ORGANIZING THE FACULTY WITHIN A COLLEGE 83 The overall approval process went fairly smoothly, even though a few objected pretty strongly and some didn’t think it the best idea in the world but couldn’t come up arguments as to why not. He believes things have gone reasonably well in the years since. After the first year, the faculty “pretty much got over it” and contributed energetically to imple- menting the merger. They drew up an Instrument of Governance (which had been lacking in both the original departments) as well as new tenure and promotion guidelines. As more new faculty were hired, the historical sense of connectedness to the old departments began to weaken. And in fact, some new comparative lit- erature courses, taught in English, were created, which may not have happened when there were separate departments. b) Within the first week of his arrival at a new institution, a dean at a comprehensive institution learned he had inherited an untenable situation in one of his depart- ments. Tensions between two disciplinary factions within the department were exacerbated by bullying behavior. Years of festering warfare had been held at bay by a chair who had just retired. By agreement with his provost, the dean hired an outside consultant to assess the situation; based upon her findings, the dean con- cluded the most promising solution was to allow one subunit of faculty (Political Science) to become its own department, and to merge the other subunit (Public Administration) into a large and more stable department. The dean identified the most logical host department and worked with the chair and her faculty to agree to accept these new colleagues. Not only would it sepa- rate former foes from each other, but it also would give the Public Administra- tion faculty the opportunity to heal and to learn how a healthy academic unit should function. He charged the newly merged department with revising several key policies to reflect the changed situation (e.g., P&T and merit pay). The dean’s intent here was to focus the two groups on developing a working relationship as well as a sense of unity. But as the policies became wrapped up in petty battles, he laid down a firm deadline for completing the tasks. When no agreements were achieved by the deadline, he asked the provost for permission to impose policies on the unit until acceptable policies were produced. The dean reported: Most animosity was now redirected toward me—and new policies were crafted within a month. The environment was not perfect but more cooperation ensued, perhaps in fear of what the awful dean would do next! Things are now smooth, and everyone seems to be talking with one another, including to me.