When Whistleblowing Leads to Bullying at Work

By Stig Berge Matthiesen (Associate Professor), Univeristy of Bergen, Norway

Whistleblowing can be defined as the act that takes place when an employee is witnessing wrongdoing in the work place (e.g. unethical conduct, corruption, violence or bullying against others, criminal acts etc.) from a fellow employee or a superior (or a group of employees or superiors), and he or she then tries to stop the wrongdoing by informing a leader or someone who is in the position to stop the wrongdoing. This telling about the wrongdoing may be done internally or externally. In the whistleblowing literature it is common to differentiate between whistleblowing and informing. A whistleblower does not take action with the intent to promote their own career ambitions.

Blowing the whistle concerns important ethical or societal issues, and the whistleblower may feel that he or she does not have the conscience to just keep quiet. Lives may be lost, serious pollution may get out of control, human rights may be seriously violated, or the company may get liquidated, if someone does not take action. On the other hand, if you want to get even with your colleague, or express something negative about him or her to your boss, then you act as an informer, not as a whistleblower. Many, including those in the judicial system, find it difficult to differentiate between acts of whistleblowing and acts of informing. Mixed cases may of course also exist.

Some whistleblowers are rewarded, and gain career promotion. An example of this happened when 3 middle managers were appointed as “name of the year” in USA in December 2002 by Time Magazine. They had reported severe corruption (in the World Com and Enron companies) or criminal neglect (in the FBI system after the 11th of September) to their superiors, in order to stop the wrongdoing. First they were ignored, but they never gave up.

However, some whistleblowers experience the opposite of being rewarded. Ingratitude is the way of the world, they realised instead. Some whistleblowers are exposed to severe bullying after they blew the whistle. They can be met with severe intra group or career sanctions that may lead to major health problems, even to symptoms of PTSD. A typical way of punishing or sanctioning a whistleblower is to meet him or her with tough ostracism, to completely isolate the person from others or from work tasks. Many of whistleblowers are simply sacked from their job, or their work contracts are not renewed. They may even experience that rumours about this “disloyal” worker are spread around, to other companies as well, making it extremely difficult for the person who blew the whistle to obtain another job.

One of the whistleblowers I met as part of my job as a researcher and counsellor in the field of occupational health psychology, Mr. X, worked as a prison officer in a sub-unit of a major prison. In this job he was confronted with many episodes of unethical or criminal acts conducted not by the prisoners, but by his fellow prison officers. A relatively influential group of his colleagues constituted the problem. The organizational culture of the unit, with e.g. severe corruption, was in his opinion out of control. At least this was what he realized after several years with gradual decline of the general professional conduct in the ward. He found this negative development impossible to tolerate. When Mr. X took action and informed the management of the prison, he was treated as a Judas or traitor, not only by his fellow colleagues, but also by the union representatives.

He was then socially isolated, being transferred to another job as an industrial guard in the prison system without being asked about his own opinion. In his “new job” he would not have any regular contact with any colleagues or inmates, as a “persona non grata”. When he was met with the impact of all the sanctions imposed upon him, he suffered a nervous breakdown. The break down turned into a long lasting sick leave. After some years, with several episodes of successive long term sick leave, he was granted disability benefit. After some of his old mental strength had returned, he took his case to the court, but lost.

As part of the judicial process, Mr. X was tested extensively by various psychological tests (MMPI-2, SCL-90, GHQ-30, among those) by 2 expert witnesses (I was one). We, as expert witnesses, also conducted several interviews with him. The psychological tests all revealed the same picture. Mr. X suffered from severe mental health problems (depression, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and bizarre imaginations, among others). About 18 months after the trial ended his case was taken to the appeal court. The story repeats itself – he loosed again.

Did his mental health further deteriorate after such an experience? About 2 months after the last court trial, Mr. X , went through the same kind of psychological screening. All tests revealed that he had recovered his mental strength, quite contrary to my expectations in advance. Mr. X’s own explanation was that even if he lost the court trials, and even after being out of working life against his own will, he had been able through this process to achieve a kind of psychological redress. The judicial process, and all the people he had been in contact with therein, gave him access to extensive moral and social support, he claimed. Suddenly Mr. X was heard and understood by his surroundings. He was no longer confused. Thus, Mr. X now recognized the interconnection between the various things that had occurred in relation to him blowing the whistle. Sense of coherence, shattered assumptions being recovered, cognitive dissonance being replaced by cognitive consonance, are but some of the psychological processes that may explain why Mr. X recovered.

In sum, exposure to bullying and harassment may be the consequences of blowing the whistle on your colleagues or your organization. This may be the case, in particular, in organizations that lack experience with how to handle whistleblowing. A defensive reaction when someone blows the whistle is to “kill the messenger”, instead of preventing or interfering with the alleged acts of wrongdoing.

Poor leadership skills should also be considered as an important intermediate factor when whistleblowing ends with bullying. Usually, the leader will have a (high) work task orientation, combined with a minor (low) level of people orientation. Hence, many whistleblowers may realize that they may be exposed to strong work place sanctions following whistleblowing, such as severe ostracism or even risk of losing their job or any positive or meaningful parts of their current job. Such an unfair and destructive process must be prevented. Still, as seen in the presented case, some of the bullied whistleblowers are able to maintain their mental health irrespective of this, and they may recover. The case of Mr. X may illustrate this. Psychological redress may constitute an important explanation of such mental recovery. As occupational health psychologists, we may have a role to play in that respect.

From: http://www.varslerunionen.no/faktatekst_3.html

Leadership or rather the lack of it...

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers (students, colleagues etc.) stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

From "A soldier's way" by Colin Powell. ISBN 0091791995

Now think of your own academic leaders and managers and draw your own conclusions...

Kingston University and Student Satisfaction Survey

This is how certain persons (MPEG file) at Kingston University instructed a specific group of students on how to fill in the Student Satisfaction Survey.

More specifically, Fiona Barlow-Brown and Fred Vallee-Tourangeau from Kingston University told students that:

• they will be 'hounded' if they do not fill in the survey;

• they will have to logon to computers to fill in the survey (does this guarantee anonymity?);

• if Kingston comes down to the bottom of the table in terms of student satisfaction, nobody would want to employ them because employers will think that their degree is 'shit';

• if they think something on the survey is worth a '4', students are encouraged to make it a '5' because that is what everybody else is doing (beef up the score); and

• the student satisfaction survey is not the place to provide negative feedback for modules that students are not happy with.

Considering the above statements, it is natural to ask a number of questions:

1. Does the recommendation that student-satisfaction surveys be made public in an effort to improve the quality of institutions, put pressure on academics and administrative staff to 'manipulate' outcomes?
   
   
2. In this survey where the scale ranges from 1 to 5, how appropriate is it to tell students that a '4' should be rounded-up to a '5' because everybody else does the same?
   
   
3. Administering the survey through individual student logon, does not guarantee anonymity. Is this right?
   
   
4. Do employers look at student satisfaction surveys to determine if a degree is 'shit'?
   
   
5. Why is not the student satisfaction survey the place to provide negative feedback for modules that students are not happy with?

Professor Lee Harvey was recently suspended from the Higher Education Academy because he expressed in public his views about the survey. Among other things, Prof. Harvey wrote: '... This valuable source of information [the survey] has been under-exploited...' Judging from the manner Fiona Barlow-Brown and Fred Vallee-Tourangeau from Kingston University briefed the students, could it not be argued that the process of conducting the survey is open to subtle but potentially decisive 'manipulations'?

Lastly, how indicative of the way Kingston University deals with students, is the briefing approach adopted by Fiona Barlow-Brown and Fred Vallee-Tourangeau?

We would appreciate some answers from the HEA, Kingston University, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, UniversitiesUK, and of course the National Union of Students.
------------------
To download and listen to the recording scroll to the bottom of the web page and click on 'click here to download'.

We welcome HEA - we can only hope that they have learnt something

We welcome the visit to this blog by the Higher Education Academy on April 29, 2008 at 5:23pm. We can only hope that the HEA had a good look around and discovered the horror stories about institutionalised bullying in some HEIs. If they did, then they'll know that their suspension of a distinguished Professor follows a sad and normal trend. We recommend that those in power within the HEA read some interesting literature about mobbing in academia. In the meanwhile, this blog will continue to expose HEIs that ignore their own policies about dignity at work.

Academic freedom is a crucial right that must be maintained

We the undersigned wish to express our deep concern at the attack on academic freedom indicated by the Higher Education Academy’s suspension of Professor Lee Harvey as Director of Research and Evaluation. This appears to be an inappropriate use of disciplinary procedures. Many of us have worked closely with Professor Harvey and know that he has always been deeply committed to improving the quality of the student learning experience. To that end he has never been afraid to raise important issues and encourage thoughtful debate. We fear for the future of academic freedom if academic experts in any area are not allowed to express their considered opinions, even in a personal capacity. We firmly believe that academic freedom is a crucial right that must be maintained; free inquiry is not merely a right; it's a necessary element of any system that strives for progress.

Steve Aldred
Matthew Badcock
Professor David Boyd
Dr Joyce Canaan
Veronica Coatham
Matthew Cremin
Dr Haydn Davies
Gary Hazeldine
Professor Ann Hill (NTF; FHEA)
Dr Jane Hill
Professor Howard Jackson
Dave Keefe
Professor Julian Killingley
Anthony Lewis
Barbara McCalla
Alan Mabbett
Dr Bill Madhill
Dr Rob Mawby
Professor Chris Painter
Bill Roper
Professor John Rouse
Professor Douglas Sharp
Greta Shields
Cynthia Slater
Professor Philip Smallwood
Dr George Smith
Dr Neil Staunton
Graham Wright

From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

Of course they do, don't they all?

HEA draws worldwide criticism over suspension, 24 April 2008, Times Higher Education. By John Gill

Academics from around the world have joined in criticism of the Higher Education Academy following the suspension of its director of research and evaluation. Lee Harvey was suspended from the post, pending investigation, after he criticised the National Student Survey in a letter written in a personal capacity and published in Times Higher Education.

It is understood that the HEA is investigating whether he broke a clause of his contract banning him from writing letters for publication without the academy's clearance.

Dozens of academics, some from as far away as South America, South Africa and Australia, have rallied to Professor Harvey's defence after Times Higher Education reported his suspension. Via posts to the Times Higher Education website and letters to the HEA, many accuse the academy of trampling academic freedom. The suspension was "totally unacceptable", said Chris Rust, a fellow of the HEA. "I would suggest that the academy ... needs all the friends it can get," he added.

John Rouse, dean of law, humanities, development and society at Birmingham City University, said he was "shocked, astonished, appalled" by the suspension. In a letter to Bob Burgess, HEA chairman, he said: "This reflects badly on the HEA's attitude to academic freedom."

Carmen Fenoll, former pro vice-chancellor of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, Spain, urged the HEA to rethink its position. "This is not in the benefit of this prestigious institution," she said.

Orlando Albornoz, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela, said: "It is devastating news for scholars living in countries like Venezuela ... I feel sorry about what has happened in this case in Great Britain, which we still look upon as a place of academic freedom."

Catherine Rytmeister, a higher education researcher writing from Sydney, Australia, said Professor Harvey "must be reinstated without delay".

The HEA said it had "full and fair" disciplinary procedures and supported academic freedom.

See: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=401505
------------------

Of course they do, don't they all have "full and fair" disciplinary procedures...

Did they or did they not... and 'tick box' exercises

No automatic adverse inference for failing to complete discrimination questionnaires

In D’Silva v NATFHE & Others, Mr D’Silva, a university lecturer and member of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) union, claimed the union had discriminated against him on grounds of race in the way it handled his applications for legal assistance in bringing discrimination claims against Manchester Metropolitan University. His complaints were dismissed by the Employment Tribunal. He appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). His appeal included a claim that the Tribunal had refused to draw adverse inferences of discrimination from the alleged failure of the union to fully answer a Race Discrimination Act 1976 questionnaire.

The EAT dismissed Mr D’Silva’s appeal. It held that failure to answer a questionnaire, or indeed to provide other information or documents, does not automatically raise an inference of discrimination. While these are matters from which an inference can be drawn, it held that the drawing of inferences from such failures is not a "tick-box exercise". It is necessary in each case to consider whether, on the facts, the failure in question is capable of constituting evidence supporting the inference that the respondent acted discriminatorily in the manner alleged and, if so, whether, in the light of any explanation supplied, it does in fact justify that inference.

The EAT suggested that if a claimant pursues this point in circumstances where it is obvious that the failings have no bearing on the question of discrimination, he or she runs the risk of being penalised.

From: http://www.mondaq.com and: http://www.personneltoday.com

Timing is everything when you are stating the obvious...

On a day that UCU was in court (see: UCU in court) and a major issue relating to academic freedom of expression has been exposed at the HEA - UCU for the time being does not seem to have an opinion on this, what does UCU do? It releases an important report on college staff dissatisfaction. The report itself is worth reading, although there is nothing terribly new. Some highlights:

• 86% of college teaching staff responding feel they make a valuable contribution to society
• half do not feel valued by their employers
• only 22% believe they are rewarded adequately
• 51% feel they can't achieve a good work-life balance. This compares badly with other workplaces. In the UK as a whole, 66% of employees in all sectors say they can
• 51% of teaching staff say they're likely to leave FE in the next 5 years
• less than a third would recommend their college as a good place to work.
  

And what does Sally say?

'You really have to ask whether talented young people will want to enter, let alone stay, in a profession where dedication and achievement fail to command respect and adequate reward. If the government is not careful, it will find a yawning staffing gap in its skills strategy.

'Learners are very satisfied with their college lecturers. Lecturers deserve the satisfaction that comes from fair treatment, respect and just rewards.

'If the government is not careful... and so we pass the buck to the government after having discovered and stated the obvious when over at THES comments - many from other countries - take on the HEA (a body answerable to Universities UK, i.e. the bosses). What a radical union and how scared HEA must be of UCU! The government is not careful Sally, so what are we going to do about it? Perhaps release another report...

Academics criticise HEA for flouting principles of intellectual freedom

The Higher Education Academy has suspended its director of research and evaluation after the publication of a letter in Times Higher Education.

Lee Harvey's letter, which he wrote in a personal capacity, criticised the National Student Survey. Academics have condemned the suspension as a restriction of academic freedom. Times Higher Education understands that Professor Harvey is accused of breaching his contract by writing a letter for publication without HEA clearance. The decision to suspend him was taken by HEA chief executive Paul Ramsden, against whom Professor Harvey had previously lodged a grievance on an unrelated matter.

Earlier in his career Professor Ramsden was involved with the pioneering student experience survey in Australia, a forerunner to the UK NSS. Professor Harvey described the NSS in his letter as a "hopelessly inadequate improvement tool".

Today, in another letter to Times Higher Education, four academics condemn the HEA's handling of the case, which they say is a "breach of academic freedom".

Lyn Fawcett, chair of the University and College Union higher education committee in Northern Ireland, said he would consider quitting as a member of the HEA if Professor Harvey were not reinstated.

He said: "One has to question the integrity of the HEA if they are not prepared to allow someone who is a specialist in an area to have an expert opinion. It also raises questions about not just academic freedom but personal freedom. That an individual should not be allowed to express an opinion in a personal capacity outside of work is a disgrace."

Another fellow of the HEA, speaking anonymously, said: "You don't shut down a debate that has never been had. There's an atmosphere of intellectual terror surrounding this that is indicative of how afraid people are to speak out about anything."

Bernard Longden, professor of higher education policy at Liverpool Hope University, said: "We talk about the need for higher education to be a 'critical community'. Is this the most effective way that it can handle criticism?" Sean Mackney, HEA deputy chief executive, refused to comment on the suspension or the prior grievance between Professor Harvey and Professor Ramsden. He said: "The academy is a strong believer in the freedom of academics to publish and say what they wish about any matter. It would not be proper for me to comment on (this case) further."

However, a member of HEA staff, speaking anonymously, said there was a "great deal of unease" in the organisation, adding: "If, as we understand, the suspension is retaliation to the letter, then it is absolutely ridiculous and actually very damaging to the academy."

From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

UCU in court

My three day adjourned case against the UCU starts again in the London Kingsway Tribunal (next to Holborn Underground) at 10 am on Monday the 20th April 2008. If any of you can attend between Mon-Wed we welcome your support.

Please make sure if you attend that you sit on the same side as my Counsel or otherwise it will send the wrong signal of support to the Tribunal.

The case is in regard to the discriminatory rule 5.6 introduced by the UCU in 2006 during the amalgamation of the Union to deny members legal aid for questioning their legal advice.

Mr Wilkin is going to give evidence first followed by the following people Ms Sally Hunt, Mr Paul Mackney, Ms Brenda Kirsch (UCU editor) and Mr Andrew Pike.

From received email.