Are departments anachronisms?

In most universities, academic departments are primarily designed to efficiently and effectively deliver undergraduate education in well-defined disciplines. Increasingly, this organizational structure is less relevant to graduate education and research. I would suggest an alternative model in which we were organized into “faculties.” An individual could belong to one or more undergraduate faculties and one or more faculties for graduate education and research. Faculty at very times in their careers might move to different faculties and faculties might morph into something new that would be more relevant for a given time and place without the bureaucratic complexity for creating and eliminating departments. Obviously, it would be necessary in such a model to define the responsibilities of each faculty and hold them accountable.