![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Learning Objective 1: Discuss how rankism and shared governance in the highly competitive academic environment may contribute to overt and covert incivility.
Learning Objective 2: Given an encounter with an individual or mob engaging in acts of incivility, develop skill in responding with a values-based professional approach.
Methods: Discussion, Role Play
Results:
The nursing literature confirms that incivility is a growing and serious concern in higher education. In higher education incivility denotes intended speech or action aimed at interfering with the harmony of the teaching-learning process of others. This reality challenges faculty and administrators to transform the culture amidst high stakes for promotion and tenure, workloads that stretch the limits and uncertainty about how to best respond. Incivility is antithetical to the values that undermine interprofessional collaborative relationships, mainly respect, trust, honesty and ethical comportment.
In Silence Kills seven crucial conversations are described that people in healthcare frequently fail to hold. Four relate to incivility: disrespect (swearing); poor teamwork (gossip); micromanagement (bullying); and lack of support (reluctance to help). While the overt acts of incivility, manifest as violence or harassment, are formally addressed in policy statements, subtle acts of incivility do not lend themselves to open discussion. Therefore, subtle nonverbal attempts at intimidation are less apt to be explicable to a superior. As such, the cry for help from the victim may be ignored, thus sanctioned, by administrators. Sanctioned acts of incivility become part of the culture.
Conclusion:
To resolve instances of incivility, the administrator must thoughtfully listen and follow-up using an arsenal of resources. With open dialogue, clear expectations of acceptable and unacceptable faculty behaviors must be written along with consequences for violations. Faculty development on conflict resolution, negotiation strategies and teambuilding may be a powerful tool for resolution. Input from Human Resources supports the efforts of administrators who need help dealing with this complex issue. While creating a culture of civility challenges the best of faculty, a values-laden approach of interprofessional collaboration helps to frame the issue when incivility strikes.
See more of: Research Sessions: Oral Paper & Posters