Navigating the human dimensions of curricular change: Resistance, identity, and leadership in a university-wide reform

Abstract

Higher education institutions face pressure to transform curricula, but top-down reforms often fail due to faculty resistance. This article reframes such resistance not as obstructionism, but as a predictable signal of a profound misalignment between a reform’s strategy and an institution’s culture and identity. Through a dual-lens analysis of a Curriculum Renewal Project at a South African University of Technology, we synthesize macro-political and micro-conceptual data to deconstruct this misalignment.  Grounded in the McKinsey 7-S framework, our analysis reveals a fundamental clash between the reform's imposed 'hard' elements (strategy, structure) and the institution's ingrained 'soft' elements, rooted in a legacy 'Technikon mindset'. This misalignment threatened the professional identities (currere) of faculty, making resistance a logical defence. We conclude that successful transformation requires a human-centred approach that actively diagnoses and aligns with institutional culture.