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[thundering_m]

Given that she must have some cognitive competence, however irrational her application of it, the question is how to make her pattern of behavior self-evident. Time for technology to come to your aid. Videotape the meetings.

On what pretext? So no one has to take minutes. So an absent colleague can be a part of it. To try out new equipment. Whatever.

Then notice if this influences her behavior. If it does, good news: she can control it. It is best to quantify this behavior, e.g. this phone call lasted from this time to that, she interrupted eight times, at no time did she acknowledge someone else's contribution, others shifted in their seats and refused to make eye contact but this was not a clue to which she responded.

How to broach it? "I'm thinking about how to help our department function better as colleagues. I noticed some interesting things happening in our meeting that I'd like your response to. I'd really like to know what you think about this. Come watch this tape with me. What do you notice about the interactions? I noticed some great examples of collegiality and some disturbing examples of insulation from others. Take this tape with you and please write down your thoughts as you watch it."

This may be a bit oblique, but unless you want to get an immediate defensive and insatiable response, I suggest using the tools of observation and reflection at an intellectual remove. Then when she has written down her comments, you talk.  Appeal to her vanity/acknowledge her expertise and be sincere about it and in control of the opportunities for interaction. She needs very concrete guidelines.  (she wants to talk first? No, when you have your comments written down then we'll talk. She wants to email? No, I want to talk to you when I see what you have written down. Set an appointment with a specific amount of time after which you have another appointment, and keep the time scrupulously)

What expertise? You may be surprised. At any rate, I wouldn't point things out directly other than to say "That would be an interruption, wouldn't it? How many times does that happen and by whom?" or "for the meeting to last less than an hour, how much time can we afford to spend on discussion?" If she is unable to sort things into such categories, there may actually be some cognitive deficit.

Even more oblique and more revealing in terms of her capacity for higher levels of thinking is the use of theory, e.g. Seligman's perspective taking or Saarni's steps of emotional competenence or Satir's communication styles. If you are not in the social sciences, though, it might be too much of a stretch and difficult to apply personally. However, when you review the tape with her, you could say that as a new chair, you are trying to understand the situation with the models you have heard are effective for leading such groups.

Given the depth of the dysfunction she  is fostering and the importance of the department to be able to function (or your people are going to start abandoning ship) it is worth a careful campaign to establish in the above ways a shared knowledge base and language about the issue, and some documentation of having discussed it. Write down an agenda and write up minutes from each meeting so you have a record. Otherwise, no 'powers that be' will intervene. As you work through the process, it will become abundantly clear to your other faculty that you are taking charge of the situation, a good thing indeed and why you get the (insert ironic tone) big bucks.

As chair, you will also be privy to the student surveys. It is unlikely that she is any different in class than in collaboration. Therefore performance review will include much more than general perception of her professional disposition.

[cgfunmathguy]

We had a person like this at my institution. In fact, s/he and I shared an office for awhile. By the end of our first semester here, students were passing the word not to take his/her classes, and s/he had alienated all but one of the faculty in the division. The last was alienated that summer. The division chair documented all of the student complaints, which included THREE grade appeals in TWO semesters. S/he also documented all of the faculty/collegiality problems. The chair then laid out the problems and told this person that s/he needed to see improvement throughout the fall semester in several fronts; failure would result in a recommendation of non-renewal. The chair's input was due in December, and she was gone the following May. It can--and in some cases, should--be done. Just make sure you DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT. Our chair has a folder six inches wide on this person. If s/he had fought it, there was no way s/he could've won.

[frog111]

As a supervisor in a government organization, the best advice has been given, which is document, document, and document.  What I'd like to add is: document everything.  Set up an email folder that contains all email you send to her, and all email responses that you get from her.  If possible, cc, or bcc a sympathetic administrator  to ensure someone else sees your professional responses to the faculty member.  When you have a face to face discussion about some point or action, follow it up with an email confirming whatever action or decision that was discussed to ensure there is no misunderstandings.  Do as others have suggested, keep detailed meeting notes that document outbursts, interruptions, being sure to note times, lengths, any factual information that can be documented.   It is amazing how much stuff you can and will compile, as one poster said, their chair had a 6 inch file on a colleague. 

Also, check with HR, all faculty contracts should have some language regarding appropriate behavior, duties etc, that she probably has violated at some level.  Find what they are, and then document, document, and document.  Point out the violations, develop a plan to prevent these with the offender, and watch gleefully when she does it again.  Document again, present more stringent measures, and then when she fails again, terminate her contract on sufficient grounds.

good luck

[kamiakin]

And don't frame this in terms of mental illness, frame it strictly in terms of observable behavior. Cgfunmathguy pointed out the best-case scenario.

[pantani]

Hi all, thanks again for the advice.  I have been documenting some of it, and the folder is approaching about 6"--not much being added recently, as towards the end of the semester, everyone just avoided her and most of the complaints external to the department were forwarded to the dean directly.  My question is, how much can one document about events occurring in hallways, labs, outside of official meetings, etc?  While her behavior in meetings is never quite up to par, most of the rantings, bullying, etc., occur in informal settings--conversations in the hallway, etc.   --which is why members of the department evade all informal interactions with her. I managed to shut her down in meetings, but no matter how politely I might manage to focus on the agenda,  that I do not let her have control of the meeting results in weeks of angry outbursts, etc.  I think this might be the sticking point with the dean, but hard to say, he is very evasive about the whole issue.

[aandsdean]

Hi all, thanks again for the advice.  I have been documenting some of it, and the folder is approaching about 6"--not much being added recently, as towards the end of the semester, everyone just avoided her and most of the complaints external to the department were forwarded to the dean directly.  My question is, how much can one document about events occurring in hallways, labs, outside of official meetings, etc?  While her behavior in meetings is never quite up to par, most of the rantings, bullying, etc., occur in informal settings--conversations in the hallway, etc.   --which is why members of the department evade all informal interactions with her. I managed to shut her down in meetings, but no matter how politely I might manage to focus on the agenda,  that I do not let her have control of the meeting results in weeks of angry outbursts, etc.  I think this might be the sticking point with the dean, but hard to say, he is very evasive about the whole issue.

Take notes--place, time, witnesses, subject, and as many specifics of the conversation as you can.  That's documenting this kind of interaction.  If there's someone else present, ask that person to do the same.

[dellaroux]

Is she good friends with the Dean?

That might explain it...

Or--there's also some weird kind of blindness to such behavior that takes place, too.

I had to work with someone like this once. I was a unit coordinator at a local hospital where two people worked the desk, taking off orders and filling supply requests. My desk partner was close to certifiable, I'm still convinced--language, set-ups to get others in trouble, and a weird kind of intelligence that was used to make negative remarks out of well-intended ones in a trice--were unrelenting.

The very hardest part was the fact that when this volatile individual did amazing things in a meeting with our supervisors that I had requested--she jumped up, yelling at me, and put her hand on the door knob as if to walk out--the supervisors just said "Dottie, please sit down," and when I pointed out that it was this kind of behavior that I found difficult to deal with they basically said, "What behavior?"

I had to specificy, quietly, descriptively and objectively as advised above, "When she took hold of the knob to the door as if to leave a meeting with her supervisors in the room, and was yelling in that same meeting, I found that difficult to understand."

Only one of the three others present "got it," and said, "Oh, yes, that's correct. Dottie, you shouldn't do that," and went on.  

When I mentioned the fact that she would try to "help" me with orders, and do things like make a diabetic diet a regular one in the computer because she mis-read the bed number on the doctor's order changing the roommate's diet to a "regular post-op" one....and that my concern was with patient welfare, they took her tone, that it really all had to do with how it made me look, I didn't like to look like I'd done something wrong if I had, etc....!

Thankfully I found another position and got out of there, but they all seemed surprised that I would leave, thought I enjoyed working at that desk, etc.

Hunh?????

Clueless Joes from Hannibal Mo do exist. They mostly get promoted to positions where they can do the most harm and stay there-- remaining clueless, for the most part--for the rest of your life.

I hope you as chair have an exist strategy (that was an interesting error--I meant to type "exit" but both perhaps apply...) also.

[pantani]

Yes, the "help," which is usually the opposite--that has been rejected rather consistently by members of the department and the staff  now as well, and rings a bell here.  I don't think she is great friends with the Dean, just the sort of blindness described above.

[london1]

I would still document the drive-by hallway, lab, etc. attacks that you mention.  

The behavior is still unprofessional and inapprorpriate and is clearly detrimental to the department if all faculty avoid her even in the most informal settings.

[kamiakin]

What will it take to fire her?

[frog111]

As to how to document the drive-by rantings, just put together a notebook, lab book whatever for this purpose, or use whatever system you use to track your notes and activities.  Mine are lab books, but I have two sets, one for research, one for administrivia, bureaucracy, and other activities.  You can also use the email approach, email the offender after the incident, reminding her that such behavior is unwelcome, and again cc or bcc a sympathetic admin or if there was a witness to the incident, cc them.   

Using email serves two purposes, the first is documentation, and the second is it demonstrates you are communicating (at least trying to) with the offender, doing so professionally and offering some guidance on how to improve the behavior.  This will go a long way with any HR types when it comes time for more drastic measures.  It will show you have consistently pointed out what behaviors are inappropriate, how she might correct them, and possible consequences if corrective action is not taken. 

When the Dean or HR can be convinced to act, the offender will have no excuse to claim she was unaware her behavior was causing problems.  Where it goes from there will depend on your circumstances.  In the government here, some sort of counseling would be offered.  If the work disruptions continue after counseling, termination would be the next step.

good luck

[pantani]

What will it take to fire her?

That's a good question.  :) Afraid I have no answers.

[helpful]

There was a case awhile back where a professor had this kind of behavior when interacting with students. Turned out said professor had fraudulently got their position. They were charged and convicted of fraud.

OP, I would try and find out why the person is acting this way. Did her actions change at one point?

Is there a policy at the institution on medical leave? Perhaps she can be encouraged to take stress leave if there is something in her life that has caused her to act this way.

[gollum]

Seems pretty simple to me. 

If this person is TT and has a contract that is renewable annually up to the tenure year, then don't renew.  This person has already given herself plenty rope, so nothing you say in your non-renewal letter will need to be a stretch or fabrication.

Gollum