UK and Australian universities ‘more stressful than Uganda’

Stress comes from a variety of sources but poor leadership is among the most prominent. As Robert Hogan, one of the best writers on leadership, observed in 1994 “Academic deans are often chosen from the ranks of first-line supervisors on the basis of likeability and perceived ability to work with senior management…(rather than their actual leadership effectiveness)”. In Universities It is typically those with upward impression management skills (German: Arsch-Lecken) who get promoted. Effective leaders manage those below them to make their lives better and easier while 'impressionistas' spend their time on the telephone networking with, communicating with and impressing their bosses rather than conversing with their reports and running their departments efficiently. This leaves their underlings with two jobs to do, their own and that of their boss. Ironically in academia (leadership and management studies) we know exactly what makes an effective leader but universities ignore their own expertise and use a highly useless 'tick-box' approach to appointments and promotions which rewards the inept and ineffective. As a result the higher you go the worse university leadership is. This creates stress for everyone below. When I tell fellow academics that I study toxic leadership and corporate psychopaths they often invite me to come and meet their Dean, PVC or Vice-Chancellor. Unfortunately I don't have time to meet everyone. However, even when bullies are identified in one university they may often end up in more senior positions somewhere else. (Bullying correlates so closely with psychopathy that you can more or less take it as a proxy measure). As a final thought - and I'm sure this has been written before - but it seems to me that universities generally succeed despite their leadership and not because of it. Some reports state that around 70% of employees would take a pay cut if they could get rid of their boss. Ask yourself does this apply to you? Good luck. Clive Boddy.