Title Wave

Just recently I came across an organizational structure for a School that had both Directors and Associate Directors as well as Associate and Assistant Deans (plus, of course the Dean).  The individuals holding the various dean and director positions were all very clear as to who did what and who reported to whom.  The question was whether anyone outside of the administration had the same level of clarity.  As it turned out, Assistant Deans reported to Directors but how would anyone know that or even expect it? .  For many outsiders looking  into higher education, the assumption is that anyone with a dean title has more of an academic leadership role. How did this happen ?  The answer often is that a prior dean favored the dean title and the current dean favors the director title  but so as to not make anyone feel bad, the current dean has decided not to take away the dean title from anyone who already had it.