The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price. "Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence." Leonardo da Vinci - "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
May 08, 2008
Cut it out. Enough of this!
By Sandra M. Stokes, PhD, professor of education and women’s studies, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Sheri R. Klein, PhD, professor of art education, University of Wisconsin-Stout
The topic of mobbing has recently received media attention, with some experts believing that instances of mobbing on higher education campuses are increasing. Researchers claim mobbing affects only about 2% to 5% of all workers, but the highest number of mobbing incidents takes place in higher education. Women faculty are the majority of the targets.
What exactly is mobbing? According to authors Noa Davenport, Ruth Schwartz and Gail Elliott in Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace (Civil Society Publishing, 2004):
Mobbing is an emotional assault. It begins when an individual becomes the target of disrespectful and harmful behavior. Through innuendo, rumors, and public discrediting, a hostile environment is created in which one individual gathers others to willingly, or unwillingly, participate in continuous malevolent actions to force a person out of the workplace.
These actions escalate into abusive and terrorizing behavior. The victim feels increasingly helpless when the organization does not put a stop to the behavior or may even plan or condone it.
As a result, the individual experiences increasing distress, illness, and social misery… Resignation, termination, or early retirement—the negotiated voluntary or involuntary expulsion from the workplace—follows. For the victim, death—through illness or suicide—may be the final chapter in the mobbing story.
Financial consequences also can be a part of the mobbing; personnel reviews often are intentionally used to justify little to no salary increases or lack of retention.
How to recognize mobbing
Mobbing can be distinguished from the ordinary storm und drang that sometimes characterizes life in a university. A major characteristic is that the attack made on the target is not made on the actions or words of the faculty member but instead on the faculty member herself.
Other characteristics:
* The target has a record of success.
* The mobbers make up the rules as they go along and do not follow the accepted university due process procedures.
* The timing usually favors the mobbers, such as choosing to attack after the faculty member has had a serious medical procedure.
* The mobbers protest vehemently against any external review of their actions.
* The mobbers attempt to carry out their attacks in complete secrecy, using such tactics as anonymous hate mail left in the target’s mailbox.
* The charges against the target are for relatively minor instances, such as alleging that a faculty member has said certain things that the mobbers find objectionable.
--There is a unanimity of negative opinion about the target.
--The target is selected first and then the charges are brought.
--The mobbers use “impassioned rhetoric” in attacking the target.
--The mobbers spread rumors and gossip about the target.
Mobbing behaviors
Is it your imagination or is it mobbing?
While behaviors vary in scope and intensity, the most common include:
* not speaking to the target (e.g., when the department is assembled for a meeting, everyone is chatting except to the target; when it is time to be seated, everyone moves away from the target)
* downgrading work done by the target while praising work done by everyone else (e.g., giving the target a satisfactory rating for producing a book while giving exceptional ratings to everyone else for little to no productivity)
* filing complaints through faculty grievances based on “lack of collegiality”
* assigning everyone in a department to teach summer courses except the target
* a department chair taking away a course from the target when students complain of too much work instead of backing up the target
* not passing a major addition to a department’s curriculum because it was created by the target
* not including the target in any departmental planning
* conveying untrue allegations against the target to one and all
* letting untenured faculty as well as academic staff know that they should not interact with the target
Gender in mobbing
Research indicates that about 57% of those who are mobbed are women. According to the AFT Wisconsin Local 3535’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, women are targets in 75-80% of all cases of academic mobbing on campuses across the University of Wisconsin system.
Cases at the Wisconsin union include many instances of mobbing against faculty, particularly women faculty, who are outspoken about unethical and unjust situations. These faculty are quite competent and successful, and they be-come targets of mobbers who are threatened by their competence and professional success.
Other factors that determine who gets mobbed:
* Ethical and just people with high standards
* Independent, skilled and bright people with integrity
* Cooperative, “nice” people
* Marginalized or vulnerable people, such as those with a disability, those from another country or those who are somehow unlike everyone else.
Sadly, the perpetrators of mobbing are also often disproportionately women. In fact, according to researcher Linda Shallcross, the technique of mobbing—in which the attacks on a target are sneaky and collective—greatly appeals to women.
Administrators’ role
One characteristic in higher education that especially encourages mobbing is the tendency of administrators and/or campus leaders to ignore or tolerate the mistreatment of the target. Although mobbing can be instigated by a campus leader or administrator, it is always led by someone who has power over a group.
Administrators who are not directly responsible for the mobbing often fail to respond to it, which allows the mobbing to continue until the target gives up and leaves, develops life-threatening medical conditions (most commonly cardiac complications) or commits suicide—as do some 12% of all academics who are mobbed.
Administrators and campus leaders need to become more aware of this phenomenon on their campuses and take action to end it. A faculty member who has conducted years of research on this topic, Kenneth Westhues of the University of Waterloo, has said: “You know what stops mobbings? Somebody saying, ‘Cut it out. Enough of this.’”
What can be done?
If you suspect that you are being mobbed, document everything that is said and done to make you feel this way. Get help from external sources who are knowledgeable about academic mobbing. Find an ally (a colleague, mentor or supervisor) whom you can trust to be a reality check and source of support.
Outside observers can look at situations where attacks are occurring. Are the attacks on the person or on her actions/words? Don’t stand by idly. Make campus leaders aware of the attacks and insist that they take action against the mobbers. Work for anti-mobbing policies on your campus. Don’t allow any one person or group to circumvent normal university due process procedures.
Those who do nothing and tolerate the attacks are jeopardizing not only their own careers, but also those of other smart, effective campus contributors who are likely to be the next targets.
Doing nothing enables the mobbers, so that academic mobbing will continue. It won’t stop until colleagues and administrators say “NO” to mobbing. The consequences of inaction are enormous for everyone, but the real losers in the academy are the students.
From: http://www.wihe.com/printBlog.jsp?id=18929
May 05, 2008
When Whistleblowing Leads to Bullying at Work
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
May 03, 2008
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...
May 01, 2008
Kingston University and 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:
- 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?
- 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?
- Administering the survey through individual student logon, does not guarantee anonymity. Is this right?
- Do employers look at student satisfaction surveys to determine if a degree is 'shit'?
- Why is not the student satisfaction survey the place to provide negative feedback for modules that students are not happy with?
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.
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To download and listen to the recording scroll to the bottom of the web page and click on 'click here to download'.
April 29, 2008
We welcome HEA - we can only hope that they have learnt something
April 27, 2008
Academic freedom is a crucial right that must be maintained
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
April 25, 2008
Of course they do, don't they all?
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
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Of course they do, don't they all have "full and fair" disciplinary procedures...
April 23, 2008
Did they or did they not... and 'tick box' exercises
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
April 21, 2008
Timing is everything when you are stating the obvious...
- 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.
'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...
April 18, 2008
Academics criticise HEA for flouting principles of intellectual freedom
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