Want to get rid of an annoying academic?

Review of Kenneth Westhues, Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998), published in Campus Review, Vol. 9, No. 38, 6-12 October 1999, p. 12.

Reviewed by Brian Martin

University administrators are familiar with academics who are uncomfortably outspoken, disruptive or different. If these problem staff would just leave the campus, life would be much easier. But how can this desirable outcome be achieved?

The answers are in a recent book by Kenneth Westhues, Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). Westhues, a sociologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, gives a step-by-step account of how administrators can get rid of troublesome academics.

There are five stages. First is ostracism, to cut the victim off from influence and support. Second is administrative harassment, often in petty ways. Then comes the incident, an action by the victim that can trigger formal retribution. The fourth stage covers the various appeal procedures and the final stage is elimination.

Within this framework, there are many specific points of value. For example, the matter of truth can sometimes be an obstacle, but by following Westhues’ practical principles for administrators it can be reduced to manageable dimensions. Principle one, for example, is that charges should be formulated sufficiently vaguely that hard facts are not relevant.

From this description, you might imagine that Westhues is some sort of academic Machiavelli, giving advice to university rulers on maintaining power. Actually, Westhues is on the side of those targeted by administrators. Indeed, he has been a target himself. His book is an extended satire.

After immersing himself in the details of some 25 cases of academics targeted for elimination, Westhues extracted common features and developed his guide for administrators. To personalise his advice, he dubs the hypothetical target for elimination "Dr Pita," an acronym for Pain In The Arse. He also recounts a number of the cases to illustrate his recommendations.

It would require a thick hide to be oblivious to Westhues’ satire. For example, he describes how to use ethics committees or sexual harassment committees in the elimination process, commenting that "The ethics tribunal is sometimes decried as a star chamber, as if this were something to be ashamed of. In fact, the Court of Star Chamber dispensed a great deal of justice in England in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries."

Westhues recommends to administrators the virtues of "unit-think", a shared belief system and culture that is conducive to expelling those who are disloyal. The idea of unit-think is based on the concept of groupthink that was used by Irving Janis to explain several disastrous U.S. foreign policy decisions. Westhues tells managers that Janis did not sufficiently emphasise the positive aspects of groupthink, perhaps because he was too oriented to the value of individual rights.

Although intended as a bitter satire, Westhues gives a remarkably perceptive account of the techniques useful for getting rid of unwelcome academics. Of course, it can also be read by those who are targeted, and their supporters, as a primer on what is likely to happen and how best to oppose it.

For example, in many cases, supporters of an academic under attack write letters to university officials. Westhues describes ten typical points made in such letters, such as testimonials to the academic’s teaching and pleas for due process, so that managers can be forewarned, "lest you be caught off guard and be tempted to write an equally passionate, aggressive reply." These ten points can equally be used as a guide for those writing letters.

Stances that can help those targeted for elimination include building support (to avoid ostracism), demanding that charges be precise, pushing for open procedures and using the media.

While his book is most readable and free of ponderous scholarship, Westhues underpins his account with references to relevant research. He uses to good effect the sociological study of moral panics and Heinz Leymann’s investigations of mobbing, which is collective bullying in the workplace. Another body of literature, not mentioned by Westhues, is that on whistleblowing, from which quite similar conclusions can be reached.

Interspersed with his advice for academic managers, Westhues tells about waiting for the report of the outside judge in his own case. He says he wrote the book as a method of psychological sustenance while this report was pending. Readers are treated with his increasingly frustrated correspondence to the outside judge as successive promised delivery dates come and go. This personal saga makes the entire book very approachable.

Eliminating Professors can make for uncomfortable reading, at least for anyone open to self-questioning. For who has not joined in damaging gossip about a quirky colleague or sat on the sidelines while a talented academic was drummed out of the university for minor transgressions? As Westhues notes, "it is not something we like to think about, least of all in cases close to home. Like the fabled monkeys, we shield our eyes and ears from the event."

Of course, the best justification for eliminating an academic is that the person actually deserves it, and undoubtedly there are plenty of cases where this is true. By learning from Westhues’ guide, administrators can help everyone by dispatching such individuals swiftly and deftly. The trouble is that the same techniques can be used against others: "In truth, the way you whack a good guy is identical to the way you whack a bad guy."

From: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/99BRcr.html

Workplace Bullying - Researchers

There is a growing community of academics with an active interest in the problem of bullying / harassment in the workplace. It is hoped that this section detailing current researchers in the field together with their particular area of interest, will eventually provide a comprehensive and valuable resource. All the researchers shown here have requested a listing on this site. Please contact us if you would like us to add your details.

Prof. Mogens Agervold
Institute of Psychology, University of Aarhus, Jens Chr.Skous Vej 4, 481, DK 8000 Århus C, Denmark
Interests: Incidence, Definitions, Organizational context

Sara Branch
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Sara is an Organisational Psychologist and is currently undertaking a doctoral study into Upwards Bullying.
Interests: Workplace conflict, Organisational development, Change management, Transitions to university and work, Career development

Nick Djurkovic
Ph.D., Donald Whitehead Building Room 324, School of Business, LaTrobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia
Interests: Causes and consequences of workplace bullying, Reactions of victims, Coping, Organisational support, Cross-cultural research

Odd Lindberg
Pd.D. Inst. för beteende,-social och rättsvetenskap, Örebro universitet, 701 82 Örebro, Sverige.
Interests: Bullying among children in school, Workplace bullying, Bullying in prison

Darcy McCormack
Ph.D. Donald Whitehead Building Room 326, School of Business, LaTrobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia.
Interests: Eactions of victims, Coping, Impacts of bullying, Cross-cultural research

Inge Neyens
Research Group for Stress, Health and Well-Being, Onderzoeksgr. stress, gezondh.en welzijn, Tiensestraat 102, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Inge investigates task-, team- and organizational risk factors for bullying in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The goal of her research project is to develop a tool to prevent bullying in SMEs.

Adriana Ortega
National Institute of Occupational Health (AMI), Copenhagen
Interests: Bullying and harassment, Organizational culture, Diversity at work

Professor Lyn Quine
Unversity of Kent at Canterbury. Professor Quine has written a number of articles and chapters on bullying of health professionals.
Interests: Stress, illness and coping, Psychosocial moderators of stress, Coping with chronic illness and disability, Adherence to treatment in medical conditions, Child health and behaviour, Occupational stress in health professionals, Health protective and health compromising behaviours

Professor Charlotte Rayner
University of Portsmouth. Professor Rayner is a leading UK researcher working with organisations regarding interventions to tackle bullying and harassment.
Interests: Incidence, Interventions, Management action, Strategic approach in organizations, Silence and voice, Effective complaints systems

Denise Salin
Ph.D. (Econ.), Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki, Finland. Denise's current research project is focused on organisational measures against bullying and HR professionals and attitudes towards and experiences of handling bullying.
Interests: Workplace bullying among business professionals, Role of power, gender and organisational politics in bullying

Professor Michael Sheehan
Head, Department of Management, Business School, University of Glamorgan, Treforest, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, Wales. He has acted as a consultant to a number of Australian public and private sector organisations. Michael's interests are in researching and teaching in human resource management and organizational behaviour.
Interests: Impact of organisational change on individuals, Workplace bullying, Individuals' experience of learning, Implementing new skills such as those of group process facilitation

Dana Yagil
Ph.D, Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Israel
Interests: Ethical climate in the organization and its relationship to bullying, Coping with customers' aggression

Bushwhacked at work: a comparative analysis of mobbing & bullying at work

Mobbing is a system built on the interaction of key elements which all play measurable roles, relating to and reinforcing each other. The elements include: the psychology, personality and circumstances of the mobbers and victims, the organizational culture and structure, the triggering event, the underlying conflict and even factors outside the organization (Davenport et al.,1999).

Kenneth Westhues (2007) is a professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo who has written a five-volume series about mobbing in academe and frequently visits university campuses to collect data and lecture on episodes of mobbing. With his research centering on the college environment, he concludes that mobbing occurs most in organizations where the workers are secure in their jobs, there are subjective measures of performance, and where there is frequent tension between the loyalty to the institution and its goals and loyalty to higher purposes or individual goals (Gravois, 2006). Hundreds of Leymann’s case studies show mobbing and bullying are usually found in work environments that allow poorly organized production and working methods and are with inattentive or uninterested management (Vandekerckhove, 2003).

Mobbing and bullying occur in all kinds of organizations. However, research shows that in the non-profit sector, as well as in the education and health care industry, mobbing is more prevalent than in private companies. According to Westhues (2006-3), college and university campuses are perfect breeding grounds for the culture of mobbing. This is further supported by Leymann’s (1996) study that found a disproportionate percentage (14.1%) of mobbing victims in schools, universities and other educational settings. The high job security, subjective performance evaluations and frequent tension meet the criteria for an atmosphere of mobbing. In his classes at Waterloo, Westhues tries hard to foster an atmosphere safe from mobbing. He explains to his students that he is to engage them in professional discussion in the pursuit of truth, not to lord over them, nor be their friend (Gravois, 2006). This level of mobbing awareness is not always the case though, and often organizations where rights are formally protected are where mobbing most commonly occurs.

There are lessons to be learned from the messy background of professors mobbed at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale that culminated in a collective, well-prepared and factual presentation from four senior professors to the Board of Trustees. The group summarizing their collective attacks in their respective academic colleges included Dr. Jerry Becker and Dr. Joan Friedenberg. Becker is a successful professor of mathematics education at Carbondale.

In late 2003, 15 of Becker’s colleagues issued a formal complaint accusing him of bullying, buttonholing, and several other offenses. They concluded that he was toxic to the working environment of the university and wanted him removed. The complaint consumed Becker for two months as he spent nearly every evening preparing a rebuttal that led the administration to clear him of all charges. Becker’s colleagues then submitted a second complaint, this time for sexual harassment. The complaint was again successfully rebutted by Becker and the charges were dismissed. As a result of the mobbing, Becker’s office was moved to an isolated part of campus (Gravois, 2006)...

Friedenberg’s experiences were the second development of mobbing at Carbondale. It is rare that mobbing victims get redress, but with tenacity and courage she took the university to court. After five years of delay and legal wrestling, the case was settled outside of the courtroom. Friedenberg won a public apology, 50,000 dollars, and her final year’s salary free of duties up to her retirement (Westhues, 2006-2).

Friedenberg played a key role in the awareness of mobbing at Carbondale. She helped many other professors, including Becker, access the knowledge they needed to learn what was happening to them. She also gave the story of her own and colleagues mobbings to the Daily Egyptian newspaper, which published a detailed account on the front page in January 2006 (Friedenberg, 2006). It was this news that prompted The Chronicle, a favored resource for news and advice for college and university faculty members and administrators, to publish a story on mobbing in academe...

The critical incident in the first phase of workplace mobbing always varies from case to case. The victim is accused of anything from racially or sexually insensitive remarks to being careless with paperwork such as expense reports. The critical incident, in the eyes of the victim’s colleagues, confirms what they have always thought of the victim. Mobbers often feel that swift steps need to be taken to remedy the situation, usually involving administrative action (Gravois, 2006).

This first phase of workplace mobbing may be very short and hypothetically speaking, is not yet mobbing (Leymann, 1996). The second phase reveals the stigmatizing actions by colleagues with increasing isolation and petty harassment. Workplace mobbing activities may contain quite a varying number of behaviors and activities. For example, the victim begins to be left off certain lists to attend meetings or be in committees. Requests and paperwork get delayed in the works or lost entirely and the victim is assigned to meaningless tasks or undesirable work times. Work instructions are confusing and constantly change and information critical to success is withheld. These activities do not necessarily indicate aggression, but being subjected to behaviors such as the ones above on an almost daily basis over a long period of time is used to stigmatize the victim.

Aggressive manipulation used to get at a person is the main characteristic of the behaviors associated with this stage (Gravois, 2006). Management gets involved to the detriment of the victim in the third stage. At this stage, adjudication at the administrative level is initiated, most often with the desire to get rid of the problem, i.e. the victim. At this point the problem officially becomes a case.

Due to the previous stigmatization it is very easy for management to misjudge the situation and place blame on the victim. Management tends to accept and take over the ideas produced by the majority in the earlier stages, often resulting in violations of rights guaranteed by work legislation. The victim is often branded as difficult or even mentally unstable. Psychiatrists or psychologists will sometimes even misinterpret the situation as they have little training in social situations at the workplace. The victim is often judged on incorrect personality characteristics rather than environmental factors resulting in an incorrect diagnosis of the underlying problem.

This problem in identification is only cemented when management is responsible for the environment at work and refuses to take responsibility (Leymann, 1996). Finally, chances are the victim is forced to leave the organization. Whether the victim wins or loses the adjudication, whether dismissed or reinstated, the victim ultimately leaves. Expulsion from employment may easily turn into a much grimmer situation for the victim. The victim may find that they are unable to find another job due to the expulsion essentially leaving the victim completely expelled from the labor market...

Bultena, Charles, D. Midwestern State University - Proceedings of ASBBS - Volume 15 Number 1, February 2008

I've seen it happen to others...

I've seen it happen to others, it also happened to me. No place to run or hide, or nobody who supports me. Thought of suicide, but then the anger creeps upon me. Why do I stay in this environment, only until I get my PhD. But then what, I think. Do I want to stay in this ugliness forever? By ending up in humanities, my life is confined to what can only be described as a living hell. Pathetic losers who call themselves professors. Go get a life, I say, or will I end up like them. The fear just eats me up, and again, the bullying starts all over again...

Anonymous

HEA - a bureaucratic superstructure

Controversy continues as HEA director leaves post

Lee Harvey was on his way to a conference in Amsterdam when he got the call informing him that he had been suspended from his post as director of research and evaluation at the Higher Education Academy. The date was 6 March, the day that a letter he had written describing the National Student Survey as a "hopelessly inadequate improvement tool" was published in Times Higher Education.

Although Professor Harvey signed the letter in a personal capacity, the HEA told him that he may have contravened a clause in his contract barring him from writing to the press without the permission of chief executive Paul Ramsden. Muddying the waters, however, was a previous clash between the two men. After less than a year in post, Professor Harvey had lodged a formal grievance against the HEA chief, which had yet to be resolved at the time of his suspension.

This week, the HEA confirmed that Professor Harvey had left. In a statement, the academy said that it had lifted the suspension and that Professor Harvey had taken the decision to leave "in the best interests of the academy". It added: "As the priority of both the academy and Professor Harvey is to focus all attention on enhancing the student learning experience, neither party will be making any further comment relating to Professor Harvey's employment with, or decision to leave, the HEA."

It is understood that Professor Harvey has signed an agreement barring him from revealing details of the dispute or his subsequent suspension.

The case has raised fundamental questions about both the NSS and the governance and role of the HEA. Professor Harvey's letter was written in response to a Times Higher Education article that reported accusations that London Metropolitan University attempted to manipulate the NSS by instructing staff to tell students that their survey responses would "impact on the reputation of your university ... and your award".

Professor Harvey, who is an internationally renowned expert on student surveys, wrote that it was no surprise that a university was encouraging students to give good ratings, suggesting that it was "just a rather unsubtle form of a widespread practice".

In the two months since his suspension, further reports have lent credence to his assertion. A lecturer at Kingston University was recorded telling students: "If Kingston comes bottom (in the NSS), the bottom line is that no one is going to want to employ you because they'll think your degree is shit."

The story prompted a number of students to recount, via the BBC's website, how they too had been encouraged to boost their universities' results. Universities Secretary John Denham assured Parliament he "utterly condemned" any manipulation of the NSS, and promised to take action if the breaches were proved.

Mr Denham's statement was followed by an announcement from the Higher Education Funding Council for England that tougher guidelines would be issued to universities before the next survey. Whatever academics' views about the merits of the NSS, the case has also raised questions about the role and governance of the HEA.

News of Professor Harvey's suspension provoked an angry response from the academic community, both within the UK and across the world. Times Higher Education received a flood of e-mails, online posts and letters, decrying what many characterised as an attack on academic freedom. Among those expressing their dismay were scholars from as far away as South America, Australia and Africa, while dozens of UK academics also registered their protest via Times Higher Education's website.

Much was made of the personalities involved. A senior academic said the treatment of Professor Harvey, for the offence of saying something that was at worst "not particularly diplomatic", appeared to be entirely disproportionate. "Instead of calling him in and just giving him a telling-off, have they seen this as a way of getting rid of the guy because there's been a relationship breakdown?" he asked.

One HEA insider leaked a document to Times Higher Education that outlined the chief executive's target to "provide effective and empowering leadership". Alongside this, the member of staff wrote: "Not much sign of this, it would seem."

The matter has also prompted questions about HEA's independence and its understanding of the sector it serves. The academy has a remit to be an "authoritative and independent voice on policies that affect the student learning experience" and to "foster robust debate and challenge received wisdom". [Ha!]

Among dozens of comments posted on Times Higher Education's website, the HEA was accused of being a "puppet" and "a tool for Government in pushing through the latest fads", "a bureaucratic superstructure ... unable to understand even basic academic values", as well as a "laughing stock". One academic said the debacle had put the HEA's "reputation and effectiveness" at risk.

One professor of higher education told Times Higher Education: "If he'd been my colleague I would have said, 'Hey Lee, what the hell are you doing? Don't write that'. "But the fact is that he did write it. He wrote it as Lee Harvey from his home address, not from the HEA. Why shouldn't he as an academic be free to express his views? "The HEA is not responsible for the NSS, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is. And my question is, is the HEA independent - or at the very least arm's length - from Hefce? If it isn't, that would really worry me."

As Chris Rust, a senior fellow of the HEA, wrote in a posting to Times Higher Education's website: "This reflects very badly on the HEA and its image as an organisation, and I would suggest that both the academy and Paul Ramsden need all the friends they can get."

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

Organisational sociopaths: rarely challenged, often promoted. Why?

Author(s): Richard J. Pech, Bret W. Slade
Journal: Society and Business Review
Year: 2007 Volume: 2 Issue:3 Page: 254-269

Purpose – Organisations sometimes select and promote the wrong individuals for managerial positions. These individuals may be incompetent, they may be manipulators and bullies. They are not the best people for the job and yet not only are they selected for positions of authority and responsibility, they are sometimes promoted repeatedly until their kind populate the highest levels of the organisational hierarchy. The purpose of this paper is to address this phenomenon by attempting to explain why it occurs and why organisational members tolerate such destructive practices. It concludes by proposing a cultural strategy to protect the organisation and its stakeholders from the ambitious machinations of the organisational sociopath.

...Research has identified numerous causes and explanations for managerial bullying, deceit, manipulation, and greed. This includes the existence of psychological traits such as narcissism, where managers misuse the organisation as a vehicle for furthering their own goals at the organisation's expense, using tactics such as manipulation and exploitation (Lasch, 1979). When such bullying behaviours occur without remorse, or goals of self gratification are pursued without consideration for the well-being of others, they can be termed as sociopathic behaviours. Surprisingly, and in apparent contradiction to every rational management principle, Kets de Vries (2003) points out that sociopathic managers often rise rapidly through the organisational ranks into positions of increasingly greater power.

Poor managerial performance has been explained with concepts such as the Peter Principle, where people are promoted one or more levels beyond their optimum level of competence (Peter and Hull, 1969). Performance shortfalls may be hidden by using bullying tactics. McGregor's (1960) Theory X and Y suggests that a manager's views of others may influence the manner in which people are managed. A negative view (Theory X) could mould a managerial style focusing on lower-order behaviours and thereby result in an overly authoritarian and task-centred management style. The job may still be accomplished but the method may unnecessarily antagonise intelligent, experienced, and qualified staff...

...These only represent a few explanations for poor performance and managerial shortcomings. Unnecessary and preventable poor managerial decisions continue to be made every day, and this may be because the wrong people are promoted into positions of authority and responsibility. Employees and stakeholders suffer because of the twisted machinations or greed of a few (Pech and Durden, 2004). Rather than filtering out such individuals and their destructive tendencies, Giblin (1981) suggests that the culture in the modern organisation actually rewards and reinforces such behaviours...

Davison and Neale (1998) define such behaviour as anti social, demonstrated through superficial displays of charm, habitual lying, no regard for others, no remorse, no shame, taking no responsibility for mistakes and no evidence of learning from either making mistakes or from punishment meted out for making mistakes (except to become more cunning in future, to avoid getting caught). The real dangers for the organisation reside at two levels. The first is the nature of the damage done to well-intended and performing individuals by sociopathic managers, and the second is the reinforcement and replication of these behaviours throughout the organisation by way of memetic contagion...

Unfortunately, the narcissists, the greedy, the pretenders, and those with a high need for power do covet higher managerial positions, largely to satisfy their power needs. They will either attempt to acquire power by conforming to the demands of the organisation's rituals and routines or they will attempt to gain power through illegitimate means. Both approaches provide pathways for achieving the individual's nefarious ambitions. Criteria for selecting a particular pathway will be dependent on the ambitious individual's values, determination, personality, and ability. The nature of the rituals and routines will also influence or impact on the decision criteria. The ambitious individual may not be prepared to leave promotion or career decisions in the hands of others, perhaps he or she is not capable of meeting expected performance standards, perhaps they fear the competition, or they may be driven to acquire power by any means. Such individuals may be driven to monopolise the organisational machinery and its rituals and routines to achieve need fulfilment and power ambitions. Employees who are not similarly motivated will have little chance or will find fewer opportunities for promotion when competing against the ambitious narcissists, the greedy, the pretenders, and those with a high need for power...

Can the sociopath be identified and stopped before it is too late? Probably not. According to Cleckley (1976) there are some overt signs that separate the sociopath from the rest. These include poverty of emotions, both positive and negative. They have no sense of shame and any emotions for others are often an act. They can be superficially charming but will manipulate for personal gain. They may not be motivated by money but rather through impulsive thoughts that fulfil their excessive need for thrills. Hare et al. (1990) devised a dual checklist that identifies clusters headed under “emotional detachment” and “impulsivity and irresponsibility”. The former can often be recognised through their inflated self-esteem and exploitation of others, while the latter may be marked by alcohol or drug abuse. Unfortunately, such symptoms may not become evident until the sociopath is already rising up the corporate ladder, and to some extent, almost everyone can be accused of displaying some of these symptoms some of the time. The organisational sociopath may also not display the extremes of pathological behaviours that are normally associated with the criminal psychopath and sociopath.

Short of forcing every managerial aspirant to take a battery of psychological assessments, pathological, predatory, or anti-social personalities may be difficult to identify and eliminate from the list of managerial contenders. Displaying behaviours oozing with wit, charm, audacity, and enthusiasm, they may stand out in the interview more for their attractive personal qualities than for their underlying destructive behaviours, which remain carefully concealed. While organisations must continue to employ a variety of sophisticated recruitment, selection, and promotion criteria and filters to ensure that the best people are selected and promoted, protection against exploitation by sociopaths requires much more. Giblin (1981) suggests that organisations be simplified, in other words, accountability must be increased, transparency must be improved, and performance must be quantifiable and appropriately rewarded. Even these measures may not deter the motivated sociopath...

...The organisation must examine its culture to identify the messages that are being transmitted. It must examine the complexity of its structure and procedures, and it must examine its recruitment, reward, and promotion policies to protect itself and its stakeholders against the destructive ambitions of the corporate sociopath.

Reforming further education: the changing labour process for college lecturers

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine how the labour process of further education lecturers has changed as a result of legislative reforms introduced in the early 1990s.

The authors: Kim Mather, University of Wolverhampton Business School, Wolverhampton, UK
Les Worrall, University of Wolverhampton Business School, Wolverhampton, UK
Roger Seifert, Keele University, Keele, UK

Personnel Review, 36, 1, 2007

...The application of market-based reforms in the FE sector, as in other parts of the public sector, has resulted in the intensification and extensification of work effort for lecturers on the front line. There are fewer lecturers who are working harder, working for longer and teaching more students: we have shown that they are struggling to cope with these increased workload demands. Our view is that this is a direct consequence of the particular nature of and, particularly, the ideological underpinning to the reform process that has sought to stimulate a state proxy for the capital accumulation imperative, through the introduction of competitive and market pressures in FE provision. Applying Braverman's logic in a highly labour intensive sector such as FE, we might expect to see labour management strategies designed to secure more for less from lecturing staff. Evidence of work intensification is clearly apparent in the three colleges we have examined and this echoes the findings drawn from research undertaken elsewhere in the FE sector and the public sector more generally.

Workers' responses suggest that there is resistance both at individual and collective level to these downward pressures though resistance does not seem to have been sufficiently strong to prevent the reported changes from occurring. Braverman (1974) was clear that under capitalism, work intensification increases the rate of exploitation of workers. He was also explicit about the long-term tendential nature of deskilling and the degradation of labour suggesting that short-term acts of resistance will be ineffective over the longer term. Lecturers in these colleges have been dispossessed of key job controls, which, when allied to trends in work intensification reported here, points to a degree of transformation in aspects of their labour process that may be directly linked to broader developments in the political economy of the Further Education sector specifically and the public sector more generally.

The research has revealed a number of key points all of which are consistent with Braverman's thesis. There is clear evidence that the public sector in the UK has changed dramatically with managerialist and consumerist notions having assumed ascendancy over those of the professions. The rise of a new managerial class in the public sector with its own rhetoric of performance management, targets, indicators, value for money, quality, productivity and flexibility has also been shown to have a world-view that has little in common with workers at the chalk face. We have provided clear evidence of deskilling in the form of the replacement of less flexible and more expensive full-time staff with more flexible and less expensive “things” (as one senior manager called them) and the increasing casualisation of working conditions.

We have also provided clear evidence of the redesign of work practices that have moved the lecturing profession away from a craft system of production where lecturers, as subject specialists, had more autonomy over what was taught, towards a factory system of production where standardisation in the form of modularisation has taken place and subject specialists are expected to teach outside their specialism simply to fill up their timetables in order to keep costs down. This we see as evidence that cost reduction criteria assume ascendancy over quality criteria despite the rhetoric of quality that currently pervades academic institutions in the UK. We argue that labour process theory has provided a powerful framework for the analysis of recent changes in the public sector as characterised by the growth of managerialism and the rise of the “new public management”. Despite the rhetoric of much contemporary management practice (“our employees are our greatest asset”), Taylorism and Fordism would seem to be “alive and well” in the UK public sector. It is unfortunate that many of the workers in the sector are not in a similar state of “good physical and psychological health”.

The mistreated teacher: a national study

Purpose – This study seeks to identify 172 American elementary, middle, and high school teachers' perceptions of the major sources and intensity of the experience of mistreatment by a principal, the effects of such mistreatment, how these perceptions varied by demographic variables, teachers' coping skills, and teachers' perceptions of contributing factors.

The authors: Joseph Blase, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
Jo Blase, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
Fengning Du, Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, USA

...With respect to teachers, several large-scale international studies of workplace mistreatment/abuse across occupations in Great Britain (Hoel and Cooper, 2000), Sweden (Leymann, 1992b), Norway (Matthiesen et al., 1989), Ireland (Irish Taskforce on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying, 2001), and Australia (Queensland Government Workplace Bullying Taskforce, 2002) indicate that public school teachers are among the high- risk occupations for mistreatment/abuse. In fact, one of the most prominent web sites in the world devoted to workplace mistreatment (www.bullybusters.org) has reported that teachers were among the largest group of abused workers, and another high-profile web site (www.bullyonline.org) reported that teachers were the largest group of enquirers and callers. Recently, the National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse (NAPTA) launched a web site (www.endteacherabuse.org) devoted to addressing the specific problem of teacher abuse...

Effects of abuse

A great deal of research has emphasized the deleterious effects of abusive workplace conduct on a victim's psychological-emotional health, physical-physiological health, work performance and relationships with coworkers, and personal life. Examples of negative effects on psychological-emotional health that appear in the research literature include the following: reduced job satisfaction, negative feelings (e.g., desperation, incompetence, inadequacy, embarrassment, guilt, shame, self-doubt, loneliness, powerlessness), loss of concentration, obsessive thinking and intrusive thoughts, distrust, cynicism, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, compulsivity, burnout, disorientation, shock, chronic fear, sociophobia, panic attacks, hypervigilance, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, suicidal thoughts, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Negative effects of mistreatment/abuse on physical-physiological health include hair loss, back and neck pain, headaches and migraines, skin disorders, racing heart rate, loss of strength, significant weight changes (loss or gain), ulcers, chest pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, high blood pressure, angina, irritable bowel syndrome, TMJ, heart arrhythmia, and heart attacks. Negative effects on work performance and relationships with coworkers revealed by research include work impairment (i.e. decreases in initiative, creativity, risk taking, commitment, concentration, effort, work time, ability to do job), distrust, tardiness, absenteeism, voluntary attrition, stress and strain, job mistakes, sabotage, social withdrawal, isolation from colleagues, deterioration of relationships, impaired individual and group decision making, thoughts of quitting, change of career goals, withdrawal from extra-role and social involvements, and deterioration of quality of relationships with clients. Effects on family and personal life include increases in family conflict and deterioration of relationships among family members, and loss of friendships...

Stress is considered an interactional phenomenon; it is a function of perceived situational demands and an individual's perceived ability to cope with such demands. Stress and strain result from a perceived imbalance between situational demands and perceived coping abilities. When individual coping proves to be ineffective and exposure to stressors prolonged, structural and functional damage to an individual can be expected (Cox, 1978). Keashly (1998, 2001) argued that because of relative power differences, mistreatment/abuse by a superior will tend to significantly undermine a victim's coping abilities. To wit, a limited number of studies have investigated victims' coping responses to abusive superiors. In general, such studies indicate that direct action by a victim (e.g., reporting an abuser to a superior or a union) resulted in no response, efforts to protect the abuser, or reprisals against the victim...

Effects of principal mistreatment

The ten most frequently reported effects on teachers participating in our survey were (in rank order) as follows: stress (90.7 percent of participants), resentment (80.8 percent), anger (75 percent), insecurity (70.3 percent), a sense of injustice and moral outrage (70.3 percent), self-doubt (68 percent), anxiety (65.7 percent), sense of powerlessness (64.5 percent), maintenance of silence (64 percent), and bitterness (64 percent) (see Table II). The least frequently reported effects of principal mistreatment were use of alcohol (14.5 percent of the participants), worsened allergies or asthma (14 percent), smoking (12.2 percent), ulcers (3.5 percent), use of illegal drugs (1.7 percent), and PTSD (0 percent).

With regard to teaching, participants were asked, “Overall, how much did your principal's mistreatment undermine your effectiveness as a teacher”: 4.1 percent of the teachers responded not at all, 18.6 percent responded minimally, and 27.3 percent, 28.5 percent, and 21.5 percent responded moderately, significantly, and severely, respectively. In short, 77.3 percent indicated that principal mistreatment markedly undermined teaching...

Losing one's career

Zapf and Gross (2001) found that victims of long-term bullying advised others to leave their place of employment more often (22 percent) than they advised any other coping strategy. The Irish Taskforce on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying (2001) reported that 11 percent of those who recently had been bullied quit their jobs, and 14 percent indicated that they had considered withdrawing from the labor force completely. Furthermore, The External Advisory Committee on the Defence Forces (2002) found that 51 percent of mistreated victims had applied for a transfer or thought about leaving their jobs. Similarly, in our current study of teachers, slightly over half of the participants indicated that principal mistreatment was so harmful that they were unable to cope, and over three-quarters (76.7 percent) reported that they would leave their teaching positions because of the harm caused by their principal's mistreatment. Even more alarming, we found that half (49.4 percent) of the teachers we studied “wanted to leave teaching altogether” because of their mistreatment. This astounding percentage of teachers willing to relinquish their chosen careers, clearly a “last resort” coping strategy, underscores the overwhelming deleterious effects of principal mistreatment on teachers and teaching; this is particularly ominous in light of current and predicted teacher shortages...

Workplace bullying is a problem that cannot simply be denied

The reactions by Bill McGregor of the Headteachers' Association, John Stodter of the Directors of Education and Cosla's spokesman to the suggestion that bullying is "endemic" within six local authorities make interesting reading (The Herald, May 16). They seem to deny it is a problem on their own patches. Just a small review of existing evidence might be helpful.

Two years ago, Amicus and the DTI funded a national project that addressed the serious issue of bullying in the workplace, in which it estimated the cost to UK employers as more than £2bn a year in sick pay, staff turnover and loss of production. One in 10 employees said they had been bullied. Stress-related illness and absence levels in education were substantially above the national average.

In a recent study by Glamorgan University, it was found that nearly 80% of teachers had been bullied in the past two years, with many telling researchers that the problem was continuing and they were regularly bullied. Many said members of their school's senior management team were either the bullies or allowed bullying by others to continue, causing some teachers to think about leaving their posts or abandoning their careers altogether.

Nearly one in 12 staff working in the NHS has experienced bullying or harassment by their manager, according to Westminster figures. An official survey of doctors, nurses and administrators showed the scale of the culture of bullying that had to be tackled by hospitals and primary care trusts.

November 7, 2007, was Ban Bullying at Work Day - a message that doesn't appear to have got through to all parts of further and higher education. Academics at Leeds Metropolitan University claimed that 42% felt intimidated at work, 37% felt their work was belittled and 24% felt they had been humiliated by bullying. The University and College Union survey (with a 41% response rate) suggested a management culture at odds with the university's goals of challenging received wisdom, encouraging students to think and promoting collaborative inquiry. Some 96% of respondents said they felt inhibited about positively criticising policies and 63% reported witnessing bullying.

Denying the nature and existence of the problem without having proper evidence is not only to demean, insult and possibly harm those who have suffered; it is to sustain the corporate, structural and institutionalised hands (and voices) that guide a failure to properly address the matter. There is much evidence on our files to deny that substantial claims of bullying are "groundless", as Cosla suggests. This is a legislated Health and Safety at work issue. What is desperately required is for the Scottish Government at least to commission root-and-branch departmental research of workplace bullying so the truth can emerge and be properly inspected - and this is before tackling that which so much evidence suggests is equally endemic in the private sector.

From: http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/letters

Disgraceful events at Nottingham University

CAFAS - Council for Academic Freedom & Academic Standards - 7 Benn Street, London E9 FSU

29 May

The Home Secretary
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF


Dear Home Secretary

You are no doubt aware that a member of the staff of the University of Nottingham, Hicham Yezza, who has resided and worked in the UK for the last thirteen years, is currently under threat of almost immediate deportation.

Mr Yezza has found himself in this predicament as a consequence of having helped a postgraduate student, Rizwaan Sabir, who asked him to print a copy of an al-Quaida document that Mr Sabir had downloaded from a US military website in the public domain. Mr Sabir’s academic supervisors confirm that the document in question is directly relevant to his research. Both men were initially arrested in connection with this document, but subsequently freed without charge. But Mr Yezza was rearrested on grounds related to his immigration status, and now faces deportation.

CAFAS takes the view that the original arrest and detention of these members of the University was unwarranted. We accept that, in the current climate of opinion, the police may well have had concerns about Mr Sabir’s interest in the al-Quaida document, and the assistance Mr Yezza gave him. But these concerns could surely have been quickly resolved, without breaching the principle of academic freedom, simply by consulting the academic staff in charge of the research in question.

We are not in a position to evaluate the immigration problems Mr Yezza is now said to face. But it is clear that these problems have surfaced solely as a consequence of the involvement of the police in Mr Sabir’s academic research, the legitimacy of which is seemingly no longer challenged.

In the circumstances, we think it absolutely vital that Mr Yezza be provided with a proper opportunity to prepare his defence and to have his case impartially examined by the Courts. To deport him without his being allowed this opportunity to defend himself would be patently unjust. We therefore urge you to delay deportation long enough for this process to take its course.

If you do not feel able to do this, I should be grateful if you would explain why, so that I may circulate your explanation to our members in UK universities.

Yours sincerely

Geraldine Thorpe
Assistant Co-ordinator, CAFAS

Cc Liam Byrne, MP