I have increasingly found that more often than not administrators and faculties stumble over the processes of reform.
I have interviewed over two hundred faculty, deans, and senior administrators about the problems they feel they are confronting. More often than not, the problems are not so much about “what” to do, but “how” to do it. I have seen more failures of reform efforts than successes. To be sure, some ideas should fail -- not every innovation is an improvement. And yet, one bemoans the time and energy an organization’s participants put into a change effort if nothing ever changes. The failure to reform frequently leads to a sense of stasis and cynicism precisely at a time when faculties should be thinking about ways to enact improvements and innovations.