Entrenched Department Conflict Series 5
Nina W. Brown
Entrenched department conflict describes a situation that is deeply conflictual, has persisted for some time even for years, and is difficult or even impossible to resolve in spite of efforts, support, or good will on the part of many who are involved. I have had opportunities to observe several departments engaged in this type of conflict during my tenure as a mediator and ombuds since one of our services was to mediate meetings. When requested, we provided mediators to facilitate potentially contentious faculty-administrator (department chairs or deans), meetings where our tasks were to ensure that there was professional behavior, all input could be respectfully heard, goals were determined in advance of the meeting, all faculty agreed to participate, and when decisions or agreements were made, that all were informed. Some of these were in departments where there was long-term conflict. Our task was not to solve the long-term conflict, just to facilitate the particular meeting and in the process of setting up the mediated meeting, we learned about the underlying long-term conflict and could observe its impact on faculty.
While thinking about writing this essay I was reading some books that described warfare in some civil wars, the first world war and second world war that seemed to me to be metaphors for long term department conflict. Concepts such as entrenchment, defenses, fortifications, knowledge of the battlefield territory, battlefield strategy and other concepts seemed applicable for some of what is encountered when there is long standing unresolved conflict in a department. Some behaviors that signal entrenched conflict between faculty groups are described, management suggestions and why resolution is elusive.
Descriptors
Some departmental descriptors for entrenched department conflict, whether open or hidden conflict, include but are not limited to the following.
- The underlying issue or complaint is defined differently by the various factions. It can be noted that to people outside of the university the issue would seem to be trivial and not understood. This includes family, partners and spouses, friends, and others who have never served as a faculty member. Many times, the issue is defined as the other side(s) being unreasonable, uninformed or as a power grab.
- There are numerous sides or perspectives that may not be clearcut, and the department faculty will ally with one of them even when they may think or protest that they are not taking sides. Sides are taken even when someone wants to appear as neutral for in a department not to take sides is to take a side. There will be faculty who are favorable to one side or the other, who are anti a particular side, pro a certain side, want to be left alone, or even are clueless as to what the fuss is about. It should be noted that when faculty take a stand it is almost always couched in intellectual terms for moral righteousness.
- Grudges and resentment emerge against individuals and/or against the department, college or university. Someone says or does something that is wounding, enraging, and/or denigrating to the person and this can produce a need to get revenge, to support a feeling of unfair treatment, and/or to show that the person is receiving favorable treatment.
- Efforts are expended to undermine and/or destroy the “enemy” such as unfavorable comments and votes for annual reviews, negative comments in meetings, votes against faculty on “the other side”, and other ways to demonstrate that the person is inadequate, mean, ugly and nasty.
- It is almost impossible for a faculty member to remain neutral as noted before that not taking a side is in effect taking the “wrong” side. The faculty member who wants to be neutral tries to use reason and logic and may even be trying to affect some common ground or compromise but their lack of agreement with any of the sides is seen as suspicious.
- Department tasks fall to junior faculty as senior faculty are “too busy” with their scholarship/research and/or national service or are willing to take the consequences for refusal. Faculty can be ingenious in deriving ways to get out of some tasks especially if the tasks are administrative and valuable only to an administrator or quasi-administrator.
- Unfortunately in my opinion, students may be recruited to “take sides” so as to show that the other side is wrong or ineffectual or that what they do is not valued by students and so on. My perspective is that it is unethical to involve students in individual or departmental faculty conflicts.
- Interactions are dreaded-feared-avoided. Faculty will try to ensure that their interactions are mostly with the faculty on “their side” and will be cautious and wary when interacting with other faculty. There is considerable stress and tension among faculty.
- Some faculty become isolated and alienated, and some may even become clinically depressed as the climate and culture are seriously impacted when there is departmental conflict.
- If the department chair tries to solve or resolve the conflict(s), they will mostly be ineffectual at doing so. Some lull in hostilities may occur but will not last and can reemerge unexpectedly and over something that was not anticipated. Some chair efforts may even solidify the split(s).
- Listservs and social media are used as weapons. While listservs within a university can be controlled somewhat by the institution’s policies, social media cannot because they are personal products for faculty outside of the university and there are concerns about limitations for freedom of speech. The weapons are misinformation, disinformation, verbal denigrations and attacks, distortions of others’ actions and words, speculations, gossip, and other postings that can be wounding. Some faculty do not understand that their postings intended for their particular group are subject to being forwarded, reposted, and even modified.
- There is considerable hostility generated with entrenched department conflict that is subject to being displaced onto others. It can become displaced; on faculty, other administrators, “the institution”, and/or “them”, and unintentionally on family and friends.
- One identifier of long-term department conflict is noting the numbers of senior faculty leave or seek other posts in the university. It is not unusual for faculty to leave or become administrators, but when numerous senior faculty want to leave a department, that can be one indicator of deep dissatisfaction with the department. Yes, there are other opportunities that can become available to faculty that will allow them to progress along a career path, or increase their salary, or fulfill them in other ways, but it is not usual for numerous senior faculty to leave.
- The final indicator of entrenched conflict is observed when there have been numerous efforts are made to try to resolve the underlying issues that produce the conflict over a period of time, but these were not successful. Well-meaning and competent people can fail to resolve some department conflicts.
Management Suggestions
It is much easier to suggest management strategies for department conflicts that are not entrenched than it is for faculty encountering long-term conflicts, especially those that have resisted resolution. Here are a few suggestions that may be helpful even under those trying circumstances. Space does not permit a fully explanation for them.
- Make your job of teaching scholarship/research and professional service your focus and increase your productivity for these.
- Maintain politeness, civility, and formality for most if not all interactions.
- Seek islands of sanity and stability in other venues such as professional organizations.
- Stay too busy to socialize.
- Do not disclose your personal concerns or anything about your life outside of work.
- Perfect the art of saying nothing or taking sides when talking or responding. Observe politicians for clues about how to do this.
- Try to be pleasant and noncommittal in conversations and interactions.
- Use some time to learn something new.
- Perfect the “thousand yard stare’ and adopt the “Honey Badger” attitude for interactions.
- Do not ask for favors as these usually require reciprocity.
- Do not add to the conflict.
- Why Resolution is Elusive.
It is not so much that these conflicts cannot be resolved is that they are resistant to resolution in the short term. Long term solutions include numerous of the involved or precipitating faculty leaving the department and if they are tenured, that can take over 20 years. It may be helpful for some to have some reasons or understandings of the impossibility of resolution such as the following.
- While in group therapy you will only need one personality disordered person to negatively affect the group, in departments there may be several that could meet or almost meet a DSM diagnosis for NPD, BPD, or even Anti-social where their grandiose, entitlement and other such actions and attitudes negatively affect the department.
- Many involved in the conflict have the convictions contained in should, ought, right, wrong,
- good and bad. These convictions fuel their moral righteousness. Some faculty can participate in the conflict for fears of being perceived as irrelevant, wrong, or inadequate if they do not participate.
- There have been actions and events over time that were narcissistic injuries which produced narcissistic rage that is incapable of being moderated or eliminated.
- Continual seeking of justice for real or imagined injuries or insults.
- Strong needs for power and control.
- Upper administration is reluctant or refuse to take needed actions.
It is humbling to realize that nothing you can do will help to resolve the entrenched conflict as I have had to do as the Ombuds/Mediator. In an academic war as with any war, the real losers are the people in the trenches.
Nina W. Brown, EdD, LPC, NCC, DFAGPA, APA Fellow, Professor and eminent scholar, nbrown@odu.edu
Reference
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
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