[Thank you for your patience whilst I've been away ill]
At Don Watson's website (www.weaselwords.com.au), amongst the "weasel" phrases mentioned by readers, can be found:
Performance Manage Out 'Not happy with an employee? You don't sack, can, dismiss or fire them. You "performance manage them out of the enterprise".' [From JamieWodetzki]
Where Watson's site is about weasel words, I want to talk about weasel behaviour. (A reader raised this issue and it certainly deserves some attention.)
In universities, or just about any large organisation, performance management is addressed by agreement provisions or at least by policies that regulate those activities.
I believe that the managers and supervisors in those organisations, who attempt to circumvent the appropriate arrangements are the bottom-feeders of management. (Happily, the vast majority of managers would never contemplate such tactics and would deplore such actions by others.)
There are, however, a few 'managers' who either just don't 'get' managing people or are ignorant of their responsibilities — they simply blunder along. Getting them back on track is usually possible, but care must be taken not to poison the situation in getting to a fix.
But, unfortunately, there's a more malevolent subset of managers — those who know what's required, but knowingly circumvent the appropriate processes for purposes of their own.
Addressing that conduct requires evidence. Therefore, if a bullying/harassment complaint can be sustained, no time should be lost in pursuing those processes.
If affected, you need help. Contact your Union.
As you get older it is harder to have heroes,
but it is sort of necessary.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
