Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
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The idealized descripti<strong>on</strong> of social c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>ism also served the purpose of presenting<br />
our department as successful. We showed that planning and c<strong>on</strong>trol is not the<br />
beatific factor of success. Presenting this descripti<strong>on</strong> was part of a political discussi<strong>on</strong><br />
about how to run a university other than by the instituti<strong>on</strong>alized mistrust of audits,<br />
budget reports and critical performance indicators. However, I seldom discussed this<br />
with the board or my fellow managers because this approach did not fit into the<br />
dominating discourse of planning and c<strong>on</strong>trol. Besides all the managers were searching<br />
for their own style in discussi<strong>on</strong> with the ruling discourse and not in discussi<strong>on</strong><br />
with the discourse of a fellow junior manager.<br />
A manager with potential<br />
By the executive board I was perceived as a high potential, so new career opportunities<br />
became possible. I had grown dissatisfied with my positi<strong>on</strong> mostly because of the<br />
repetiti<strong>on</strong> in the work. In 2004 I was invited to apply for the positi<strong>on</strong> of dean/managing<br />
director of another faculty. The positi<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>cerned a newly merged faculty for<br />
informati<strong>on</strong>, communicati<strong>on</strong> and technology. I was h<strong>on</strong>oured to be invited and choose<br />
for the new positi<strong>on</strong>. I was appointed after a selecti<strong>on</strong> procedure.<br />
During my time in the new faculty the university intensified c<strong>on</strong>trol by a detailed<br />
planning and c<strong>on</strong>trol cycle. General programs about the educati<strong>on</strong>al ideology, human<br />
resource policy and cooperati<strong>on</strong> with the market for educati<strong>on</strong> and research were<br />
established. A dean became fully resp<strong>on</strong>sible for his faculty. With the dictated absence<br />
of middle management I was directly resp<strong>on</strong>sible for the work and evaluati<strong>on</strong>s of<br />
around 100 employees. Furthermore I had to reduce a structural deficit of € 400.000<br />
and to implement the policy of the UAS.<br />
Six different departments and a centre of expertise with very different cultures and<br />
partly curtailed traditi<strong>on</strong>s in innovati<strong>on</strong> were to be seduced to cooperating. I was<br />
expected to resolve old c<strong>on</strong>flicts am<strong>on</strong>g colleagues which sometimes had lasted<br />
already for 20 years. Besides, I wanted to stimulate some old fashi<strong>on</strong>ed professi<strong>on</strong>als<br />
to redefine themselves as some<strong>on</strong>e else than a traditi<strong>on</strong>al lecturing teacher with a<br />
class of 20 students. Moreover, I wanted to break through the omnipresence of the<br />
not-invented-here-syndrome. I stood for an up-to-date organizati<strong>on</strong> with up-to-date<br />
members of staff.<br />
Together with the heads of departments and in c<strong>on</strong>sultati<strong>on</strong> with the working council<br />
we restructured the faculty into four departments. These departments became<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for their budgets, the innovati<strong>on</strong> of their courses and could have their own<br />
identity bound within the cooperati<strong>on</strong> within the faculty. Moreover, I stimulated<br />
colleagues to start some kind of educati<strong>on</strong> again. I suppose we partly succeeded in<br />
these matters because of the engagement of the heads of the departments and as<br />
many as colleagues as possible in developing, communicating about and applying of<br />
transparent criteria for all sorts of policy. However, if this suppositi<strong>on</strong> is shared by my<br />
former colleagues I am not sure. My rather communicative approach may not have<br />
3. My taken for granted assumpti<strong>on</strong>s as a researcher | 75