Bullying and the neoliberal university: A co-authored autoethnography. Issue 4 (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zawadzki, Michał; Jensen, Tommy
• Other Names: Jones David R guest-editor.; Visser Max guest-editor.; Stokes Peter guest-editor.; Örtenblad Anders guest-editor.; Deem Rosemary guest-editor.; Rodgers Peter guest-editor.; Tarba Shlomo Y guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Management learning. Volume 51:Issue 4(2020:Sep.)
• Page Start: 398
• Page End: 413
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: Autoethnography -- bullying -- bystander -- mobbing -- neoliberalism -- universities; Industrial management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Executives -- Training of -- Periodicals; Organizational learning -- Periodicals; Knowledge management -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1177/1350507620920532
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-7307

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to deepen the understanding of academic bullying as a consequence of neoliberal reforms in a university. Academics in contemporary universities have been put under pressure by the dominance of neoliberal processes, such as profit maximization, aggressive competitiveness, individualism or self-interest, generating undignifying social behaviours, including bullying practices. The presented story takes us – a junior academic and his conceptual encounterer – through our remembered experiences and field notes around a set of workday events in one European university reformed through managerial solutions as the object of the study. To do that, we employ co-authored analytic autoethnography to learn how neoliberal solutions reinforce paternalistic relationships as significant in career development, how such solutions enable the bullying of young academics and how neoliberalism in academia prevents young academics from contesting bullying. We are particularly interested in the bystander phenomenon: a person who shies away from taking action against bullying and thus strengthens bullying practices.