Concluding notes

Our team thanks you for considering this resource. As we reflect on this Field Guide that you’ve interacted with; change is all around. A project that started on the cusp of Fall has ebbed into Winter.  The Cycles of Change in the Seasons are an apt parallel: our surrounding natural environment mirrors our organizations. Life and work-life involve flux, dynamics’, and transition. McKay, Kuntz & Naswall (2013) confirm that future research must address change participation in relation to the formal position in the organization (e.g., managerial role) and the individual expectations of involvement.  This Field Guide addresses some of this up-front with the consideration of a change management tool and the level from where the change is occurring.  Again, this is a starting point resource that by no means addresses all the complexities of change like the assessment of readiness, affective aspects, organizational culture, or even commitment or inclusion of individuals.  Nor was this document mean to be all-encompassing.  Like the year that this project occurred, the Pandemic hurled industries, organizations, and leaders in extreme change that have not been experienced in the Modern Era. It is understood that some changes have more locus of control than others (like a pandemic).  This Field Guide has hoped to fall into helping leaders in the former rather than latter circumstance- where one can work in a concerted effort to plan and identify approaches to change management like those include therein.

Acknowledgments

The team members would like to thank the OLC leadership, fellow peers across the U.S., Middle East, Africa, Australia, Canada in the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL), The Southern African Regional Universities Association (SAURA) (which includes Chancellors of public and private universities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). We would acknowledge the sharing and guide of leaders at OLC and those at Universities across the globe who gave much of their time to explore, expand, and grow in our capacity to further leadership capacity in Online learning and development.