Interesting links & some golden oldies

• High stress levels in colleges and universities caused by management culture - UK
• University bullying shock [Shock and horror, how can these things happen in universities...]
• Lifting the veil - changes to the "without prejudice" doctrine
• Academics For Academic Freedom - AFAF
• How many silent wintesses
  
• Factors impairing ability to deal with bullying
• Urgent: Defend Freedom of Information Act
  
• The cost to the employer
• Coping, surviving, fighting back
• The serial bully
• The role of HR and Management
• Dismissal as an academic boomerang
• Workplace bullying and the insignificance of (academic) trade unions
• Open letter to Peter Jones, Roger Kline and Sully Hunt
  
• Expired disciplinary actions...
• Staff are silenced by fear of reprisals
• Obituary: Tim Field
• Checklist of mobbing indicators [in Academia]
• Authorship, ghost-science, access to data and control of the pharmaceutical scientific literature: Who stands behind the word?
• The crisis of conscience... Academic Survival
• A real story - the real story
  
• Too timid to make a stand for [academic] freedom
• What do academic colleagues ever do about workplace bullying?
• Backfire basics - The keys to backfire
• The Mobs of Academe - Excerpts from an online discussion
• Academic Freedom of Expression
• Dealing with bullies [in Academia]
• Are the claiming you are emotionally unstable?
• How do your Governors compare?
• So they never gave you a [good] reference... Well, make sure you hit back hard!
• The Bullying Boss [in Academia]
• Financial impact on [educational] organisations
• The international symbol for bullies...
• Unpacking research on bullying in Higher Education, Petra Boynton
• The Richardson dismissal as an academic boomerang, Brian Martin
• Workplace bullying - interim findings of a study in further and higher education in Wales, Duncan Lewis
• Workplace Mobbing in Academe, Kenneth Westhues
• Bullying at work: a review of the literature, Johanna Beswick, Joanne Gore, David Palferman
• Mediocrity and the 'no change' principle, a recipe for mobbing, Jocelynne Scutt
• First Employment Appeal Tribunal Decisions on Statutory Grievance Procedure, Pinsent Masons
• Bullying at work / a general note on the Law, emplaw.co.uk

To anyone who is bullied

The following message was recently posted on our online forum:

"I ask anyone who has experienced academic bullying to take a step back, remove oneself emotionally from the situation, and look at the situation as if one were a complete outsider. The truth is that academic bullying can cause death, suicide and other types of violence. I have seen brokenhearted and disappointed scholars die of cancer within ten years of a disappointment. That is why we who have been bullied or mistreated have to see the situation for what it is and not allow ourselves to be manipulated or instigated by it. We have to be clear about the kind of values and lives we want for ourselves, whether or not this will ultimately involve remaining in academia. We have to be clear that the people who mistreat us want us to be ruined and that we have to see them for who they are and build an emotional stone wall between ourselves and them."

Posted by: lseltzer@alumni.caltech.edu

Ten Easy Ways to Avoid Employment Tribunals - UK

...For those employers who have yet to put proper systems in place, the following basic 10 Point advice is essential reading:

Procedures & Systems – Many employers, even major outfits, fail to have contracts, statements of particulars of employment, handbooks and basic policies so when a problem happens, management find themselves flailing around, wondering what to do. Employment Tribunals will automatically mark down any organisation, which has not demonstrated a willingness to prepare a fair working environment. These documents will help managers to react in an appropriate way, for example, through application of grievance and equal opportunities procedures.

Effective Communication – Tribunal cases normally begin with a simple human omission; a junior manager’s failure to report information to personnel has lead to a sense of frustration either about or from a worker. Staff should be trained on their rights and encouraged to come forward and line managers, in particular, need to look out for problems. Regular, short meetings with line managers should keep you in the loop so that you can act. The worst employment case will involve an employee who suffers in silence. Encourage a culture of openness and confidence that issues will be taken seriously.

Proportionality – most legal rights come down to this: is there a problem? and what is a proportionate way of dealing with it? Or, more simply, ‘serious issues should be treated seriously’. If a worker reports a substantial health problem, then you should spend more time on it. A scribbled occupational health nurse’s note on a worker’s suspected serious disability will not be well received by an Employment Tribunal when an expert report is required. Similarly, if sacking an employee for gross misconduct, a botched disciplinary on 24 hours’ notice is unlikely to impress.

A Paper Trail – many employers keep inadequate records. How can you, for example, prove that Bloggsy was warned about his lateness on “too many occasions to mention?” In a World of email communication and itemised phone bills, an Employment Tribunal is simply not going to believe you unless you have a piece of paper proving your point. For legal purposes, if you can’t prove a fact, you might as well abandon it. Keep relevant emails on the worker’s file.

Consistency - if the entire spectrum of employment law could be reduced to one word, it would be “consistency”. An employer, who treats all staff in the same way and, importantly, explains any differences in treatment such as pay or promotion, could avoid most claims. Discrimination, of all types, and unfairness, both have at their root some failure to deal consistently; either by comparison with other internal situations or by objective standards of fairness. Tribunals will draw adverse inferences where there is no clear reason for inconsistent treatment of a worker.

Escalation - The most common criticisms levelled at employers in the Tribunal are: “where are the warnings?”… and… “How did this employee know there was a problem?” Managers have a tendency to avoid raising issues until it is too late for the employee to change. As one CEO recently put it: “ we only warn people when we are sacking them”. Records of regular and clear commentary, especially if fair (in terms of timing and content) will do wonders for an employer’s case.

Timing - One of the big problems with HR management is that you never quite know what is round the corner. That employee who is repeatedly late might suddenly develop a disability, or the poor performer may announce her pregnancy. If there is no record of the problem before the change in the status quo, a Tribunal is likely to believe the employee’s suggestion that you are victimising her for asserting her rights. When there is a problem, act quickly to prevent being wrong footed by events and let the employee know there is a free-standing issue which needs to be addressed. Employment law should not give staff greater rights simply because they have a problem; you should not have to retain an incompetent employee simply because she is pregnant or disabled although, obviously, care will have to be taken to make sure that no risks to health and safety are caused by being over-zealous when she is medically vulnerable.

Training - A Chairman at an Employment Tribunal will usually ask the employer what steps were taken to train staff on appropriate standards of behaviour. It can often be a complete defence for an employer in a discrimination case to show that it instructed staff on standards of equal opportunities leaving the guilty employee as the person to foot the bill for compensation. Training of staff is, without doubt, the best way to avoid Employment Tribunal claims.

Investigations - When a problem comes to light, it should be investigated and records kept. One of the biggest ‘crimes’ is simply to sweep an issue under the carpet, so, when an employee complains of sexual harassment in the pub after work, a response such as: “sorry, events out of work are not our concern”, is unlikely to work. An investigation might establish that you cannot reach a conclusion due to lack of evidence or that the issue is genuinely a personal matter but failure to do anything could be discrimination on its own account. Employers often make the mistake that events outside of work are always irrelevant; this may not be so, if it is relevant to the workplace. An employee who is abused at the pub is unlikely to be able to work for the perpetrator the next day.

Alarm words - certain words should automatically lead you to act and, at the very least, investigate: harassment, victimisation, bullying, pregnancy, stress and whistle blowing are but a few. As part of the training of managers at all levels, focus should be directed at what these words mean in terms of the law and compensation. Whilst your organisation wrestles with difficult employment law concepts, these simple cultural and practical changes could be all you need to keep out of trouble ... the cost of doing nothing at all will be far greater than giving a little thought to the basics.

From: Employersworld.co.uk, by Gordon Turner
------------------------------------
Wise words but the issue remains that there is no monitoring, there is no policing and universities (as well as other employers) would rather wear down the victim in a prolonged and protracted legal case than admit that they did not follow the right procedures - even if this is going to cost lots of tax money. There is also no compulsion on (academic) managers to be informed of the above and apply it.

Equal opportunities and diversity for staff in Higher Education - UK

'...There is clear evidence that inequality exists within the Higher Education labour market – clear evidence of discrimination that advantages white, middle-aged men (for example, sources Kingsmill 2002, Wilson 2003, NATFE 2003, AUT 2001a, b). While less is known about equal opportunities for administrative, technical and support staff, the pay differentials reflect forms of labour market segregation and segmentation which favour white male workers...'

Full report available from: Statistics for equal opportunities in Higher Education, May 2005

We have reasons to believe that little has changed since May 2005. We have recent evidence that researchers from ethnic backgrounds are excluded from research which they instigated and pioneered in the first place. Promotions often bypass ethnic staff. Ethnic staff are perceived as easy targets by administration and management.

UCU Elections - Make a statement: Vote invalid

Crusade against the jerk at work

Robert Sutton, a respected 52-year-old Stanford University professor, is a gentleman and a scholar. But that isn't stopping him from making liberal use of an unprintable vulgarity to kick off his new campaign to jerk-proof the American workplace.

Sutton, a management science and engineering professor, says he's not trying to offend anyone with the blunt title of his new book, out this week, "The No -- hole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't." But he felt he needed to use an "emotionally authentic" term to spur corporate America to stamp out boorish behavior that decreases productivity, drives away talented workers and destroys morale.

"I am disgusted with the norm in business and sports that if you are a really big winner, you can get away with being a creep," Sutton said. "My dream is that leaders of all organizations will eventually treat acting like an -- hole as a sign of bad performance rather than an excuse for good performance."

For getting away with being profane, Sutton owes a debt of gratitude to retired Princeton University philosophy Professor Harry Frankfurt, who penned a best-selling book in 2005 on the Platonic essence of bull manure. " 'On Bull -- ' opened up the market for books with dirty titles for professors from fancy universities," Sutton said. Even Sutton's six-figure advance was based on the sales of "On Bull -- ."

Sporting a neatly pressed button-down shirt and khakis and a deep scholarly interest in the workings of high-technology, Sutton seems an unlikely gutter fighter for the rights and feelings of working people. But the preponderance of jerks, who use their position in the workplace to demean and sap the energy of others, has always bothered him.

Sutton was familiar with the vast academic research into workplace bullying, but it wasn't until he used a profane word in a much-discussed Harvard Business Review essay that he realized the gut-level resonance it had with people. So he refused to go with a publisher who would insist on cleaning up his language. "This is language that people will remember and spread," he said.

He even made sure the book was thin enough to slide underneath a boss' office door. Sutton fully expected title waves. But even he is a bit surprised at just how much attention he has attracted from all over the globe. The book already has been translated into a dozen languages, and he has given interviews to media organizations in as many countries.

Sutton has received hundreds of e-mails and as many faithful visitors to his blog, all with their own nightmarish tales of suffering at the hands of mean bosses or co-workers. More than 13,000 people have taken his online " -- hole Rating Certified Self Exam" (ARSE for short). He even offers corporations a way to measure the "Total Cost of -- holes," or TCA. About 2,000 promotional " -- hole" erasers from his publisher, Warner Business Books, quickly became hot commodities in his campaign to rub out jerks at work.

That campaign is making him something of a bookish, bespectacled rock star in Silicon Valley, where companies from Google to eBay to Yahoo, trying to create worker-friendly cultures, have invited Sutton to give talks on the subject.

Silicon Valley certainly can lay claim to its share of outrageous accounts of brilliant but brutish technocrats mercilessly torturing their employees. Sutton uses Steve Jobs as the poster boy for a concessionary chapter on "The Virtues of -- holes." But Sutton says there's an unmistakable groundswell of support for his struggle to create a kinder, gentler workplace, particularly at a time when the war for talent is once again in high gear.

" -- hole bosses and cultures drive good people out," Sutton said. "Having Google as the employer of choice for many young folks ... means they have to compete with people who really do try to adhere to the 'don't be evil' culture." Shona Brown, Google's senior vice president of business operations, might be too polite to use Sutton's preferred terminology, but she told Sutton that Google has a zero-jerk policy, he said.

Lars Dalgaard, the 39-year-old CEO of San Mateo-based SuccessFactors and a major player in the rough-elbowed world of business software, identifies himself as a recovering Fortune 500 " -- hole." He realized as a young general manager that " -- holes stifle performance." So he explored more effective and humane ways to deliver results and hit financial targets.

Now he's famous for mandating a strict "no -- hole" rule at his 475-employee company. Job interviews are lengthy and feature probing questions designed to uncover any browbeating tendencies. Last year, he took candidates vying for a chief financial officer vacancy to lunch at a local restaurant to see how they treated the wait staff. Some got a free lunch but nothing more.

A welcome letter for new recruits spells out 15 corporate values, the last of which is: "I will not be an -- hole." "If you don't use coarse language, people become inured to it," Dalgaard said. "No one can hear it anymore. It doesn't even stop in the ear canal."

Dalgaard demands that everyone treat one another with respect. And that means everyone. He encourages his colleagues to knock him down a few pegs if he falls out of line. Whenever he feels the temptation to revert to his old ways, he uses his company's own performance software to refresh himself on how to solve problems without creating bad feelings.

Diego Rodriguez, an associate consulting professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford who works at innovation company Ideo in Palo Alto, is another Silicon Valley denizen known for urging organizations to develop a "shock-proof, bullet-resistant -- hole detector." Ideo screens out jerks to maintain its collaborative culture, Rodriguez says.

"We are in the business of helping other companies be innovative and using the process of design as a way to get there," he said. "It's difficult to get things done if people feel they can't trust each other, be open with their ideas, feelings and insights or if someone is treating someone else poorly on a consistent basis. That just shuts the whole process down. With that in mind, we are very careful about filtering people out in the recruiting and hiring process to ensure people don't show up and ruin the experience for everyone else. ... Life's too short to work with jerks. It's one of our cultural pillars."

A half-dozen other entrepreneurs have told Sutton they enforce a "No -- hole" rule when hiring and firing but use more polite terminology, he said.

Sutton defines a jerk as one who oppresses, humiliates, de-energizes or belittles a subordinate or a colleague, causing that person to feel worse about him or herself. Tactics include personal insults, sarcasm, teasing, shaming or treating people as if they were invisible. He distinguishes between "temporary" jerks, those with the potential to act like jerks but who don't do so all the time, and "certified" jerks, who are routinely nasty. The certified jerks are the ones who pose the greatest threat to an organization's culture. Sutton then explores ways to implement a no-jerk rule and how to survive an environment that doesn't have one. He also warns organizations that being a jerk is contagious. Hire one, and you'll soon have plenty polluting the work environment.

Sutton has had his own run-ins with jerks. As a young, inexperienced professor at Stanford, he received poor teaching evaluations from his students. He worked hard to become more effective in the classroom and was delighted when his students voted him the best teacher in his department at the end of his third year. His delight was short-lived. A colleague approached him, hugged him and whispered in his ear: "Now that you have satisfied the babies here on campus, perhaps you can settle down and do some real work."

"It's a painful memory," he said, recalling his entrepreneur father's sage advice to avoid jerks in business at all costs.

Sutton says the hardest thing for many people to acknowledge is that they themselves can be jerks. He readily admits he, too, can be a jerk. (If he didn't, his wife, a prominent Silicon Valley corporate lawyer, would remind him). But writing the book has helped him become less of one. "I view this as a problem that we all struggle with," he said.
-------------------------------
From: San Francisco Chronicle

Workplace Bullying research from the University of Portsmouth

In May 2006, Professor Charlotte Rayner from the University of Portsmouth (South England) co-authored a research report available online. Below some interesting extracts from the report:

'...A wide variety of circumstances was reported in organisations. No one suggested that bullying and harassment could be eradicated. Through embedding a set of clear values within the culture of the organisation that were fairly enforced, with the organisation owning the problem rather than seeing it as primarily that of individual conflict, it could be minimised however. Organisations which were effective in tackling the issue had clear differences in values and action compared to unsuccessful organisations. Some organisations failed to acknowledge the problem at all, although our sampling meant that these were in the minority... A key finding for future project work has been the issue of engagement by employees at all levels of the organisation for change to be effective and ‘owned’. Thus superficial attempts which do not reach the endemic values and culture of the organisation are unlikely to succeed...

Threat to reputation

In general we found these were of either high concern or of very little concern to employers. Third sector organisations which gain most of their funding from trusts, government or charities treated reputation as a key issue. A single press report of bullying or harassment was seen as very damaging (potentially terminal) for a small voluntary sector organisation. An example of this involves an organisation which relied on charities for medically-related funding. Our participant explained how all IIP and other ‘box ticking’ exercises were completed with employees being told that failure to maintain a completely ‘clean’ image would erode their competitive position in obtaining funds. This HR specialist suggested that several employees left the organisation when harassed or bullied as they would never make a serious complaint for fear of endangering funding and their colleagues’ jobs...

The leadership role in assisting definition

It was agreed that management and senior management lead by defining acceptable behaviour through their own actions and their reactions to the behaviour of others. That their behaviour was watched and followed by others throughout the organisation was stated in almost every forum of the research and is a message that participants suggested needed reinforcement. The commitment of top management by ‘walking the talk’ was agreed on by all in the research. It was not seen as a ‘desirable’, but rather as an ‘essential’. Almost everyone participating in the research cited examples of very poor behaviour at top level with senior managers bullying and harassing, contradicting any definition which might be in a policy.

In addition, senior management seen avoiding, proactively covering up or excusing bullying and harassment was seen as negatively as if senior managers had themselves been bullying or harassing. Such actions were judged as collusion by all participants, and created an unsafe atmosphere which was reflected in the comment ‘If you sit on the bullying fence, you get splinters’. While everyone is responsible for their own behaviour, cues from senior management act in two ways: they make such behaviour appear acceptable and they suggest that anyone acting against such behaviour will be unsupported...'

From: http://www.port.ac.uk/research/workplacebullying/

Join our online forum

We have started an online group/forum on Yahoo, at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bullied_academics/

The purpose of this online forum is to provide practical and emotional support to all targets of workplace bullying in Higher Education, and to share our experiences and advice for the benefit of all.

Membership is open to all but ideally we are inviting academics, teachers, educators, and researchers to join this group. This Yahoo group is new, and as such it may take time to evolve into something more significant and/or dynamic. We believe there is a need for a dedicated forum so that the experiences of academics, teachers, researchers etc, are shared, and hopefully are combined towards productive actions and campaigns. Please join us.

Details on how to join this online group are available at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bullied_academics/

Rotten to the core: How workplace 'bad apples' spoil barrels of good employees

Look around any organization and chances are you'll be able to find at least one person whose negative behavior affects the rest of the group to varying degrees. So much so, say two University of Washington researchers, that these "bad apples" are like a virus to their teams, and can upset or spoil the whole apple cart.

The researchers' paper, appearing in the current issue of Research in Organizational Behavior, examines how, when and why the behaviors of one negative member can have powerful and often detrimental influence on teams and groups.

William Felps, a doctoral student at the UW Business School and the study's lead author, was inspired to investigate how workplace conflict and citizenship can be affected by one's co-workers after his wife experienced the "bad apple" phenomenon.

Felps' wife was unhappy at work and characterized the environment as cold and unfriendly. Then, she said, a funny thing happened. One of her co-workers who was particularly caustic and was always making fun of other people at the office came down with an illness that caused him to be away for several days.

"And when he was gone, my wife said that the atmosphere of the office changed dramatically," Felps said. "People started helping each other, playing classical music on their radios, and going out for drinks after work. But when he returned to the office, things returned to the unpleasant way they were. She hadn't noticed this employee as being a very important person in the office before he came down with this illness but, upon observing the social atmosphere when he was gone, she came to believe that he had a profound and negative impact. He truly was the "bad apple" that spoiled the barrel."

Following his wife's experience, Felps, together with Terence Mitchell, a professor of management and organization in the Business School and UW psychology professor, analyzed about two dozen published studies that focused on how teams and groups of employees interact, and specifically how having bad teammates can destroy a good team.

Felps and Mitchell define negative people as those who don't do their fair share of the work, who are chronically unhappy and emotionally unstable, or who bully or attack others. They found that a single "toxic" or negative team member can be the catalyst for downward spirals in organizations. In a follow-up study, the researchers found the vast majority of the people they surveyed could identify at least one "bad apple" that had produced organizational dysfunction.

They reviewed a variety of working environments in which tasks and assignments were performed by small groups of employees whose jobs were interdependent or required a great deal of interaction with one another. They specifically studied smaller groups because those typically require more interaction among members and generally are less tolerant of negative behaviors. Members of smaller groups also are more likely to respond to or speak out about a group member's negative behavior. The two looked at how groups of roughly five to 15 employees in sectors such as manufacturing, fast food, and university settings were affected by the presence of one negative member.

For example, in one study of about 50 manufacturing teams, they found that teams that had a member who was disagreeable or irresponsible were much more likely to have conflict, have poor communication within the team and refuse to cooperate with one another. Consequently, the teams performed poorly.

"Most organizations do not have very effective ways to handle the problem," said Mitchell. "This is especially true when the problem employee has longevity, experience or power. Companies need to move quickly to deal with such problems because the negativity of just one individual is pervasive and destructive and can spread quickly."

According to Felps, group members will react to a negative member in one of three ways: motivational intervention, rejection or defensiveness. In the first scenario, members will express their concerns and ask the individual to change his behavior and, if unsuccessful, the negative member can be removed or rejected. If either the motivation intervention or rejection is successful, the negative member never becomes a "bad apple" and the "barrel" of employees is spared. These two options, however, require that the teammates have some power: when underpowered, teammates become frustrated, distracted and defensive.

Common defensive mechanisms employees use to cope with a "bad apple" include denial, social withdrawal, anger, anxiety and fear. Trust in the team deteriorates and as the group loses its positive culture, members physically and psychologically disengage themselves from the team. Felps and Mitchell also found that negative behavior outweighs positive behavior -- that is, a "bad apple" can spoil the barrel but one or two good workers can't unspoil it.

"People do not expect negative events and behaviors, so when we see them we pay attention to them, ruminate over them and generally attempt to marshal all our resources to cope with the negativity in some way," Mitchell said. "Good behavior is not put into the spotlight as much as negative behavior is."

The authors caution there's a difference between "bad apples" and employees who think outside the box and challenge the status quo. Since these "positive deviants" rock the boat, they may not always be appreciated. And, as Felps and Mitchell argue, unlike "bad apples," "positive deviants" actually help spark organizational innovation.

So, how can companies avoid experiencing the "bad apple" phenomenon? "Managers at companies, particularly those in which employees often work in teams, should take special care when hiring new employees," Felps said. "This would include checking references and administering personality tests so that those who are really low on agreeableness, emotional stability or conscientiousness are screened out."

But, he added, if one slips through the selection screening, companies should place them in a position in which they work alone as much as possible. Or alternatively, there may be no choice but to let these individuals go.

###

For more information, contact Felps at (206) 543-0559 or (206) 934-7030 or willf@u.washington.edu; or Mitchell at (206) 543-6779 or trm@u.washington.edu

From: http://uwnews.washington.edu
----------------------------------------
Now there is a thought: '...checking references and administering personality tests so that those who are really low on agreeableness, emotional stability or conscientiousness are screened out...'

What happenes when the university responsible for employing a rotten apple did not check references? The victim is blamed, the management takes no responsibility, the rotten apple is promoted.

How many silent witnesses...

A university professor killed herself after she became unable to cope with the pressures of work. An inquest on Thursday last week into the death of Diana Winstanley, of Elizabeth Crescent, found she hanged herself on July 5 2006.

The 45-year-old was taken to East Surrey Hospital after police found her body but died on the way, the hearing was told. West Sussex coroner Roger Stone heard that Miss Winstanley had spoken of her worries about her new role at Kingston University.

The inquest heard how Miss Winstanley was a professor in the School of Human Resource Management, but was struggling with the new role. Reading from the evidence, court clerk Jos Atkin said: "She found it difficult to cope in the role, especially with the technology."

Mr Stone said: "Sadly, given the circumstances and the notes left by the deceased, I have no doubt that she took her own life. I pass on my condolences to the family."

Speaking after the verdict, Professor Christine Edwards, Miss Winstanley's colleague at Kingston University and friend of more than 25 years, paid tribute to the distinguished academic. She said: "It was such a tragedy. Diana was both an excellent academic and a warm and outgoing person who cared very much about other people. "She accomplished so much in the 18 months to two years she was here and I have been trying to pick up the pieces."

I wonder how many silent witnesses there were in that university?

Aphra Behn
--------------------------------------------
Suicide don under 'huge stress' in job - 15 September 2006

Universities urged to review plans to outsource support services as inquest hears of work pressures leading up to academic's death. Tony Tysome reports. Universities were urged to bolster staff support services this week after an inquest was told that an academic committed suicide after becoming unable to cope with the pressures of her job.

Kingston University is to conduct a review of its occupational health service for staff after an inquest heard how Diana Winstanley, a professor in the university's School of Human Resource management, hanged herself in her home in July shortly after complaining to her ex-husband about heavy workloads.

The university had received no indication that Professor Winstanley, who was an expert in work-related stress, was suffering as a result of her workload. The tragic news comes as many universities are considering outsourcing confidential staff counselling services, which are seen as a vital lifeline for a growing number of academics suffering acute levels of stress.

David Berger, who chairs the Association for University and College Counselling and is head of counselling at Hull University where the service for staff is about to be outsourced, warned that outsourcing could in effect leave some staff with no support or outlet for their anxieties.

He said: "Although some staff may quite like it, others will find it virtually impossible to find the time to go to offices outside the university within normal working hours." Mr Berger said there was anecdotal evidence that both work-related stress and mental ill-health were on the rise among academic staff. The AUCC is taking steps to plot the trend.

Sally Hunt, joint general secretary of the University and College Union, commented: "Our stress survey indicated borderline levels of psychological distress among staff. Employers must take action to reduce workloads and tackle the causes of occupational stress in the sector."

David Miles, Kingston's pro vice-chancellor for external affairs, told The Times Higher that the institution was preparing to review its staff support systems in the light of the tragedy. Professor Miles said that higher education was "an area where people are expected to deliver high standards under pressured circumstances, and this is becoming increasingly so".

"There is a sense of profound shock here over Di's death. In the preceding weeks, to most people who met her she seemed to be her usual positive self," he said. "There was no indication she was suffering a level of stress that might have contributed to her death."

Professor Miles said that the university offered confidential counselling to its staff through its occupational health service and that it had recently revised its stress management policy.

Evidence submitted to the recent inquest, held at West Sussex Coroner's Court, suggested that Professor Winstanley was struggling in her job, which involved some overseas travel and grappling with challenges involving computer technology. Professor Winstanley's former husband, Nicholas Jarrett, told the inquest that work had been the main cause of his ex-wife's anxiety shortly before her death.

Speaking to The Times Higher later, he said: "I have no doubt at all from the things that she said to me that she was under huge stress at work, and that she was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the demands that were placed on her. "I believe from what she said that she had inadequate administrative and technical support."

Christine Edwards, a colleague at Kingston and a long-standing friend of Professor Winstanley, said: "No one would have been more aware of the support available at the university than Diana. "As far as we are aware, she had not set in motion any of the procedures within the university's human resources policies or accessed any of the support services open to her."

Times Higher Education Supplement
-------------------------------------
So since she had not accessed any of the support services available to her, and since the university offers confidential counselling to its staff, well... Kingston University did all it could really. Really? It should have never got to that point in the first place. Support and counselling are often there so universities can wash their dirty hands from any claims of negligence. Proximity to counselling does not entail in itself a possible happy resolution.