Subscribe!
Surprise! There are Bad Bosses in Higher Ed, Too – Mary T. O’Sullivan
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL, contributing writer, business and leadership
“Adjuncts are higher education’s version of migrant laborers … professionals hopping from campus to campus with no job security, a meager income, no health insurance or retirement benefits, and little hope for advancement.”— Dr. Mark J. Drozdowski, The Plight of Adjunct Faculty on America’s Campuses
According to a 2013 Forbes study, college professors have the least stressful job. The study authors state “These jobs tend not to have someone standing over their shoulder putting pressure on them to get things done. University professors answer to themselves”.
But that doesn’t mean that teaching in a college or university is as peaceful as the findings show. Faculty in higher education are subject to the exact same amount of politicking, bad bosses, and back-stabbing co-workers as any other organization.
Universities are not immune to toxic bosses, harassment, lack of transparency, and bullying. These behaviors pervade academic settings and manifest the same dysfunctions that are typically associated with corporate or industrial workplaces. “Harassment can take the form of a colleague’s bad‑mouthing you at a faculty meeting… Badgering a person through incessant e‑mails… any person in a position of power can abuse that power by threatening your job or verbally shredding you in front of your colleagues.”(American Association of University Professors{AAUP}) Subterfuge isn’t reserved for the corporate world.
In a large company, senior leaders move around frequently, and often, the person who replaces them brings in their own team, making many existing positions redundant. That means any time there is a management change, employees gird their loins and polish their resumes. The same is true for higher education. Recently, a new president took over a local community college, and many of the staff were let go without flourish. One of these laid off employees showed up for coaching in a state of mental breakdown, humiliated and lost after 10 years of faithful service and hard work. Following a few months of introspection and searching, they landed a better position at a larger university, finally getting back on their feet after being traumatized by the sudden job loss. Trauma makes job searching more challenging and causes a delay in landing on your feet.
In another case, an adjunct professor at a local university became frustrated at the heavy workload, and constant pressure to take on more. They had been an adjunct for over three years, with no advancement in sight. Their unhappiness and frustration manifested itself in their indecision and lack of ability to find a clear path to their next steps. They daydreamed about making perfumes or candles, renting a private office, writing a book, finishing their basement, and spending time reorganizing the disarray of their home.
With a PhD, they felt undervalued and unappreciated by the university and too paralyzed to move on. Ultimately, the professor decided not to quit because they needed the money, with a family with several young children to raise. However, they convinced themselves that establishing boundaries with the university’ s demands would ease their stress and further their well-being. There was still no commitment from the university to add interns or graduate assistants to bear some of the workload. The question they grappled with was, how long could they sustain it?
Further research uncovered more of the toxicity currently present in university settings. “I decided that my mental, emotional, and physical well-being was more important than putting up with what had become regular teaching overloads because of short staffing, an abusive dean, uncollegial and pettily competitive colleagues, lack of research support, and a generally unhealthy environment.” (from The Professor is In)
This professor left a tenure track position due to the harrowing atmosphere, including as they point out later in the article, sexual harassment. Satisfactory feedback on publications suddenly vanished. Student evaluations carried more weight toward merit raises and tenure. Yet, many others stayed. Why? The faculty lives in a state of fear and powerlessness. They want to keep their tenure and collect their retirement benefits. It’s what I call “Pay for Peace.”
And as can happen in any job, blindsiding an employee with termination is the lazy way out. It demonstrates a failure of leadership and causes devastating effects on the employee and others. Blindsiding an adjunct destroys trust, undermines morale, and triggers emotional trauma. Even worse, when an employee discovers the replacement announced on social media and in the newest course catalog, shock, disbelief, and chaos in the person’s life ensue. The steady ground they thought they were standing on is shaken. When followed by a weakly worded email (“we decided to go in a different direction”), based on scantly feedback only makes matters worse. Universities are subject to the same protocols as any other employer, and employees need to understand what actions they can take, even if it’s only extracting an apology for poor handling of a termination.
If you find yourself experiencing poor treatment by a college or university, know that you are entitled to a thorough explanation, not just a goodbye. Write a letter to your supervisor asking for more details and in the case of blindsiding, also request an apology, for mistreatment. Check the university’s employee handbook. Most HR offices have termination procedures detailed in the handbook. Ask HR to provide you with the protocol for receiving a copy of your performance evaluation. Whatever documentation was used to terminate you must be made available for you to review. If you are not satisfied, with these procedures, you can always reach out to the university president or the vice president for HR. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. It’s their job to protect the university’s reputation, and bullying, blindsiding and poor treatment don’t bode well for any institution.
“Teaching expectations, in terms of the numbers that had to be “hit” on student evaluations, didn’t leave a lot of room for attempting to balance teaching and research by cutting back on the teaching end (e.g., fewer assignments). If a faculty member couldn’t’ make the “numbers” (on most student evaluation scales, between a 5 and a 4), it meant a visit from the dean and a mandate to improve or be terminated.” – The Professor is In
___
Connect with Mary:
www.encoreexecutivecoaching.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marytosullivan
Read all Mary’s columns here: https://2×8.ea2.myftpupload.com/mary-t-osullivan-msol-pcc-shrm-scp/
Mary T. O’Sullivan, Master of Science, Organizational Leadership, International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach, Society of Human Resource Management, “Senior Certified Professional. Graduate Certificate in Executive and Professional Career Coaching, University of Texas at Dallas.
Member, Beta Gamma Sigma, the International Honor Society.
Advanced Studies in Education from Montclair University, SUNY Oswego and Syracuse University.
Mary is also a certified Six Sigma Specialist, Contract Specialist, IPT Leader and holds a Certificate in Essentials of Human Resource Management from SHRM.
EQi2.0-EQ360 Practitioner
Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner
Six Sigma Specialist, Certified IPT Leader, Certified Contracts Manager
Helping good leaders get even better through positive behavior change.
401-742-1965
