CURSUS: The Politics of Tenure and Promotion *A Case Study)

Abstract

Ian Finagle moves from his initial employer, Façade University, to Megalith University, a much more prestigious “publish or perish” institution. Although Finagle is granted tenure at Megalith after a few years, when he applies for promotion to full professor, he runs into political games played by his dean, Frank Caine. Learners are asked to analyze the events described in the case study from two perspectives, that of a professor’s career and that of the university, by drawing from the literature on organizational politics.