[xmca] review of book on bullying

http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev716.htm

Twale, Darla. J. & DeLuca, Barbara M. (2008). Faculty Incivility: The Rise
of the Academic Bully Culture and What to Do About it. SanFrancisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass

Pp. xvi + 219 ISBN 978-0-470-19766-0

Reviewed by Karen Mauck Cicmanec
Morgan State University

September 19, 2008

Certainly, the media and general public have become more sensitized to the
prevalence of civility in today's community, work, and school environment.
As a consequence, one may find a number of related literatures focusing on
incivility by doing an ERIC keyword search (e.g., "bullying", "university"
and "college"). For example, Millman (2007) examines a report of a
professor's alleged intimidating and hostile behavior (Millman, 2007).
Lawrence and Adams (2006) describe an approach to addressing bullying
behavior in the schools. And, Lewis (2004), noted the lasting impact of
shame on the victims of bullying in a recent study. Similarly, a web browser
search will produce additional illustrations of incivility including
descriptions and options for countering the incivility of students against
faculty (Morrissette, 2001; Holladay, n.d.).

Fortunately for researchers and educators interested in the impact of
civility in the academic setting, Faculty Incivility, authored by Twale and
DeLuca, offers a thick description of the nuances of incivility found in
academe that addresses speculations that people are less civil than they
used to be. The authors, indicating that they have witnessed and experienced
incivility during their collective, 60-plus years of experience in higher
education, intend to help others understand and link socio-cultural theories
and frameworks that support research on these behaviors that appear "as
unique as the people involved" (p. xiii). It is within this context that and
that Twale and DeLuca offer readers a scholarly perspective on faculty
incivility.

In this book of nine chapters divided into three parts, the authors define
"incivility" (i.e., bullying, mobbing, camouflaged aggression, and
harassment), review and analyze related literature and theory, and offer
suggestions for ways to address incivility. Twale and DeLuca use Salin's
(2003) framework for bulling to lay a foundation for understanding
incivility, and add anecdotal information gathered from faculty members who
have experienced or witnessed incivility as a way to propose possible causes
and effects.

The five chapters of the first section of the book is used to situate the
reader address each of the elements found in Salin (2003) (e.g., motivating
structure, precipitating circumstances, enabling structure and processes)
that lead to incivility or a bullying culture in academe. Noting that most
of the research on workplace incivility has been done outside of academe,
Twale and Deluca highlight what can be found in the literature on civility,
incivility, bullying, and mobbing, link the highlights to the history of
higher education, and illustrate various elements of the framework with
faculty anecdotes. The authors reflect on the past 370 years to support
their belief that "incivility has roots in academe" (p. 33) and they cite
examples of elitism versus merit versus democratization, faculty versus
administration, and academic freedom versus paternalism as illustrations of
the tensions that are present in academe.

In an attempt to answer the question, "How do we learn to be uncivil and to
bully others?", Twale and Deluca present information from research on social
learning theories that address aggressive behaviors, gender, social
distance, paternalism, power and politics, and management styles to support
their observation that "aggression increases naturally as the population
increases" (p. 47), "given adverse circumstances, faculty jockey for power"
(p. 58), and "academic life is competitive" (p. 64). Here is one
illustration of the anecdotal writings from faculty victims of incivility
included in this section:

I kept asking my mentor for help in dealing with an evening class of
graduate students who were clearly indignant to me during class. But she
clearly was not going to back me up on anything. I found out later that my
mentor actually orchestrated the behavior of the class. (p. 53-54)

In terms of the structure of governance in academe, Twale and DeLuca examine
the influence of the organizational structure in higher education and the
illusion of "shared governance" or "faculty self-governance". They also
articulate that the tenure and promotion process is often enveloped in
mystery and that this, like the insecurity that accompanies non-tenured
status, may be one of several conditions for faculty victimization. They
continue by suggesting that institutional bureaucracy and faculty isolation
creates a site where camouflaged aggression may thrive. Perhaps readers will
recognize this anecdotal comment as a famliar one: "Faculty meetings became
much more intense - nothing gets done.and we go nowhere." (p. 71).

The academic culture is multi-dimensional. What may be viewed as friendly,
collaborative, and meaningful may cover an undercurrent of challenges to
academic freedom, collegiality for some and not others, and turf battles. As
for earlier chapters, the authors support their writing with citations from
literature. (Over 250 citations appear in the reference list.) It is at this
point in the book where the authors suggest that students may be witnessing
incivility and consider the practices normative; and, new or untenured
faculty may consider incivility as a rite of passage. In the anecdotal
records that accompany this section, we view the problems relating to
faculty incivility and the extent to which all own the problem:

I will never forget a September departmental faculty meeting when we
welcomed five new faculty members. During the meeting, an old guard faculty
member explained how we conducted business, and one of the new group asked
the faculty member to explain why we did things that way. I had been in the
department long enough to know that the new guy had just pounded the first
nail in his coffin. I predicted he would not last beyond his first year, and
unfortunately, I was right. I am not sure he realized what he was doing to
himself, which is regrettable, or how welcome his refreshing perspective
really was to me. His comment made me feel part of the problem. (p. 96)

In Part II of the book, the authors attempt to pinpoint the causes of
incivility and suggest that the marginalization of academic work, minority
groups, male dominance, and market forces may precipitate incivility in
academe. The authors indicate that higher education is moving toward a
corporate model, an ideological shift that may engender institutional shifts
and faculty/administrative tensions and aggressive behavior. As for the
earlier chapters, Twale and DeLuca support their position with contemporary
literature and anecdotes.

I guess budgets are tight all over, but the dean's push for market share is
driving many of us crazy. We keep hearing about preserving the mission and
striving for quality and excellence. But then we hear that if we don't start
offering online courses to increase revenue in the college, some other
nearby institution will. So which is it, mission or market? (p. 132)

Finally, Twale and Deluca devote the final two chapters to suggestions for
addressing incivility and the consequences of incivility. It is here that
administrators, department chairs, faculty, and others will find arguments
for and against the development of institutional policies like those that
have been developed for sexual harassment. Here also, is a list of warning
signals that may help faculty and administrators recognize workplace
aggression. The authors indicate that education and socialization may help
institutions to build a culture of civility. Strategies are offered to help
institutions select and apply research methods that will assist in the
development of policy, grievance procedures, sanctions, or redress relating
to incivility. Strategies for victims are addressed in the final pages and
epilogue. Again, this anecdote illustrates a faculty member's position on
civility.

In the meantime, I do my job. I work well with the other profs in my
department. I am trying to make inroads into another department and at other
institutions. In general it is a pleasant place to work. But I make
statements as the conscience of the group. I don't try to anger anyone.
There isn't too much you can do. You get passive. You can't make yourself
sick over it. (p. 163)

As mature educator who is approaching retirement and one who is beginning
the sixth year as a full time, yet-to-be tenured professor, I have some
ability to relate to the anecdotes that appear to come from 11 or more men
and women who have witnessed or experienced incivility in academe. I am
intrigued by the authors' methodological approach to analyzing the
complexities surrounding faculty incivility. And, I appreciate the authors'
grounding in a contemporary framework for bullying (Salin, 2003) and their
extensive use of literature to support each theme. Twale and DeLuca indicate
that their goal is to "uncover the personal, social, cultural,
organizational, and structural reasons that faculty incivility may have led
to the development of an academic bully culture" (p. xi-xii). It seems
evident to me that the book is a valuable read for students, faculty, and
administrators; and, that the book establishes a platform from which
additional interesting and valuable research may emerge.

The book includes a preface written by the authors, short biography,
epilogue, reference list, name and subject index.

References

Holladay, J. (n.d.) Managing incivility in the college classroom. Retrieved
on July 25, 2008 from
http://www.utexas.edu/academic/diia/gsi/tatalk/incivility.php

Lawrence, G. & Adams, F. D. (2006). For every bully there is a victim.
American Secondary Education, 35(1), 66-71.

Lewis, D. Bullying at work: The impact of shame among university and college
lecturers. (2004). British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 32(3),
281-299.

Millman, S. (June, 2007). Piling it on. Chronicle of Higher Education,
53(41), 41.

Morrissette, P. J. (2001). Reducing incivility in the university/college
classroom. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning,
5(4). Retrieved on July 25, 2008 from
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~iejll/volume5/morrissette.html

Salin, D. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of
enabling, motivating, and precipitating structure and processes in the work
environment. Human Relations, 56, 1213-1232.

About the Reviewer

Dr. Karen Mauck Cicmanec teaches courses in assessment, research,
curriculum, program evaluation, and technology to graduate students enrolled
in the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership, and Policy, Morgan State
University, Baltimore, Maryland.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first
publication to the Education Review.

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Received on Fri Sep 19 12:41 PDT 2008