This scenario situates participants inside a four-person departmental committee responsible for making hiring, initiative, and workload decisions at a research-oriented business school.
The members hold different seniority levels, professional identities, and attitudes toward external visibility and donor influence. Because every decision requires a three-vote majority, participants must form workable coalitions while managing competing values and priorities.
The exercise provides instructors with a structured way to examine departmental governance, alliance formation, agenda control, and how academic norms shape collective outcomes.