“Challenge and Hold One Another Accountable:” Social Work Faculty Respond to Incivility

Abstract

ABSTRACT Incivility within social work education reflects patterns seen across higher education and within society. Previous work has found that social work faculty are reluctant to report incivility and have limited confidence in their ability to address it effectively. In order to address potential solutions, this paper uses qualitative data (n = 164) drawn from a larger survey of social work faculty in the United States. The exploratory analysis focuses on strategies social work faculty use when experiencing incivility and bullying themselves, and methods recommended by social work faculty to confront incivility administratively and systemically within the social work academy. Responses were coded into four themes: values-based responses, leadership/institutional responses, individual and faculty level responses, and faculty disengagement. These themes suggest opportunities and recommendations to move toward a civil social work academy. PRACTICE POINTS Academic faculty expect institutional leadership to have the skills to acknowledge and address incidents of incivility in the workplace. Social work faculty suggest a combination of values-based responses that tie workplace behavior and culture to professional values, institutional responses that support accountability and formal recognition for prosocial behavior, and establishing and maintaining positive relationships in the workplace. Social work faculty acknowledge and affirm the individual ethical mandate to address injurious workplace behavior and challenge institutional systems and patterns that reinforce workplace incivility.