Bullying in the Library Workroom Amy An Boca

Bullying in the Library Workroom Amy An | Boca Raton Public Library PLAN Webinar | July 2020

Houston, we have a problem. * 40 -50% of library staff have witnessed or experienced bullying *Correct quote: “OK Houston, we’ve had a problem here. ”

How do we know this? 2009 2016– 2019 Susan Motin, ACRL 14 th National Conference, Bullying or mobbing: Is it happening in your academic library? peer-reviewed research • Freedman and Vreven, 2016 • Kendrick, 2017 • Kim, Geary, Bielefield, 2018 • Henry, Eshleman, Croxton, and Moniz, 2018 • Kendrick, and Damasco, 2019 calls to action but no LIS research 2010– 2016

Bullying Persistent negative attacks Purposeful, conscious, power imbalance Not a personality conflict Harms the employee Harms everyone’s work performance Incivility: Rude and discourteous behavior Mobbing: bullying by a group 4

Examples • Person-related: being ignored, humiliated, gossiped about, told to quit, persistently criticized, excessively teased, or the victim of practical jokes • Physically Intimidating: shouting, anger, threats or actual violence, intimidation like finger pointing, blocking/barring the way, invasion of personal space • Work-related: information withheld that impacts your work performance (esp. during tenure application time), having tasks removed and given unpleasant and less skilled tasks, being micromanaged, given unreasonable deadlines or workload, pressured not to take sick leave or vacation time 5

All library types All ages All genders All education levels All workplace levels All years of experience

Why should we all be concerned about bullying?

Individual Costs "Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by a**holes. “ --Notorious d. e. b (@debihope on Twitter, 2011), quoted in the Asshole Survival Guide by Robert I. Sutton 8

Bullying is costly for individuals • anxiety [30 -94%], sleep disruption [84%], loss of concentration [82%], shame and embarrassment [49%], depression [21 -41%]; Hale & Haertl (2016) • stress [41%], headaches [13%], sleep issues [13%]; Kim, Geary, and Bielefield (2018) • increase in chronic health conditions, post-traumatic stress disorder, family conflicts, suicide; Kendrick (2017) • social isolation, psychosomatic illness, compulsions, helplessness, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, ulcers, obesity; Henry et al (2018)

Organizational Costs “In our review, we have found bad to be stronger than good in a disappointingly relentless pattern. ” --Baumeister, R. , Bratslavsky, E. , and Finkenauer, C. 2001. Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4): 323 -370 10

Bullying is costly $ for the organization • bullying related absenteeism in the US costs ~$4 billion a year; Manners and Cates (2016) • each bullied employee costs a university $2, 000 to $12, 000; Hollis (2015) • bullying leads to low morale and is a reason for high turnover in academic library jobs; Heady (2020) • 12. 1% of the librarians in one study left their positions due to bullying; Kim et al (2018)

Healthy Organizational Climate They found the quality of the library climate for staff is related to “external customer perceptions of library service. ” --Kyrillidiou, M. & Roebuck, G. B. (2017). Organizational climate and customer service: The Climate. QUAL and Lib. QUAL+ connection. In Lowry, C. B. (Ed. ), Climate. QUAL: Advancing organizational health, leadership, and diversity in the service of libraries (pp. 71 -84).

Bullying is costly for the organization • workers exposed to incivility intentionally reduced their work effort [48%] and work quality [38%] and they lost work time just worrying about an incident [80%]; Porath and Pearson (2010) • participants who experienced incivility were 30% less creative, produced 25% fewer ideas, and their ideas were less diverse; Porath and Pearson (2010) • more than three-quarters said their commitment to the organization declined; Porath and Pearson (2010) • “organizational deviance”= employee actions intended to harm the organization: cyberloafing, fraud/theft, and sabotage; Henry et al (2018) • Customer service quality is decreased; Hanges, Aiken, and Chen, 2007; Broady-Preston and Steel (2002); Li and Bryan (2010); Kyrillidiou and Roebuck (2017)

Dysfunction is Contagious Exposure means • more likely to be rude • teams are less collaborative Why is it contagious? • Self-preservation • Information processing (conscious) • Fight, flight, freeze response 14

Why does bullying exist in LIS We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions. —ALA, Code of Ethics

We have the problem because LIS is disrupted Paper past. Tech today. Who will we be tomorrow?

We have the problem because emotional labor

We have the problem because organizational culture

We have the problem because vocational awe “I’m helping put a man on the moon!”

We have the problem because missed opportunity Opportunity Taken Missed 20

Without a clear grasp of the “core daily mission, . . . dysfunction moves in through the cracks” --Henry, Eshleman, and Moniz (2018), p. 174. 21

Healthy Organization An organization where the climate supports diversity, justice, innovation, continual learning, psychological safety, customer service, and, teamwork (Hanges and Aiken, 2017, p. 21) 22

What can an individual do? • Just knowing about bullying & incivility and their impact helps! • Develop a life outside work where you can thrive • Develop your own emotional intelligence (EQ) • There are no bystanders! • Take action – Be an upstander! 23

Ignore it We have Speak up 3 choices Report it 24

What can an organization do? • Hire with civility in mind • Train staff on & expect civility • Have a “workroom” mission • Internal marketing • This is a performance issue! • Develop a “see something, say something” culture of zero tolerance • Create policies • Create procedures for staff about how to report • Recognize that managers bear the responsibility for allowing or stopping this 25

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Select Bibliography Freedman, S. & Vreven, D. (2016). Workplace incivility and bullying in the library: Perception or reality? College & Research Libraries, 77(6), 727 -48. doi: 10. 5860/crl. 77. 6. 727 http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=119891574&site=ehost-live Hale, V. and Haertl, J. (2016). Surviving a bully at work. Young Adult Library Services, Spring, 36 -38. Hanges, P. , Aiken, J. , & Chen, X. (2007). Diversity, organizational climate, and organizational culture: The role they play in organizational effectiveness. Library Assessment Conference, 2006. Hanges, P. , & Aiken, J. (2017). The healthy organization: Properties of Climate. QUAL scales. In Lowry, C. B. (Ed. ), Climate. QUAL: Advancing organizational health, leadership, and diversity in the service of libraries (pp. 1948). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Heady, C. , Fyn, A. , Kaufman, A. , Hosier, A. , & Weber, M. (2020). Contributory factors to academic librarian turnover: A mixedmethods study. Journal of Library Administration, 60(6), 579 -599. doi: 10. 1080/01930826. 2020. 1748425 Hecker, T. (2007). Workplace mobbing: A discussion for librarians. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33(4), 439 -445. doi: 10. 1016/j. acalib. 2007. 03. 003 http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=502918756&site=ehost-live Henry, J. , Eshleman, J. , Croxton, R. , & Moniz, R. (2018). Incivility and dysfunction in the library workplace: Perceptions and feedback from the field. Journal of Library Administration, 58(2), 128 -152. doi: 10. 1080/01930826. 2017. 1412708 http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=127699140&site=ehost-live Henry, J. , Eshleman, J. , & Moniz, R. (2020). Cultivating civility: Practical ways to improve a dysfunctional library. Chicago: ALA Editions. Henry, J. , Eshleman, J. , & Moniz, R. (2018). The dysfunctional library: Challenges and solutions to workplace relationships. Chicago: ALA Editions. Karim, N. H. A. (2010). The impact of work related variables on librarians’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 15(3), 149 -163. http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=503006492&site=ehost-live

Kendrick, K. (2017). The low morale experience of academic librarians: A phenomenological study. Journal of Library Administration, 57(8), 846878. doi: 10. 1080/01930826. 2017. 1368325 http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=125942023&site=ehost-live Kendrick, K. & Damasco, I. (2019). Low morale in ethnic and racial minority academic librarians: An experiential study. Library Trends, 68(2), 174 -212. Kim, H. , Geary, C. , & Bielefield, A. (2018). Bullying in the library workplace. Library Leadership & Management, 32(2), 1 -13. http: //search. ebscohost. com. libdata. lib. ua. edu/login. aspx? direct=true&db=llf&AN=131456913&site=ehost-live Kyrillidiou, M. & Roebuck, G. B. (2017). Organizational climate and customer service: The Climate. QUAL and Lib. QUAL+ connection. In Lowry, C. B. (Ed. ), Climate. QUAL: Advancing organizational health, leadership, and diversity in the service of libraries (pp. 71 -84). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Kyrillidiou, M. , Lowry, C. , Hanges, P. , Aiken, J. , Justh, K. (2009). Climat. QUAL: Organizational climate and diversity assessment. In Mueller, D. (Ed. ), Proceedings of the Fourteenth National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), Chicago: American Library Association, pp. 150 -164. Retrieved from http: //www. ala. org/acrl/sites/ala. org. acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/national/seattle/papers/150. pdf Leiding, R. (2010). Mobbing in the library workplace: What it is and how to prevent it. College & Research Library News, 71(7), 364 -366, 384. Li, X. , & Bryan, L. (2010). On becoming an employer of choice: Gauging employee satisfaction through Climate. QUAL. Library Trends, 59(1 -2), 256 -268. Martin, J. (2020). Workplace engagement of librarians and library staff. Journal of Library Administration, 60(1), 22 -40. DOI: 10. 1080/01930826. 2019. 1671037 Motin, S. H. (2009). Bullying or mobbing: Is it happening in your academic library? Paper presented at the ACRL Fourteenth National Conference, Seattle, WA. Retrieved from http: //www. ala. org/acrl/sites/ala. org. acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/national/seattle/papers/291. pdf Porath, C. & Erez, A. (2009). Overlooked but not untouched: How rudeness reduces onlookers’ performance on routine and creative tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109, 29 -44. doi: 10. 1016/j. obhdp. 2009. 01. 003 Porath, C. , Foulk, T. & Erez, A. (2015). How incivility hijacks performance: It robs cognitive resources, increases dysfunctional behavior, and infects team dynamics and functioning. Organizational Dynamics. 44, 258 -265. doi: 10. 1016/j. orgdyn. 2015. 09. 002 Porath, C. & Pearson, C. M. (2010). The cost of bad behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 39(1), 64 -71. doi: 10. 1016/j. orgdyn. 2009. 10. 006 Staninger, S. (2016). The psychodynamics of bullying in libraries. Library Leadership & Management, 30(4), 1 -5. http: //ezproxy. fau. edu/login? url=http: //search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&Auth. Type=ip, cookie, url, uid&db=edb&AN=117399388& site=eds-live&scope=site

Select Resources • The Workplace Bullying Institute • Workplace bullying – Wikipedia • What does it mean to be a professional at work? (included because I love the Ask A Manager blog, search her site for bullying for more help) • 6 older books about bullying in the workplace • The Dysfunctional Library book • Cultivating Civility book 30