IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE WITHIN THE DEAN’S OFFICE 79 6 Just as new deans inherit the organization structure of the dean’s office, they also come into an existing configuration for organizing academics (i.e., their faculty and programs). The organizing framework is most often a departmental structure where units are led by a chair or head and faculty are housed within traditional disci- plines (such as Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, English, Political Science, Philoso- phy, etc.). Sometimes related disciplines are grouped into the same department (e.g., Languages and Literature, Sociology and Anthropology, Chemistry and Physics). Such groupings are increasingly prevalent with decreasing institutional size. Additionally, faculty work (most typically research) can be organized into centers or institutes, although institutions may use these terms differently and often inter- change them. Interdisciplinary programs, research, and teaching might be housed in a center that has an administrative director, but does not have full faculty lines and therefore, faculty from established departments make up the teaching pool. What precipitates proposals to reorganize faculty work? Any number of factors may be at play, including: Changes initiated by faculty/departments • A segment within a department wants to raise its visibility • A breakdown in relations occurs between faculty within disciplinary factions Changes initiated by the dean • The dean perceives a better way to organize faculty work • A change in the budget situation, particularly during periods of fiscal cutbacks I’m looking at reorganizing departments within my College. Some of my questions include: What are the reasons for reorganization? How does one convey the need for reorganization to the faculty? What are the factors to consider? Metrics? Data points? What process should be followed? —Posting to the CCAS Deans ListServ from a relatively new A&S dean Organizing the Faculty Within a College