6/8/2011: Rich Linton and Frances Dyke have now posted the phase II Huron report, here – a 143 page powerpoint. It doesn’t make them look like very good managers. President Lariviere has fired Linton from his VP for Research job, and has hired a search firm and posted an ad for a replacement for Dyke, to start ASAP. Rumor has it that Linton will get a job running some sort of UO PeaceHealth research consortium, while Dyke will be given a sinecure for the last year of her contract. A few excerpts from the report.
The University of Oregon has a culture with a high reliance on “the Oregon Way” as a justification for inaction, acceptance of the status quo, and slow response on a variety of efforts, which fosters an environment with a lack of accountability and willingness to change.
There is a general sense of entitlement across the University of Oregon. Individuals do not recognize the limitations of their own relative skill sets or thoroughly understand their place within the organization. The broader community believes they have a right to weigh in and be updated on management decisions but do not want to dedicate the time and effort to participate in meetings or discussions on the issues.
In ORSA and the broader community, there is a strong resistance to changes in any business process and the progress can only be gradual. The slow pace of implementing change within ORSA can be attributed to a variety of factors, such as a lack of trust in the current Huron leadership and lack of appreciation for the “big picture” or best practice, based upon Huron’s experience working with other major research institutions. Staff has voiced concerns about change for change sake and “ulterior motives” of the Huron team.
I’m wondering if they have also extended the Huron contract. And yes, as a member of the “broader community” – that is, part of the faculty – I believe I have the right to be updated on management decisions!
dog says:
The University of Oregon has a culture with a high reliance on “the Oregon Way” as a justification for inaction, acceptance of the status quo, and slow response on a variety of efforts, which fosters an environment with a lack of accountability and willingness to change.
What Perfect Mission Statement for the UO!
Can we put that in our next Pac 12 Commercial?
This is actually a very useful document – I hope these recommendations get implemented (it would be nice to see them expanded out to units other than Research).
UOMatters – the broader community has the right to be updated on mgmt decisions, but also the **responsibility** to participate in the discussions that lead up to them; again, a lesson that the whole campus needs to learn.
I agree anonymous. Faculty reasons for not participating are numerous – small rewards, difficulty getting information from the administration, and the fact that their input is often ignored even when it is well-informed or clearly important. Some of these reasons are legit, some are just free-riding. This blog is of course part of my own efforts to participate in the discussions, and help other to do so. For better or worse!
Dog agrees with UOmatters.
and certainly anyone who has served on the FAC
over the last 5 years should also agree.
While I agree, with ANON that there is a certain responsibility associated with being a faculty member, it has been my personal experience that “responsible” input is not wanted by our current Admin. Indeed, I just experienced another round of this, this week, when my “responsible” input about making general education more relevant to real world conditions was turned into a purely financial issue in which only obstacles arose, and not opportunity.
That must be what UO means: Unfulfilled Opportunities
A NY Times commenter on the previously-linked Stanley Fish article put it well:
“Whom do the senior partners or a law firm or medical practice work for? Faculty are not employees of a university; they are the university, just as senior partners at a law office are the firm.”
“The problem is not that faculty do not give proper deference to university presidents and the like; the problem is that senior faculty, in particular, have ceded their responsibility to run their ‘firms’ a permanent class of administrators and allowed the idea of a university as a corporation to take root.”
“Instead of actively governing their schools, professors sat by while the role of faculty governance atrophied into a bunch of curmudgeons who stand in the way of any and all change.”
Sinecure for the last year of Dyke’s contract? We only wish that were the truth. She is as dangerous as a wounded nutria and just as arbitrary. How does a powerless person get a pay raise after being placed on an F contract, but continue to be allowed to fire any fatty in her division, give out 10% raises to pet OAs, and exclude classified positions from SEIU?