96 ORGANIZING ACADEMIC COLLEGES: A GUIDE FOR DEANS rest of their careers. But because the other two departments are thriving, those faculty perceive no benefit from merging with a weaker discipline. As dean, I feel that if people aren’t equally appointed with a real stake in the new configuration, it just won’t take.” At this writing, the merger has yet to take place. • The psychology faculty greatly desired to be separated from a department that also housed faculty from sociology, anthropology, and social work. They felt that being part of a multi-disciplinary department inhibited their ability to de- velop an identity and worked against them when applying for grants. Faculty in the other disciplines felt they were being abandoned and believed the depart- ment would be weaker for the separation. “After much debate, they relented” said the dean. “I persuaded them that, as in a marriage, you cannot force people to stay when they want to go off on their own.” • In considering whether to support a subunit of faculty within an Ethnic Studies department to separate off into its own department, the dean said she realized: “that these battles between the (faculty in area A and faculty in area B) are really battles about identity and history, and they were divisive. Operating in separate departments means they can leave these battles behind.” • In facilitating the move of a department from another school into his College, one dean reported: “It was important to give [the faculty in that department] the feeling that they were being welcomed into the College, the value we see that they would bring to the College, and that we could work out any problems.” • One dean described how “faculty from ‘area A’ felt thwarted by the faculty from ‘area B.’ Once separated, both departments have thrived. “Being given respon- sibility for their own futures and not spending time negotiating with the other ‘side’ has freed them both.” If there is one dominant frame in making organizational change, it is the impor- tance of attending to “the human factor,” particularly people’s sense of how they feel about the proposed change. We like to believe faculty members are motivated by rationality, but in truth they are like all other people and their feelings matter a great deal. They will ask: “How is this going to affect me/my program?” Acknowledging this aspect of affect, many deans we interviewed describe a process they used similar to this dean’s description: “We held committee meetings throughout the year, held a focus session with students, and met with different constituencies.” “Don’t rush or appear to mandate,” cautions another dean. “Give everyone the chance to weigh in.” “Take the time to explain why. You can never explain enough. Explain even to those who will never be won over.” Symbolic (the need to give larger meaning to change): • A dean of Arts and Sciences pulled three departments (Music, Theatre, and Art) together under an umbrella program, the School of Visual & Performing