Workplace bullying in academia

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Bullying in academia is a form of workplace bullying which takes place at institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities in a wide range of actions. [1] It is believed to be common, although has not received as much attention from researchers as bullying in some other contexts. [2] Academia is highly competitive and has a well defined hierarchy, with junior staff being particularly vulnerable. Although most universities have policies on workplace bullying, individual campuses develop and implement their own protocols. [3] This often leaves victims with no recourse.

Contents

Academic mobbing is a sophisticated form of bullying where academics gang up to diminish the intended victim through intimidation, unjustified accusations, humiliation, and general harassment. These behaviors are often invisible to others and difficult to prove. [4] Victims of academic mobbing may suffer from stress, depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as posttraumatic stress disorder.

Workplace bullying

Bullying is the longstanding violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or group and directed against an individual who is not able to defend himself in the actual situation, with a conscious desire to hurt, threaten, or frighten that individual or put him under stress. [5]

Workplace bullying ranges into the following categories. [6]

Bullying and academic culture

Several aspects of academia lend themselves to the practice and discourage its reporting and mitigation, due to concerns of possible damage to the reputation of the institution. Its leadership is usually drawn from the ranks of faculty, most of whom have not received the management training that could enable an effective response to such situations. [1] There have been cases of tenured professors acting as perpetrators of academic bullying, leading to the dismissal of the perpetrators [7] or of their targets. [8] Victims include the increasing number of adjunct professors as well as students, c.f. Bullying of students in higher education.

The generally decentralized nature of academic institutions can make it difficult for victims to seek recourse, and appeals to outside authority have been described as "the kiss of death." [9] [10] [11] Therefore, academics who are subject to bullying in workplace are often cautious about reporting any problems. Social media has recently been used to expose or allege bullying in academia anonymously. [12]

Although tenure and post-tenure review lead to interdepartmental evaluation, and all three culminate in an administrative decision, bullying is commonly a function of administrative input before or during the early stages of intradepartmental review. A series of publications in Nature emphasize the need for improving institutional reporting systems for academic bullying. [13] [14]

Mobbing

Mobbing is endemic at universities because universities are a type of organization that encourages mobbing. [15] Academic victims of bullying may also be particularly conflict-averse.[ citation needed ]

Kenneth Westhues' study of mobbing in academia found that vulnerability was increased by personal differences such as being a foreigner or of a different sex; by working in a post-modern field such as music or literature; financial pressure; or having an aggressive superior. [16] Other factors included envy, heresy and campus politics. [16]

Morteza Mahmoudi proposed some strategies to address academic bullying including mobbing. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] While potentially helpful for trainee targets of academic bullying, some of these same strategies can be appropriated by administrators or regular faculty members to greatly expand the scope of an existing academic mobbing campaign against a less powerful or popular colleague.

Manifestations

The bullying in this workplace has been described as somewhat more subtle than usual. [10] Its recipients may be the target of unwanted physical contact, violence, obscene or loud language during meetings, be disparaged among their colleagues in venues they are not aware of, and face difficulties when seeking promotion. [10] [23] It may also be manifested by undue demands for compliance with regulations. [24]

Effects

The kinds of abusive behaviors in academic bullying cause serious and long-lasting effects on both the academic and personal lives of targets and their families. [25] In addition, academic bullying behaviours can affect the progress of science. [26] Victims of academic mobbing may suffer from stress, depression and suicidal ideation as well as posttraumatic stress disorder. [4] The psychological scars have been described as comparable to rape, and they may not heal for many years. Some cases end in suicide, although the precise prevalence of this outcome is not known.[ citation needed ]

A 2008 study of the topic, conducted on the basis of a survey at a Canadian university, concluded that the practice had several unproductive costs, including increased employee turnover. [27]

Incidence

Similarly to studies in general workplace bullying, incidence varies a lot depending on where and what definition of bullying is used. There is up to one quarter or one third of academics who declare they have been bullied in the past year. This is considerably higher compared to other workplaces, with 10-14% workers declaring having experienced bullying in the past year in the United States, but less than in healthcare, where a studies in 17 Greek hospitals reported that half of the doctors and nurses reported they had experienced bullying. Around 40% say they have witnessed or heard about bullying behaviors happening to someone else. One of the largest studies of bullying in universities, surveying 14,000 higher-education staff over 92 institutions in the United Kingdom, found the rate of bullying varied widely across institutions, from 2% to 19% of the staff at each university reporting being always or often bullied. [28]

In 2008 the United Kingdom's University and College Union released the results of a survey taken among its 9,700 members. [29] 51% of respondents said they had never been bullied, 16.7% that they had occasionally experienced it, and 6.7% that they were "always" or "often" subjected to bullying. [29] The results varied by member institutions, with respondents from the University of East London reporting the highest incidence. [29]

The Times Higher Education commissioned a survey in 2005 and received 843 responses. [23] Over 40% reported they had been bullied, with 33% reporting "unwanted physical contact" and 10% reporting physical violence; about 75% reported they were aware that co-workers had been bullied. [23] The incidence rate found in this survey was higher than that usually found via internal polling (12 to 24 percent). [23]

According to a survey conducted in 2021 by NOS op 3 among science PhD candidates enrolled at universities across the Netherlands, the most common forms of bullying included sexual misconduct, discrimination and violations of scientific standards. Approximately 50% of the PhD students interviewed, whose number was approximately a hundred, reported that they had experienced inappropriate behavior in terms of unreasonable workload, inability to ask critical questions, teasing, intimidation, social exclusion and not receiving credits for their work. Among international students, the most common experiences included sexism, racism and sexually inappropriate behavior. One of the identified reasons for the unreasonable workload and the unhealthy working conditions of PhD students include competition for research funds (primarily provided by the largest subsidizer, the Dutch Research Council) among professors running a research group. Research conducted by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions and the Dutch Research School of Philosophy found similar results to those reported by NOS op 3 with the conclusion of the latter being that "58% of PhD students had an increased risk of developing a psychiatric condition like depression" or burnout. [30]

Author C. K. Gunsalus describes the problem as "low incidence, high severity", analogous to research misconduct. [9] She identifies the aggressors' misuse of the concepts of academic freedom and collegiality as a commonly used strategy. [9]

University bullying policies and processes are open to misuse, however, and the AAUP notes that faculty who dissent on academic governance issues or who complain about workplace inequities may become the target for retaliatory bullying complaints aimed to silence unpopular views. [31]

Bullying of medical students

In a 2005 British study, around 35% of medical students reported having been bullied. Around one in four of the 1,000 students questioned said they had been bullied by a doctor, while one in six had been bullied by a nurse. Manifestations of bullying included: [32]

In 2019, The Lancet journal proposed a need for establishment of a global committee on academic behaviour ethics to consider academic bullying reports in a robust, fair, and unbiased manner. [33]

See also

Related Research Articles

Mobbing, as a sociological term, refers either to bullying in any context, or specifically to that within the workplace, especially when perpetrated by a group rather than an individual.

A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies. Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academic appointment, sometimes in preparation for an academic faculty position. According to data from the US National Science Foundation, the number of holders of PhD in biological sciences who end up in tenure track has consistently dropped from over 50% in 1973 to less than 20% in 2006. They continue their studies or carry out research and further increase expertise in a specialist subject, including integrating a team and acquiring novel skills and research methods. Postdoctoral research is often considered essential while advancing the scholarly mission of the host institution; it is expected to produce relevant publications in peer-reviewed academic journals or conferences. In some countries, postdoctoral research may lead to further formal qualifications or certification, while in other countries, it does not.

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other types of aggression. To these descriptions, one can also add the Kantian notion of the wrongness of using another human being as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. Some sources describe abuse as "socially constructed", which means there may be more or less recognition of the suffering of a victim at different times and societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullying</span> Use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others

Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception of an imbalance of physical or social power. This imbalance distinguishes bullying from conflict. Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behavior characterized by hostile intent, imbalance of power and repetition over a period of time.

Heinz Leymann was a Swedish academic, famous for his studies on mobbing among humans. He held a degree in pedagogical psychology, and another one in psychiatry and worked as a psychologist. He was a professor at Umeå University.

School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff and attacks by school staff on students. It encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment. It includes many forms of bullying and carrying weapons to school. The one or more perpetrators typically have more physical, social, and/or psychological power than the victim. It is a widely accepted serious societal problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved.

Workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm. It can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, and physical abuse, as well as humiliation. This type of workplace aggression is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical school bully, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society. In the majority of cases, bullying in the workplace is reported as having been done by someone who has authority over the victim. However, bullies can also be peers, and subordinates. When subordinates participate in bullying this phenomenon is known as upwards bullying. The least visible segment of workplace bullying involves upwards bullying where bullying tactics are manipulated and applied against "the boss," usually for strategically designed outcomes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School bullying</span> Type of bullying in an educational setting

School bullying, like bullying outside the school context, refers to one or more perpetrators who have greater physical strength or more social power than their victim and who repeatedly act aggressively toward their victim. Bullying can be verbal or physical. Bullying, with its ongoing character, is distinct from one-off types of peer conflict. Different types of school bullying include ongoing physical, emotional, and/or verbal aggression. Cyberbullying and sexual bullying are also types of bullying. Bullying even exists in higher education. There are warning signs that suggest that a child is being bullied, a child is acting as a bully, or a child has witnessed bullying at school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology</span> Private university in Onna, Japan

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology is a private, interdisciplinary graduate school located in Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

Kenneth Westhues is a Canadian sociologist. He is a professor emeritus of Sociology at the University of Waterloo, where he was the chair of the department from 1975 to 1978. He is the author or editor of several books about workplace bullying in academia.

Academic job market refers to the pool of vacant teaching and administrative positions in Academia, i.e. in institutions of higher education such as universities and colleges, and also to the competition for these positions, and the mechanisms for advertising and filling them. This job market differs somewhat from other job markets because of such institutions as tenure. It is frequently a subject of debate relating to questions of openness, discrimination and reverse discrimination, and political interference.

Academic integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of academia. The term was popularized by Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe who is considered to be the "grandfather of academic integrity". Other prominent academic integrity scholars and advocates include Tracey Bretag (Australia), Cath Ellis (Australia), Sarah Elaine Eaton (Canada), Thomas Lancaster (UK), Tomáš Foltýnek, and Tricia Bertram Gallant (US). Academic integrity supports the enactment of educational values through behaviours such as the avoidance of cheating, plagiarism, and contract cheating, as well as the maintenance of academic standards; honesty and rigor in research and academic publishing.

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is employee's behavior that goes against the legitimate interests of an organization. This behavior can harm the organization, other people within it, and other people and organizations outside it, including employers, other employees, suppliers, clients, patients and citizens. It has been proposed that a person-by-environment interaction (the relationship between a person's psychological and physical capacities and the demands placed on those capacities by the person's social and physical environment.) can be utilized to explain a variety of counterproductive behaviors. For instance, an employee who is high on trait anger is more likely to respond to a stressful incident at work with CWB.

Workplace incivility has been defined as low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target. Uncivil behaviors are characteristically rude and discourteous, displaying a lack of regard for others. The authors hypothesize there is an "incivility spiral" in the workplace made worse by "asymmetric global interaction".

Workplace harassment is the belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers.

The nursing organization workplace has been identified as one in which workplace bullying occurs quite frequently. It is thought that relational aggression are relevant. Relational aggression has been studied amongst girls but rarely amongst adult women. According to a finding, 74% of the nurses, 100% of the anesthetists, and 80% of surgical technologists have experienced or witnessed uncivil behaviors like bullying by nursing faculty. There have been many incidents that have occurred throughout the past couple of years. OSHA, which stands for "Occupational Safety and Health Administration" stated that from 2011 to 2013, the United States healthcare workers experienced 15,000 to 20,000 significant injuries while in the workplace.

Bullying in the medical profession is common, particularly of student or trainee physicians. It is thought that this is at least in part an outcome of conservative traditional hierarchical structures and teaching methods in the medical profession which may result in a bullying cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexism in academia</span> Discrimination in higher education

Sexism in academia refers to the discrimination and subordination of a particular sex or gender academic institutions, particularly universities, due to the ideologies, practices, and reinforcements that privilege one sex or gender over another. Sexism in academia is not limited to but primarily affects women who are denied the professional achievements awarded to men in their respective fields such as positions, tenure and awards. Sexism in academia encompasses institutionalized and cultural sexist ideologies; it is not limited to the admission process and the under-representation of women in the sciences but also includes the lack of women represented in college course materials and the denial of tenure, positions and awards that are generally accorded to men.

Bullying in higher education refers to the bullying of students as well as faculty and staff taking place at institutions of higher education such as colleges and universities. It is believed to be common although it has not received as much attention from researchers as bullying in some other contexts. This article focuses on bullying of students; see Bullying in academia regarding faculty and staff.

Morteza Mahmoudi is an Iranian-American nanotechnologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at Michigan State University. Previously, he was an assistant professor at Harvard University. Mahmoudi is a winner of 2018 BRIght Futures Prize, 2018 IGNITE Award, and 2016 USERN Prize. He is best known for his works on academic bullying; he is also a co-founder of a non-profit organization called the Academic Parity Movement which is focused on addressing academic bullying issue in various disciplines.

References

  1. 1 2 Mahmoudi, Morteza (2019). "Academic bullies leave no trace". BioImpacts. 9 (3): 129–130. doi:10.15171/bi.2019.17. PMC   6726746 . PMID   31508328.
  2. ↑ Keashly, Loraleigh; Neuman, Joel H. (2010). "Faculty Experiences with Bullying in Higher Education: Causes, Consequences, and Management". Administrative Theory & Praxis. 32 (1): 48–70. doi:10.2753/ATP1084-1806320103. S2CID   142766958.
  3. ↑ Academic, Anonymous (26 January 2018). "We need a bigger conversation about bullying in academia". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. 1 2 Khoo, S. (2010). "Academic Mobbing: Hidden Health Hazard at Workplace". Malaysian Family Physician. 5 (2): 61–67. PMC   4170397 . PMID   25606190.
  5. ↑ Thompson, David; Arora, Tiny; Sharp, Sonia (2002). Bullying: Effective strategies for long-term improvement. (Summaries at Eric, at Jstor)
  6. ↑ Rigby, Ken (2002). New Perspectives on Bullying. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN   9781853028724. OCLC   875667926.
  7. ↑ Cassell, Macgorine (November 2011). "Bullying In Academe: Prevalent, Significant, and Incessant" (PDF). 2010 IABR & ITLC Conference Proceedings.
  8. ↑ Egner, Heike; Uhlenwinkel, Anke (May 2021). "Dismissal and public demotion of professors: An empirical analysis of structural commonalities in apparently different 'cases' (translated from the German article "Entlassung und öffentliche Degradierung von Professorinnen. Eine empirische Analyse struktureller Gemeinsamkeiten anscheinend unterschiedlicher "Fälle"")". Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung. 43 (1–2): 62–84.
  9. 1 2 3 C. K. Gunsalus (30 September 2006). The college administrator's survival guide. Harvard University Press. pp. 124–125. ISBN   978-0-674-02315-4 . Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 Robert Cantwell; Jill Scevak (August 2009). An Academic Life: A Handbook for New Academics. Australian Council for Educational Research. p. 168. ISBN   978-0-86431-908-1 . Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  11. ↑ Wilmshurst, Peter (2007). "Dishonesty in Medical Research" (PDF). The Medico-Legal Journal. 75 (Pt 1): 3–12. doi:10.1258/rsmmlj.75.1.3. PMID   17506338. S2CID   26915448. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2013.
  12. ↑ Reveal bullying in academia
  13. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2018). "Improve reporting systems for academic bullying". Nature. 562 (7728): 494. Bibcode:2018Natur.562R.494M. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07154-x . PMID   30356195.
  14. ↑ Nik-Zainal, Serena (2019). "Bullying investigations need a code of conduct". Nature. 565 (7740): 429. Bibcode:2019Natur.565..429N. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-00228-4 . PMID   30675047.
  15. ↑ Eve Seguin, "Academic mobbing, or how to become campus tormentors," in University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, 19 September 2016.
  16. 1 2 Workplace Bullying in the Academic World?, Higher Education Development Association, 13 May 2007, archived from the original on 24 July 2011, retrieved 5 March 2011
  17. ↑ "Academic bullying: Desperate for data and solutions". Science Magazine.
  18. ↑ "You are not alone!". 30 September 2020.
  19. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (31 August 2020). "A survivor's guide to academic bullying". Nature Human Behaviour. 4 (11): 1091. doi:10.1038/s41562-020-00937-1. PMID   32868883. S2CID   221403792.
  20. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2021). "Academic bullying: How to be an ally". Science. 373 (6558): 974. Bibcode:2021Sci...373..974M. doi: 10.1126/science.abl7492 . PMID   34446599. S2CID   237308678.
  21. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2022). A Brief Guide to Academic Bullying. Jenny Stanford Publishing. ISBN   9781003160342.
  22. ↑ Täuber, Susanne; Mahmoudi, Morteza (2022). "How bullying becomes a career tool". Nature Human Behaviour. 6 (4): 475. doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01311-z. PMID   35132170. S2CID   246651521.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Anthea Lipsett (16 September 2005). "Bullying rife across campus". Times Higher Education . Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  24. ↑ "Workplace Mediators Seek a Role in Taming Faculty Bullies". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  25. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2019). "Academic bullies leave no trace" (PDF). BioImpacts. 9 (3): 129–130. doi:10.15171/bi.2019.17. PMC   6726746 . PMID   31508328.
  26. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2023). "Academic bullying slows the evolution of science". Nature Reviews Materials. 8 (5): 301–303. doi:10.1038/s41578-023-00549-x. S2CID   257249266.
  27. ↑ McKay, R. Arnold, D. H. Fratzl, J. Thomas, R. (2008). "Workplace Bullying in Academia: A Canadian Study". Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal. 20 (2): 77–100. doi:10.1007/s10672-008-9073-3. S2CID   155084423.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ↑ Else, H (November 2018). "Does science have a bullying problem?". Nature (Feature news). 563 (7733): 616–618. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..616E. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07532-5 . PMID   30487619.
  29. 1 2 3 Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Innovation; Universities; Science and Skills Committee (2009). Students and universities: eleventh report of session 2008–09, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence. The Stationery Office. pp. 531–532. ISBN   978-0-215-54072-0 . Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  30. ↑ Kapot gemaakt door je eigen universiteit [Destroyed by your own university] (in Dutch). NOS op 3. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  31. ↑ "AAUP Collegiality Report". American Association of University Professors. 26 July 2006. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  32. ↑ Curtis, Polly (4 May 2005). "Medical students complain of bullying". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  33. ↑ Mahmoudi, Morteza (2019). "The need for a global committee on academic behaviour ethics". The Lancet. 394 (10207): 1410. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31361-3 . PMID   31631849.

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