Earlier this year, I gave a virtual presentation about “Bullying and Incivility in the Academic Workplace” for the Northeastern University College of Science in Boston, as part of a series on “Disrupting Academic Bullying.” The recording has been posted to YouTube (link here). I use the first 18-19 minutes to cover bullying, mobbing, and incivility generally, and then I discuss these behaviors in academic work settings. My prepared remarks run for about 44 minutes in all, followed by Q&A and comments for another 25 minutes.
Relevant Earlier Posts
- Addressing workplace bullying, mobbing, and incivility in higher education: The roles of law, cultures, codes, and coaching (2017) (link here);
- UMass-Amherst launches campus-wide workplace anti-bullying initiative (2013) (link here);
- Workplace bullying and mobbing in academe: The hell of heaven? (2009; rev. 2014) (link here).
Minding the Workplace 
Ostracism is a huge problem in academia – its unobtrusive nature aligns well with the indirect aggression that would be expected by the standards of collegiality. Also ostracism is less easy to prove than overt bullying – ostracism is a safe and undetectable strategy that is less likely to be viewed as retaliation. Thus ostracizing behaviors in academia are common – cronyism, intimidation, gossip, exclusionary strategies, ignoring contributions etc. Ostracism is considered to be greater than the effects of sexual harassment on emotional exhaustion, cynicism and professional effectiveness (Robinson, O’Reilly, & Wang, 2013). https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.082389331340078