When search consultants, like the author, are invited to propose their services in support of a college or university seeking new leadership, they are generally asked a fairly standard set of questions. But there is one question that they find among the most difficult to answer: How do they check a candidate's references to ensure that they know…

Organizational rules explain organizational stability and change. Using national surveys and fieldwork, we examine changes in tenure and promotion rules at comprehensive colleges and universities from 1969 to 2002. We find that increased rule founding and change arise from the increasingly rationalized environment, such as the academic…