Tips for handling power

In her book 'Bad Leadership', Barbara Kellerman suggests some tips for those in power, to help them avoid turning bad. These include:

• Limit your tenure. When leaders remain in power for too long, they tend to acquire bad habits
• Share power. When power is centralised, it is likely to be misused, and that puts a premium on delegation and collaboration
• Get real, and stay real. Virtually every bad leader loses touch with reality somehow
• Know and control your appetites. These include the hunger for power, money, success and sex
• Be reflective. Virtually every one of the great writers on leadership emphasises the importance of self knowledge, self control and good habits. Acquiring such virtues is hard. Intent is required, but so is time for quiet contemplation
• Encourage a culture of openness in which diversity and dissent are encouraged
• Bring in advisers who are strong and independent
• Avoid groupthink. Groupthink discourages healthy dissent and encourages excessive cohesiveness
• Establish a system of checks and balances

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

Lincoln acts to lift morale of discontented staff

The University of Lincoln is implementing an action plan to improve staff morale after an internal survey revealed that only 49 per cent of respondents felt "valued" by the university.

The survey, which polled more than 800 employees, 64 per cent of staff, was undertaken at the end of last year. The results were published in the current issue of the University of Lincoln magazine Contact. The poll suggests that staff believe the university falls short on managing change, communication, reducing bureaucracy and offering career progression.

Of those surveyed, 86 per cent said they felt more could be done to help them "prepare for and cope with change" and 57 per cent felt they were "required to do unimportant tasks which prevent them from completing more important ones". On the subject of career advancement, 59 per cent said that there were not enough opportunities for progression in the university.

The action plan, drawn up in response to the results, includes developing a communications plan for major changes, a framework for staff development and promotion and "less use of paper/memos and more face-to-face and telephone contact".

"When the staff survey was conducted, we were halfway through the appraisal year and only 57 per cent of staff surveyed had had their appraisal," said Jayne Billam, the university's director of human resources. "This can lead to staff not feeling valued."

"Now up to 90 per cent of people have been appraised. We had the highest level of staff engagement for our staff survey ... (and) the largest response in the sector compared to the other 32 HEIs surveyed by the independent survey specialist Capita," Ms Billam said. "The survey also showed positive results, with 83 per cent (of respondents) saying that the university was a good place to work."

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

...and who is this man...

... an under-qualified arrogant professor nicknamed "Nick the Prick"...

Lame duck HEFCE...

So what do we have here? Students were asked to beef up their ratings of Kingston University. The whole issue became national news and placed a huge question mark on the reliability of the student satisfaction survey. Kingston University - a serial offender when it comes to workplace bullying - is off the hook because the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE, read: taxpayer's money) declares that it is 'in discussion with the institution about the allegation'... Excuse me, but it is not an allegation - there is an actual recording of the event. HEFCE is also in discussion with Kingston University about appropriate 'next steps'. Don't worry HEFCE because Kingston University have taken steps to ban students from recording similar incidents...

Who is this man?

A personal account...

After working for the University for 23 years, I have finally been driven out. I gave up my tenure and resigned in July. Both Spencer, my husband and I have been having problems with our Department Head. This has been going on for five years now, but the proverbial (and literal) final blow came last November when I was assaulted by a co-worker (‘colleague’ is a label he does not deserve). It is quite a long and sordid tale, so I offer the abridged, and yet still long version here. For this story, we’ll call my assailant ‘Bernard’.

A few weeks before the ‘fateful incident’ the same ‘man’ had sent me an email that given my experiences at work the last few years, seemed very much like a threat. What prompted his email was this: In what turned out to be an act of sedition, I recklessly asked him to improve the training given to our teaching assistants (only some of whom speak English, and most of whom suck, but all of whom are among the best paid teaching assistants on campus), and he “cautioned me” not to criticize him. Apparently, striving for improvement and getting people to do their jobs is no longer what we do. He ignored several attempts by me to get him to explain, so I went to his office. I asked him to explain what he meant by his threat (on the day before Remembrance Day no less – lest we forget!) Well, looks like he forgot. He began yelling at me and accusing me of being abusive (!?) and then he slammed his door in my face. He’d have broken my nose if I hadn’t put my foot in the door. There were several awkward moments as he continued to yell, pushing on the door while I tried to figure out how to get me and my foot out of there without getting hurt. Bernard is not a large, nor as it turns out, a strong man. I managed to extricate myself without further physical injury.

Now, I suspect I’ve been very lucky in that the last time any human tried to hit me was when I was about 9. Being a pacifist probably helps. And even after 23 years of dealing with university kids fresh out of high school - some of whom are very unhappy when I fail them - this is the first time someone has tried to attack me at university. I had a very hard time coping. There were, of course, no witnesses.

[Aside: I bought a Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens) and named it Bernard as part of my own personal therapy. They have much in common my colourful little Bernie and the man who assaulted me. Both are: Small. Angry. Insignificant. AND wear a suit that looks 3 sizes too big. Curiously, I ended up having to buy a second fish because the first Bernard I bought did not survive the night in his new home. My family thought it particularly fitting since we had put him in a vase with a Peace Plant - Bernard couldn’t, apparently, live with the Peace. (Wee Bernie the fish, is now nearly 3 years old, and each time I talk to him I am reminded that I have survived, and he – the human Bernie – is still small, angry and insignificant. It may seem silly, but it helps me.)]

Without skipping a beat our obdurate Department Head suggested that if I felt unsafe having my assailant’s office just down the hall from me, *I* should be the one to move. My office was the last thing I had in that department that I valued since he had already taken or canceled everything else, and unfortunately he knew that. I went on a medical leave and did not return until after classes were over.

Not long after getting back to work I learned that the man who assaulted me had filed a grievance against ME for harassment. Is that A) ironic or B) what? Turns out, the correct answer was ‘B’. I seemed to be the only person surprised by this. I’m learning though. Human Resources refused to acknowledge my doctor’s orders for reduced duties (they really ARE evil, like Dilbert says), and the ever-vigilant Campus Security had conveniently omitted the entire criminal incident from their report – all they said was that I had had an email threat. After all, it’s hard to claim our campus is safe if people go around reporting assaults. Can’t have that. Besides, there’d be all this paperwork. It’s just easier to claim nothing happened. As if that wasn’t enough, THIS year I’d gone all out in trying to implement the university President’s “plan” for a rich undergraduate experience. My students loved it. Not to be outdone by the perversity of a pseudo-police unwilling to enforce law, my annual assessment from the Head pretty much trashed everything I did this year. In spite of the fact that what I do in my classes is publishable work, my teaching was assessed by my head as inadequate. The problem, you see is that I’ve been treating my students as individuals. This is apparently bad.

Still I persevered – after all, we live in modern times, no? Violence against women is no longer condoned, especially in an enlightened Science Faculty, and even more so during a time when there are almost weekly news stories about how we need more women in IT (information technology). And besides, I come from a long line of people that do not give up easily. Can you guess what happened next? Machiavelli would have felt right at home. The brand new Dean of Science found ME guilty of harassment. Somehow, I am to blame because Bernard felt the need to hit me. My punishment: I was to be banished (they forced me to move out of my office WHILE I was still on a medical leave); I was to enroll in courses that would teach me how to get along with people, and if I bothered poor Bernie again I could be fired. Interestingly, when Spencer (who is in the same department as me) asked the Dean why I had to move my office to a different building, and to the top floor no less (a point as far away from the students as was possible), the Dean told Spence it was so I could be close to my HUSBAND. Isn’t that progressive of him? After 23 years of professional service, I am still just a wife. That’s when I realized I would not survive five years under this man’s “leadership”, nor would my staying make any difference. Tyranny wins. Sigh.

Ah, but the story doesn’t end here. Oh no my weary friends, there’s more. Administrative positions at the university come up for renewal about every five years, and this year it was our Department Head’s turn. A man known to be dishonest (he was caught in a lie during his “re-appoint me” talk!), who is known to treat some people like royalty and relentlessly bully others, was,…wait for it….RE-APPOINTED for another five years. The Dean clearly has a use for the likes of him, and that can’t mean good things. Our department has gone from a place that used to supply graduates to some of the coolest places on the planet to work (Disney, Industrial Light and Magic, Jet Propulsion Labs, …) to one of which I am ashamed, and who’s graduates are wanted almost nowhere. And, it seems Spencer and I are not the only ones who feel this way. The department HAD about 45 faculty, among them 9 women. Besides me, we lost two other faculty this year (one woman; the other world-renowned in his field), and by my last count we will loose 6 more this year (2 of them also women, and none of them due to retirement). Those are only the ones I know about, there may well be others. Tragically, Spencer is still there, but since he has a few years left before retiring, he has arranged to be one of the six leaving this year. This summer Spencer will be moving to the Faculty of Environmental Design. I think it will be interesting to work with architects. Spencer’s not so sure – but it’s bound to be better than working with reprobates. Meanwhile, the department that used to be one of only two in the country visited by Bell Labs recruiters continues to circle the drain.

So the moral of the story is…. (some) Universities remain mediaeval institutions where men get to be men, and women, well, they need to remember their place. It leaves me, for the first time as an adult, without a job. It is hard not to be bitter (as if the last two pages weren’t clue enough), but I’m working on it. Spencer and I have learned much about who our friends are, and it will take us a long time to heal. I know I for one will never again offer my loyalty freely to a place – only to people. On the plus side, through my experiences I have met a whole pile of very nice people who have been similarly abused by this University (not just women), and when I have some time I plan to write a book about it. It seems this institution has quite a history of what mobbing and bullying expert Ken Westhues calls “the envy of excellence”. He says that most people targeted in this way possess a perilous combination of traits: excellence AND integrity. A menacing pair of traits, huh? Clearly something a university must control.

In the mean time, if anyone knows of any job openings…

Anonymous

Bullying among support staff in a higher education institution

Purpose – Workplace bullying has been a subject of increasing study in recent years, particularly in the UK, Scandinavia and Australia. Health effects of workplace bullying are often cited as an undesirable outcome of being bullied, yet these health effects have not been studied systematically. This study was small and exploratory. The overall aims were to explore support staff perceptions of the nature and causes of bullying, and to examine the perceived relationship between bullying and self-reported health complaints.

Findings – A total of 42 employees responded, 19 reporting experiencing one or more forms of bullying in the previous two years, while 17 had witnessed colleagues being bullied. The top four bullying tactics ranked in terms of frequency of reporting were undue pressure to produce work, undermining of ability, shouting abuse, and withholding necessary information. When bullying occurred it was likely to be by a line manager. Major findings are that headaches, loss of confidence, loss of self-esteem, fatigue/listlessness, and stress are the most commonly reported health consequences of being bullied, and that these syndromes are associated with a decrease in workplace morale, increased stress at home, and propensity to seek alternative employment.

The context of the research

The motivation for the research came partly from the writer's own experiences of being bullied and partly through witnessing and hearing “through the grapevine” of the bullying of colleagues. The writer (a non-health professional) had experienced bullying in both primary and secondary school and naively thought that bullying was something that did not happen, or more to the point would not be tolerated or condoned, in the workplace. This proved not to be the case, and the writer in her early working life accepted that some people were natural “victims” and others “bullies”, and this was the way of the world. However, in the latter part of her working life, this has been called into question and bullying behaviour, it appears, may occur for many reasons and anyone may become a target of bullying at some stage in their career. Thus, when the opportunity to conduct some research for a dissertation arose, the researcher was keen to gain insight into the perceived reasons for bullying and obtain details of support mechanisms, effects on relationships and health consequences. While working as a member of support staff in an educational establishment the researcher undertook a small but intensive study of bullying experiences amongst support staff...

Bullying and position in the hierarchy

Research undertaken by Björkqvist et al. (1994a, b) in a university setting found that position in the hierarchy was related to bullying, in that individuals in lower administrative and service jobs were more likely to be bullied and those in superior positions were more often identified as the perpetrators of bullying. Similarly Marmot et al. (1991) in the Whitehall II study concluded that bullying and stress were more frequent in lower grades of staff.

The issue of bullying and unequal power situations is particularly relevant to this study, as there is a great disparity in status between academics and support staff. While universities may deem it desirous to address equal opportunity issues, they are, in the twenty-first century, still mainly entrenched in forms of institutionalised sexism and intellectual elitism...

Conclusion

Studying bullying at work presents considerable difficulties, as the breadth of the phenomenon encompasses many different forms of behaviour and reaction. Bullying, or the more generic “harassment at work”, is claimed to be a more crippling and devastating problem for employees than all other work-related stress put together (Einarsen, 1999). Stress can also have serious implications for the efficient functioning of the organisation. Increased sickness absence, high turnover of staff, low morale, and poor performance can all be consequences or indicators of bullying in the workplace. Cox (1993) suggests that mental health problems are amongst the fastest growing sources of days lost from work. In financial terms absenteeism, loss of trained personnel, higher recruitment costs and reduced productivity can add up to a heavy burden for organisations. The costs of stress, therefore, are paid for both by the suffering of the individual and the financial cost to the organisation.

Bullying is morally as well as professionally unacceptable, and impacts not only on the health of victims and their colleagues but their families too. Job stress due to bullying can have serious and deleterious effects on family life that may manifest themselves in increased welfare costs (Cohen et al., 1997). While it is acknowledged that problems exist in relation to proving the causal link between bullying and ill health, employers have a vicarious duty of care towards its employees. It is therefore essential that employers are aware of such issues and of potential signs of bullying behaviour. Consequently there is an urgent need to address this issue by documenting incidents, finding the source of the abuse and what and who perpetrates it, and developing a procedure to eliminate the abusive behaviour. Any policies, to be effective, must be guided by research...

By: Mary Thomas, School of Education, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK - Health Education; Volume: 105 Issue: 4; 2005

Societal Effects

Harassment can make you a social outcast period. If you do nothing about the harassment those around you might sympathise, but they will in time learn to ignore it and treat it as a common day to day occurrence. If you take action against the harasser, school, or place of employment, you might find that you are ostracized, and retaliated against in many unfair ways.

Socially you might not be invited out to group or social activities, you might be shunned during daily school, or work place events. People who associate with you will be singled out with peer pressure to stop the association. People around you will tell the most demeaning and degrading lies about you.

You might find that your family and friends think you are over-reacting and fail to offer support on any level. They may even be the very ones who turn against you, if they become affected by the harassment through your job loss, or dropping out of school. They may be angry at having to help you out.

From: http://www.targetedindividuals.com

How to recognize mobbing - 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.
  

From: Women In Higher Education

Sticks, Stones and Semantics: The Ivory Tower Bully's Vocabulary of Motives

Abstract

This ethnography focuses on the techniques of normalization used by university professors who are accused by their colleagues of bullying behavior. We examine how the organizational structure and institutional values of the university provide protective coloration for academic intimidation and discourage both the detection and effective labeling of such behavior. In noting that attempts to label bullying behavior frequently fail because the judgments are seen as mere matters of opinion in an environment whose principal currency of exchange is opinion itself, we modify and extend Sykes and Matza's discussion of neutralization techniques to academic settings.

While we cannot speak to the presence or absence of guilt feelings on the part of alleged academic bullies, or to whether neutralization techniques successfully assuage such feelings, we can nevertheless discern the operation of these techniques to resist the imputation of unflattering social identities and/or to lay claim to public identities that are highly esteemed within the academy.

Moreover, we identify three additional techniques of normalization that are employed by alleged ivory tower bullies: appropriation and inversion, in which accused bullies claim victim status for themselves; evidentiary solipsism, in which alleged bullies portray themselves as uniquely capable of divining and defining the meaning-structure of events; and emotional obfuscation, which takes the form of employing symbols and imagery that are chosen for their perceived ability to elicit an emotional response on the part of an academic audience.

By E. D. Nelson and R. D. Lambert, Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2001