I've just finished reading the 10th anniversary edition of Difficult Conversations, a business title released by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen of the Harvard Negotiation Project. This is a book about how to handle difficult communications in personal and professional life. One issue that caught my attention was a description that appears in the 10th annivesary edition (but not in the earlier edition) about decision-making styles and I was wondering how it might translate to the law school/faculty governance model of decision-making.
Drawing on the work of Mark Gordon, the authors (at p 264 of the text), note that there are at least four different decision-making styles and it is important for the ultimate decision-maker to distinguish between them so there is no confusion about how a decision is being made. The four styles are:
1/ Commanding ie I decide and tell you my decision
2/ Consulting ie I ask for your input, then I decide and tell you the decision
3/ Collaborating/Negotiating ie we decide together
4/ Delegating ie you decide
What is the most effective mode of decision-making in a law school? Do law schools use a combination of these styles? If so, is the dean always clear about which style is being implemented in what circumstances? I'm interested in people's experiences of decision-making at different schools and under different deans.
Most people don't like being commanded. I think quite often decision-making structures are put in place so that it looks like (3) while really being (1). And while that might obscure and confuse, it also might increase the morale of those who have to carry the decision out, so I'm not sure it is an unmitigated good to be clear which style is being implemented.
Posted by: TJ | February 22, 2011 at 05:27 PM
You raise some good points, although many of us forget that the buck is supposed to stop with the dean ie it's the dean's head on the block if a decision goes horribly awry. So doesn't there have to be some room for maybe style number 2 at least? I agree that it's hard to "command" academics (and we generally don't like it), but is it terribly wrong for a dean to consult, then make his/her own decision, particularly if (s)he will ultimately bear responsibility for the decision?
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | February 22, 2011 at 08:45 PM