University bullying and incivility towards faculty deans/ Troy Heffernan and Lynn Bosetti

Bullying in higher education institutions amongst staff is an evolving area of research that has been examined from multiple perspectives, but significant scholarly voids remain. This paper examines the views of 20 faculty deans and their experiences with bullying and the hostility of workplace incivility. The paper examines what bullying looks like in contrast to existing scholarship which is frequently focused on the issues of defining the practice, and regularly examines hierarchical/descending bullying based on power dynamics. The study also evaluates these experiences in a field of research that is usually systematic in its data as studies have been designed to influence policies relating to bullying and codes of conduct. This paper’s focus on bullying and acts of incivility toward leaders at the deans’ level augments these existing areas of research, provides examples of what acts bullying and incivility can include from deans’ perspectives, and the medical, personal, and family repercussions of the victims.