Football manager or Symphony Director

University administrators should be "football managers"
not "symphony orchestra conductors".

Processes and procedures at Universities are becoming more prescriptive.
Reasons given include accreditation, uniform services to students, and adoption
of best practices. At the moment such standarisation is limited to various
forms (e.g, course descriptions), exam formats etc. But there are moves to
standardise course delivery (e.g., given a curriculum the way it will be taught
will be standardised). Academics are viewed as members of symphony orchestra
where there are given a music sheet and all of them have to follow it.

A symphony orchestra can produce fantastic music provided everyone practised
and stuck to the the score.
But academia is about encouraging free thought, experimentation, innovation.
Hence most people resent being given sheet music that they have to stick to.

University administration should be like managing a football team. There are
some general tactics discussed; but once on the pitch the players can
demonstrate flair, creativity etc. Yes, people will make mistakes but that is
part of the game. Academics view themselves to be like football players
although not all of them are in the same class as Messi.