Managing Changes In Developing World: Case Studies Of Blended Learning Adoption (Change) In Cambodian Higher Education Institutions

A conceptualization of change management framework informed that positive change is managed with considerations of type, elements and process. This framework was confirmed by recent situational analyses made at two Cambodia’s public higher education institutions where adoption of Blended Learning (the change) was found to be promising with increased students’ satisfaction, increased lecturers’ involvement and continued program expansion. Employing case study design, this study aims to reconfirm the constructs, suggesting, where possible, for readjustment to make it really works. To that end, in-depth interviews with institutional leadership and key informants and focus group discussion with involved faculties were conducted. Results from the study suggested that although the framework do explain the real management practices on the ground, it had been deformed in a way that allowed the above top management much bigger control on type and elements of change. Middle managements (the Center’s head) whose roles were supposed to have the above controls were left otherwise to manage the whole process of change. While this strategic error, on the one hand, made the above successes far from being institutionalized, it, on the other hand, confirmed the validity of the above framework. For this framework to be most practical, this study recommends that more strategic supports and policies, together with a reliable monitoring and evaluation platform, be developed while internal source of funding should also be secured.