Bullying in Academia

jolivmmx

I was speaking with a friend who is in academia. They told me some dreadful stories. It seems that there was no recourse for the bully PIs.

Has anybody else got experience of this bullying in academia? It put me off the idea of academia completely

Squatman

there is bullying in every industry. and it is up to the person being bullied to stick up for themselves, and 2 build a water tight case that warrants investigation and provides conclusive evidence. The HR side of things makes it damn near impossible for the bully to get sacked.

I always say. "you can treat me in a certain way once, and once only". Tackle that shizzle head on. it would be good if that person can prepare a repository of responses to the bully. my first go to would be - "can you say that again?" this will usually put the instigator on the back foot, and make them think twice about what they are saying. Follow up to requests with an email... etc. if you go into detail, i can maybe help out a bit more

blanch152

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/7898d-minister-harris-launches-national-survey-on-work-related-experiences-of-staff-in-higher-education-institutions/

I don't know if the results of this survey were ever released but it would be a good place to start to find out if your experiences are common or not.

joeguevara

Bullying is one of the most horrible experiences to go through. Feelings of helplessness and isolation and to a certain extent guilt make life a living hell. If you are in paid academia or in a university the Health and Safety Act 2005 would apply where a safe work environment both physical and emotional are an obligation. There should also be a Dignity in The Workplace Policy and Charter which should outline the informal and formal complaint procedure. Bullying has to be more than one incident but the intention of the perpetrator is irrelevant it’s how it makes you feel.

Don’t just bottle it up. Most of the time saying something directly can stop it. If not speak to someone and get advice. People don’t have to get a long, but cordial is expected.

Maria Rrzz

The HSA has good informative booklets about bullying. They mention some perpetrators have a mental disorder or illness. The HSA also talks about the need of coerce of managers as part of their tasks. Here the victims need to know the difference between coercive control within management and coercive control within emotional abuse, the emotional abuse of domestic and gender violence.

The questions to answer is for instance if the statement made by the manager is true or partially true ( a gaslighting statement)

For instance, you are a professor and your boss tells you to do something outside of the scope of your role or something that compromise your health safety and welfare in your workplace. The coercion in this scenario is domestic violence. Of course, at this stage the victim has been discredited to a selected audience, made to doubt himself, and somehow being in fear to lose the job or income.

There is one thing called predatory management which might help to present a bullying case. Depending of the employer you might be able to hold to the HSW legislation and request a proactive action to avoid hurt and formal investigation and complaints and so on, training and development strategies. What is ok and what is not ok within working relationships, for instance rumours is a no no as well as mocking a person, affectionate teasing is outside of the work sphere as affectionate grouping is outside of the work sphere too. Most of us will be shocked if we see a husband grouping his wife at work in front of every one in the office, even in a pub is a shocking scene.