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2 MAKE FACULTY A KEY PART OF THE PROCESS. While a steering committee is likely to determine the broad outlines of the redesign, faculty will be translating specific needs into con- crete courses—and teaching the new curriculum. Therefore, their input and enthusiasm is essential. "Our committee included faculty members from each department, who discussed controversial issues with their colleagues as we went along," says Lydia J. Price, associate dean, MBA director, and profes- sor at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. The school solicited faculty input and approval at the beginning, in the middle of the redesign, and at the end, when a detailed proposal was ready. "At each stage we modified our plans in response to the suggestions of faculty and the MBA office team," says Price. 4 BENCHMARK AGAINST OTHER SCHOOLS. "We began with an exten- sive review of the features at other MBA programs and the recent trends in curriculum develop- ment," says Price. "It definitely helped us prioritize our basic needs and goals, and it helped us answer questions and reduce resistance at later stages." James Ellis of USC's Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles recom- mends contacting schools that have recently implemented a new curriculum and even asking deans at those schools if they'd "share some- one" for a couple of days to discuss the best way to make a redesign happen. 5 6 3 MINIMIZE "FELT LOSSES." Cur- ricular redesign proposals meet the most resistance when those most affected by the change incur costs—or "felt losses"—along the way, says David Garvin of Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. "People feel they will lose power, competence, and a sense of identity," he says. If schools help fac- ulty and other stakeholders see how the benefits of redesign outweigh the costs, they'll receive more enthusiastic support. ALLOT SUFFICIENT RESOURCES. "It's extremely easy to underestimate the resource requirements for redesign initiatives," says Robert Kazanjian, vice dean for programs at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia. For example, Goizueta initially understaffed a new intensive one-year consultancy course for all first-year MBAs, allotting only two part-time faculty, library staff, and several second-year MBA coaches to run it. The school has since appointed a director and assigned full-time faculty to the course. University leadership also can underestimate how difficult and resource- intensive it is to overhaul a curriculum, so it's important for the champions of redesign to be recognized for their efforts. "At our school, faculty get teaching unit credits as a form of workload accounting," says Phan of Johns Hopkins. DEEPLY SCRUTINIZE EACH POTENTIAL CHANGE. "Before we add any course, we ask ourselves, 'How important is it that our students sit in a class for four hours a week and learn this par- ticular topic? Is it that critical?'" says USC's Ellis. 8 7 SET A DEADLINE. CEIBS set clear deadlines for every- thing from printing brochures to launching the program, and "this kept things moving along," says Price. "Looming deadlines and prior agreement on the basic ideas kept the faculty discussions to a reasonable length." STICK TO A BUDGET. Try to gain efficiencies in some courses to offset costs in others, Price suggests. "At CEIBS, our budget rose only slightly, and we cov- ered the incremental costs with tuition rises and a slight increase in program size. Budgetary accountability definitely helped us gain the support of the dean." Mindy Storrie, director of leadership development at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, points out that schools can save money by tapping the expertise of executives, who need minimal orienta- tion for class exercises, or by training second-year MBA students to act as coaches in exchange for experience and course credit. But it's important to "invest where it matters most," she adds. For instance, Kenan-Flagler pays professionals to design management simulations and spends several days training role players to deliver these simulations. "It's a big investment, but we know then that the simulations are research-based, that they contain rigor, and that they can be delivered consistently time after time," Storrie says. BizEd September/October 2011 49