Toxic Academic Environments – What Effect Is It Having?

Posted on June 21st, 2009, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Toxic academic work environments are defined by many attributes including the following:

Effect on employees, students, public, &/or shareholders

Effect on employees, students, public, &/or shareholders

Another defining aspect is the effect that the rudeness, fear, or negativity is having. When it has a deleterious effect on the people who work in a department, in a college, in a lab, wherever it might be, you can also assume that it is having an effect on the students (undergrad or grad) and on the general public, i.e., those who are supposedly served by the college or university. No one is helped by this. The public ends up knowing about the problem as will other shareholders or stakeholders (state legislators, etc.). This negativity just keeps building and feeding on itself, and if anyone deludes himself or herself that it’s a secret, it’s not.

Please consider what is happening in your department, lab, unit, or college. Check the length of time, persistence, severity, effect on others, and the loss of good people. It’s better to take care of potential problems EARLY. Once a bullying culture has been established, it is VERY difficult to change – and VERY expensive. You can’t afford that and neither can the country.

Sadly, toxicity exists in the academic work environment. If you would like to access a free teleseminar (*Antioxidants for a Toxic Academic Work Environment*) that was hosted by Gina Hiatt of The Academic Ladder (http://www.AcademicLadder.com), feel free to go to http://meggin.com/academicladder.php.

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!