Mission: Two ways of looking at it

Being mission-driven is a good thing, or so we are told.  Assuming it is, mission can be framed in two ways:  as transforming a system or facilitating individual change.

I based my dissertation on a social constructionist view of organizations rather than a systems view.  I won't get into a defense of that now, but I think people in the organizations for the most part "create" the organization by their discourse and behavior.

Recently a colleague who is, like me, devoted to faculty development, said that she was all about educational transformation.  I would say I am all about helping other professors be better professors.  I think the difference is this:  I want the professors to develop their own gifts, not change to a different person.  I am not sure, but a faculty developer can have a "I'm going to change people for their own good according to my agenda."  That could explain resistance.

I am working on a paper in this regard.  Faculty are resistant to many things, especially being told they are deficient despite spending ten years in college to be an expert in what they do.

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