The year of the rabbit
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The year of the rabbit A University staffing problem and its non-solution
Peter Bennett and Laurence Matthews This article tells of an unsuccessful fight for the survival of a University OR department, from the point of view of two participants. Like, perhaps, the
'BOX A': The 'Garbage Can' model
demise, we find ourselves drawn to examine our own case for points of more general interest to Management Science. Failures can be instructive
Dealing as it does with 'organisational anarchies', it is not surprising that this picturesque model of decision-making is largely based on studies of universities. Organisations, this
doctor with a 'professional' interest in his own
(as well as entertaining) - especially when decisionmaking systems produce unwelcome and unintended results in the absence of (at least obvious) individual malevolence or stupidity. Though we cannot
claim to have tested alternative theories in any
controlled way, some ideas in the literature seem relevant. One is the 'garbage can' model of organisations, and another concerns responses to organisational decline ('Exit and Voice). The main point of each are summarised in boxes A and B. Both have been helpful in making sense of events, some of which made little sense at the time. We therefore offer the story, and the ideas, in the hope that others may find them helpful too.
Background to a crisis The context The Department, itself quite small, formed around 1 0% of a major faculty. lt was disparate from the
rest of the faculty both in subject matter and in
model claims, are often 'anarchical' in three ways:
-they operate with a collection of inconsistent and ill-defined preferences, rather than a coherent structure: indeed preferences are often only 'discovered' after the event, -their own members often don't understand how they work,
-involvement in decisions varies quite capriciously, with competing demands on people's time, energy and interest.
There are perpetual 'flows' of problems, solutions, would-be participants, and choice opportunities. These exist largely independently, rather than solutions being generated by ra-
tional analysis of problems. There are often 'solutions'
around, looking for issues to which they might be 'the answer',
and people with time and energy looking for something to implement. Choices happen when these ingredients come together. When they do, a 'decision' happens, and the issue is 'dumped' - hence the garbage can metaphor - as having been dealt with and no longer of concern. 'Problem' and 'solution', having found each other, cancel out, and the participants have spent their available energy and interest.
concentrating on postgraduate teaching - the mainstream faculty activities being undergraduate teach-
ing and research. lt ran a large postgraduate
course, bringing in considerable fee income. Several of the department's staff were paid directly trom
this, on rolling contracts, while three held 'established' (centrally-funded) posts. Our story starts
against a background of general cuts in university
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