Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/54913
The Dean's Many R LES R LES I With short tenures and ambitious goals, deans face critical challenges as they lead today's business schools through turbulent times. BY HOWARD THOMAS AND FERNANDO FRAGUEIRO n March 2009, Andrew Likierman was appointed dean of the London Business School—the fifth person in 11 years to hold that position at the U.K.'s most well-known business school. The Financial Times noted that, given the school's turbulent history over the previous 18 months, Likierman was taking on "what might seem like a veritable poisoned chalice." Likierman isn't the only individual to face turbulence and challenges in his role as the dean of a major international university. By any mea- sure, a business school deanship is a critical and complex task, one that requires deans to oversee what authors M.D. Cohen, J.G. March, and J.P. Olsen call the "organized anarchies" of business schools. Indeed, the job is stressful enough that the median length of tenure for a business school dean is three years, according to AACSB Interna- tional. That means that even top schools are frequently in the position of vetting their next candidates. In 2010 alone, dean searches were under way at the American business schools of Harvard, Northwest- ern, and the University of Chicago, as well as the U.K. schools of Hen- ley and Cambridge. 54 May/June 2011 BizEd