Post date: Sep 15, 2011 7:40:54 PM
So, if you ask enough people and talk to just about everyone, you will begin to find that the angst you feel happens *every* year. And has since PIM 30 (or earlier, the PIM 1 that I spoke to pointed out that SIT was a very different place even then!) Though the style of angst seemed to change from, "How can we fix it, or revamp it" to "how can we scream loudly enough to amplify our suffering until it is unbearable?"*
Really. Every year. So in 2010, the communication committee did a lot of digging. A LOT. For some of us it was a full time job. Some of us were obsessed. Some of what we found did not make sense. Most of it needed history to understand what it was all about... And a good chunk of it inspired a great deal of restraint from climbing the "Ladder of Inference" in our process to discover what was going on.
They short of it is that we had some previous leadership (and to be fair, students, staff, faculty) whom had that really messed some stuff up in terms of communication. Then it was handed over to Adam... and that there is a lot of management theory at play here: check out the articles on organizational memory and decision making during management role transitions, and how not knowing "the why" from previous leadership will catastrophically affect one's ability to make excellent decisions.
There are studies based on this phenomenon! (and as soon as I find the citation I'll add it) Awkward as it is to think that our little place on a hill might not be beholden to theories, structures, and everything in the OB1 textbook... It is actually kind of fascinating.
So here are the "Revolution Files" to give you "the why" of the Communication Committee, so that you can make decisions that can positively affect your life, or as the kids say -- "check yourself before you wreck yourself" and not fall prey to the same institutional memory problem, caused by too many conclusions and not enough information.
This reading goes nicely with the Defining Principles page.
For the new folks on campus -- the administration is trying to do something (decentralize the campus -ask Adam to explain his dream for the school to you) that could be really cool, for SIT, and for the impact our graduates can have... provided that we can help them not screw it up. And ask to understand, listen without jumping to conclusions, investigate as a form of action, and ease the desire for generate conflict in order to inspire awesomeness.
Do you feel that being awesome might be an excellent alternative to being pissed off based on incomplete organizational knowledge? If so, how will you be awesome, for you, for your fellow students, for your career, for you alumni-status?
Chime in on the comments box below, or learn how to How To Edit This Site and write a post about how you feel!
Add'l Reading: Disclosure to an Audience with Limited Attention, 2004 David Hirshleifer et al.
* this shift seemed to happen about 15 years ago, in the height of American 'protest culture'