June 10th, 2010
Workplace Mediators Seek a Role in Taming Faculty Bullies
By Peter Schmidt, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 10, 2010
This is an article describing an initiative of the American Arbitration Association, the ADR Consortium, and the Institute of Human Resources and Industrial Relations at Loyola University Chicago (Prof. Lamont Stallworth). They believe they can mitigate faculty bullying in colleges and universities. See full article and the related comments. Then read our opinion on the mix of mediation and workplace bullying.
Tags: bullying in the academe, college faculty, Gary Namie, Ken Westhues, Lamont Stallworth
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Bullying in the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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From experience, I have found that the dispute resolution/ombudsman program in the university simply gives the university a way of saying they have offered a solution without actually addressing the bully’s behavior. It does, in fact, leave the target feeling more beat up (or beaten down). These “arbitration” programs claim not to take anyone’s side, but their sole reason for existing, as stated in the article, is to try to prevent litigation against the university. It is the university’s interests they serve. The motive, therefore, is to convince the target that bullying never occurred and that they have mis-perceived everything that has gone on. So, it just adds to the bullying by telling the target that the bullying is a product of his/her “perception” and that perception is obviously wrong.
[...] conflict. The WBI position on the American Arbitration Association (AAA) initiative to address workplace bullying in the academe is clear. When there is a power/status difference, mediation is the wrong tool. We do not mediate [...]
agree with Alexis @1.
I worked in the corporate world and told my HR manager about my concerns of inappropriate behavior, including being yelled at in front of colleagues and inappropriate comments/touching!! But instead of getting strategies to deal with same going forward, and asking that my comments be kept confidential, I was told that “in the interests of fairness I would have to have a meeting”… with said bully boss. I attended this so-called mediation (not by choice), and unsurprisingly, the working relationship broke down, so I ended up quitting my job because I was so riled by what happened, and because of my boss’ continued rudeness and belittling treatment. I was even given a warning for apparently upsetting another bully boss, who often took great delight at putting me down at every opportunity calling me a cougar in front of my colleagues – although I don’t chase younger men, so don’t know how they came about. I also worked in a university environment and it’s true what they say; working in healthcare and education fields is a sure fire way to get yourself in a bullying environment. The faculty I worked in as a temp was dreadful, no wonder they have had numerous staff changes! HR make me laugh re perception; this is nothing but a blame game to make you feel ridiculous. They don’t care about employees, they are merely there to serve the company interest. My old corporate employer has since lost another 3 staff, as has the faculty I worked for (6 staff in less than 4 months have done my old job – says it all).
I too, followed the proper chain of command… After 2 years of torture, they finally got me with a cheap shot…. Lucky for them, I’m not crazy. A crazy person woulda went back with a shotgun! Thankfully, I have faith in karma. Every dog has his day… I don’t hafta do a thing!
Genial post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you as your information.