how strategic change management enhances the sustainability of academic institutions. Thus, the study explores sustainability in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (VUCA), primarily focusing on academic institutions in Namibia through the lens of strategic change management. The central question the study attempts to answer is how strategic change management can be employed to achieve sustainability in academic institutions. Academic institutions must be sustainable as it enables the graduates produced to be competitive at their workplaces and enables them to be employable not only for the local industry but internationally. A qualitative approach through action research design was adopted to explore the role of strategic change management on the sustainability of academic institutions through a reflexive thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti. The participants employed in this study consisted of five (5) managerial personnel, eleven (11) lecturers/professors, and eight (8) postgraduate and undergraduate students, totalling 24 participants for data collection through the use of open-ended questionnaires. The study examines how various academic stakeholders view sustainability integration in their educational programs and strategies to implement the desired change. Methodologically, this study can be described as explorative and interpretative, which reflects on sustainability in academic institutions by paying closer attention to strategic change management to address the challenges and effective management of change, which in most cases is inevitable. The study found that sustainability in academic institutions can be achieved by recalibrating a strategic plan through all stakeholder participation. The students should be at the core of sustainability initiatives, and an inclusive change approach should be adopted, this enables appropriate change management initiatives to be employed for enhancing sustainability in academic institutions. The pedagogical approach advanced in this paper addresses how strategic change management can be used to achieve sustainability in academic institutions. Hence, the findings indicate that a strategic plan fosters interaction with all associated stakeholders and inspires the combining efforts of stakeholders toward achieving a sustainable academic institution.

Keywords: Strategic change management in academic institutions; Sustainable education in Namibia; Stakeholder engagement in academia; Sustainability strategies for academic institutions; Sustainable mindset; Covid-19; Sustainable Development Goals; VUCA World (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mgs:ijmsba:v:9:y:2023:i:3:p:41-53

DOI: 10.18775/ijmsba.1849-5664-5419.2014.93.1004

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