Re: Departmental house cleaning
Wow, the entire department suks? And your friend is the person in charge of this dept? He might want to look in a mirror first to see where he is going wrong that none of his employees are performing up to expectations.

It sounds like someone needs to sit down and make sure everyone knows what the expectations are, how the expectations will be met, and when people will be at the level they are expected to be.
If you get rid of an entire dept., there are a lot of hurdles to get over. Why not take a trained group and develop their potential instead of starting from scratch?
Also, I don't mean to sound totally negative, but from what you said there was very little evidence as to what the cause of the problem is so my first instinct is to figure it is management or lack of it. Tell your friend good luck.