Ways to Prevent Workplace Bullying in the Academy

On the post Workplace Bullying in the Academy I did not discuss what could have been done differently by the people involved in the bullying situation.  Here, we will have that discussion and a more general one about what can be done to prevent bullying in the academic workplace.

Before beginning the discussion, I will mention a useful resource:
The International Conference on Workplace Bullying and Harassment
This is the premier academic conference on bullying in the workplace, and serves as a useful source of references to the academic literature.

I like the description of bullying in the conclusion of Prevalence, antecedents, and effects of workplace bullying: A review.  I will quote M. Razzaghian and A. Shah here:

"Bullying is a chronic problem and has a negative
implication for the well-being of employees. Therefore,
individuals subjected to such behaviors are likely to show
increased levels of anxiety, depression and a negative
overall mental health. It can be concluded in light of the
literature reviewed that bullying does not refer to a single
negative behavior, but occurs frequently with increasing
severity over time. The persistence of such negative
behavior builds a constant distress within the individual
leaving that person helpless and unable to cope with it.
Probably, the bully’s intention is to suppress the target to
such an extent that he or she is under constant mental
pressure and ultimately becomes dysfunctional in the
workplace. The negative flashbacks of these events
make it more difficult for the victims to concentrate or
even find suitable words to express their feelings for that
situation. However, it has also been established that the
relationship between the bully and the target is influenced
by personality characteristics an individual carries. The
combined effect of all these facts are a vicious cycle in
which, the more a victim is bullied, the more are his or
her chances of being bullied again and again."

There seem to be a few suggestions of how to ameliorate bullying.  The good people at The Boss Whispering Institute seem to believe in taking forceful leaders and teaching them how to be considerate of their employees.  Other people such as the writer of The Complexity of Academic Bullying in response to Academic Bullies seem not to believe in labeling people as bullies, because of the potential for turning the designated bully into a victim.  (See my other posts for further discussion: Workplace Bullying in the Academy and Student Bullying in the Academy.)  Other people advocate coping skills such as having boundaries and telling the other involved parties what behaviors are acceptable and which are not (Victim).  Yet other people advocate training employees to identify workplace bullying (Beating Workplace Bullying).  Presumably there needs to be a component of the training that addresses how to handle bullying once it is identified.

I am an advocate of some of these methods and not of others.  I do not believe in labelling people in a bullying situation as bullies and targets, because I believe these roles can be temporary and unintentional.  Furthermore, I believe that both bully and target might believe that they are suffering harm from the situation.  I agree with one of the authors above who does not believe in labeling bullies due to the potential for turning a bully into a target.  I think one of the best methods would be to promote a culture that values fair treatment of everyone while training  employees to look for the harm caused by bullying situations and then to look for ways to constructively solve the problems.  This perspective allows for all participants to express their views and to hope for resolution in a classic mediation type scenario.  I believe that the programs that train bosses to be more empathetic are potentially very useful, though I do not know much about their efficacy.

What can the harmed person do?
One approach is to try a mediation, either a self-mediated or independently mediate discussion with the people with whom their is conflict.  While such an approach may de-escalate the situation, it is also possible that the bullying may escalate despite a mediation attempt.  In the example given previously (Workplace Bullying in the Academy), my friend attempted a self-mediated discussion which only resulted in ridicule.

Another option is to leave the bullying situation; this is similar to someone leaving a domestic abuse situation.  In the example of my friend, this was the solution that they chose, although my friend's low power position in graduate school made the politics slightly tricky.  I believe that walking away can be the ultimate expression of free will in a negative situation.  Avoiding potential negative health consequences of staying might well out-weigh any career sacrifices that are made by walking away.

Some people believe in teaching coping skills to the harmed person.  While coping skills are typically helpful, I do not see how a person can employ such skills when they feel that they have no power to effect any change in the situation.  My friend, who has excellent conflict resolution skills was unable to deal with the bullying situation, because people's perspectives regarding the situation were too entrenched.

What do I think academia should do?
I would like to see the academy adopt training programs for professors and staff that are centered around how to recognize and prevent bullying between all members of the academy, between students, between professors and students, between staff, and between staff and professors.  Such a training program would necessarily be comprehensive and might take 1-2 days to teach the necessary skills.  It seems useful to teach bridge building techniques as taught in workshops by the National Coalition Building Institute.  Such methods would teach people how to connect and talk with other people who potentially have different perspectives from themselves.  This is a necessary skill for anyone seeking to defuse a bullying situation.

Focusing on short-term situation specific factors will not alter the institutional-level factors that help initiate bullying situations.  The institution is responsible for establishing a culture of respect and the leadership of universities must set the example of respectful behavior and treatment of all employees and students.  This includes taking seriously complaints about bullying situations, and establishing anonymous surveys to assess under reported bullying situations.  The faculty must be involved in this effort as they are in positions to demonstrate a respectful culture to both other staff and to students.

All of these efforts should be evaluated and reassessed to see if they are working.  The anonymous surveys can be re-administered to see if there is a decrease in reported bullying situations.  The training of faculty and staff can be further adjusted if a large enough reduction is not observed.