League table success at the University of Exeter may have been gained
at the expense of staff, who claim to have experienced “undue stress”,
“bullying”, sexism and a “loss of voice”, according to an internal
report.
A group convened at the request of management and led by
Nicky Britten, professor of applied healthcare research at the
institution, has identified a “top-down management” culture as a source
of problems at Exeter.
Based on 288 responses from the
university’s 3,900 staff, the report says that many people found the
senior management team remote, with major decisions being “made by a
small group of people behind closed doors without consultation”.
“The
tone of communication (described as ‘hectoring’) might have been
appropriate for managing underperformance ten years ago, but is
inappropriate now,” reads the report, which was presented to the
university’s council, alongside the senior management’s response, on 21
February.
Many staff felt their opinions were ignored, “with no acknowledgment or feedback”, it adds. The
group also documents “some alarming reports of bullying, manipulative
and unpleasant behaviour” by particular senior managers and a feeling
among some that the university “is a self-perpetuating male-dominated
culture” with policies such as maternity leave not taken seriously.
“There
are reports of men making casual sexist remarks…referring to women as
‘girls’, promoting men over women (despite the women having equal or
better CVs),” it adds.
The investigation was initiated after the
university’s wider staff survey of 2012, which found that 36 per cent
reported feeling unduly stressed, compared with a benchmark figure at
universities conducting the same survey of 28 per cent.
The survey
also found that only 60 per cent said they felt able to voice opinions,
compared with a sector benchmark of 76 per cent.
Exeter vice-chancellor Sir Steve Smith told Times Higher Education that senior management would respond to the concerns identified by the group, and in many cases had already made changes.
Expanding
student numbers and raising Exeter from an average ranking position of
34th in the UK during the 1990s to the top 10 today had meant being
“very centralist”, he said. However, efforts were now being made to try
to reverse this.
Exeter had already reinstated academic heads of
discipline to decision- making positions on the university’s college
executives and was on a recruitment drive that would reduce workloads,
he said.
“I could have written to staff saying ‘we’ve got the
[2012] survey results and we did better [than] or the same [as the
benchmark] in 17 out of 25 [areas]’, but the truth is I know that there
are tensions…We’re trying to be as open as possible,” Sir Steve said.
The problem would now be working out how widespread the concerns were
and whether or not they were historical, he added.
However,
co-president of the Exeter branch of the University and College Union,
Jo Melling, said the union felt that senior management’s response did
“not meet the needs outlined” by the group.
“In particular, we are
concerned that the vice-chancellor’s executive group has not recognised
the issue about voice and governance that the group clearly flagged
up,” he said, pointing to recommendations that the university commission
an independent review of distribution of power within the institution.
Management has said that the university’s governance will be assessed in 2014 as part of its regular five-yearly reviews.
From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
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