Case 15 Changing a Tradition
Setting: Military Academy; Your Position: Dean
For 200 years your institution has helped to prepare the future officers in the military. Legends abound about the great generals who have bestowed honor on their alma mater and many of whom are paid tribute by statues around the campus.
One of the areas of study in your academic program is leadership. The department head has recently retired, and you must find a suitable replacement. Traditionally, the position has been filled by a senior military officer who is battle-proven and has served as a role model for the students. There are many meritorious military officers who would be interested candidates, and the easiest course of action would be to choose one for this position. All of these candidates are male.
However, times are changing, and the military has changed in response. The student body was once entirely male. It is now about 20 percent women, and this percentage is likely to grow. The emerging disciplines of the behavioral sciences have provided a necessary scientific foundation for the study of leadership, supporting a somewhat different point of view gleaned from the tactical experiences of the colonels.
You are contemplating a change of focus for the teaching of leadership at the academy, starting with a new kind of head for the department. While your advanced degrees are not in the behavioral sciences, you have taken many courses and have read widely in the field. You feel confident that you know the qualifications that should be sought and that such individuals exist within the ranks of the service.
The problem will be to get the support of the other department heads with whom a successful candidate will have to work. While they are a diverse group and seldom agree on educational policy, their overall bent is conservative. You have found from bitter past experience that significant departures from tradition, such as this one, tend to be met with strong opposition.