sieam48
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« on: January 01, 2012, 07:22:24 PM » |
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I have a poor relationship with my first postdoctoral advisor, whose lab I left amicably in July 2010. In short, he is a bully, and by the end of the first year working with him we had developed a mutual aversion to each other. I felt that we had (relatively) successfully continued to work together after that, during the second year of my postdoc and since then as we finish up projects. However, ever since I moved on he has been trying to goad me into giving up on my last projects and letting him take them over. I didn't consciously realize this was happening until others in and graduated from the lab pointed it out to me.
Unfortunately I only have 1 of 3 first author papers with the group published, and I am loathe to abandon the hard work and effort that went into the other two. The second is ready to be (re) submitted, but our relationships has severely degraded - to the point where he has demanded that I give all files, etc for the manuscript to him so he can take over, and accusing me misconduct, uncollegiality, etc. I can prove all of these accusations are untrue and unfounded (and all of the coauthors are on my "side"), but it does little good since he won't actually discuss anything, just demands.
Can outside mediation help in a situation like this? I know that's what it's designed to do, but I would love to hear some stories of it working.
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history_grrrl
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« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2012, 07:34:37 PM » |
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No. Mediation doesn't work with bullies; in fact, bullies benefit from mediation. You can't mediate when you've got the kind of power imbalance you describe. I read a great article about this some time ago by someone who is an expert on workplace bullying -- it was linked from the CHE or maybe appeared as a CHE column or blog -- but I can't find it now. I'll keep looking, but maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about.
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[R]eality sometimes has a left-wing bias.
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bud04
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« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2012, 11:45:33 PM » |
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No. Mediation doesn't work with bullies; in fact, bullies benefit from mediation. You can't mediate when you've got the kind of power imbalance you describe. I read a great article about this some time ago by someone who is an expert on workplace bullying -- it was linked from the CHE or maybe appeared as a CHE column or blog -- but I can't find it now. I'll keep looking, but maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about.
Listen to history_grrrl. She is totally correct. Bullies manipulate the mediators. |
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lurkingfear
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« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2012, 12:56:27 AM » |
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I'm not sure if it would work, but it doesn't really matter. He paid you to do a job and you did it. He 'owns' (or rather, his university owns) the results of your work while employed there. Even if you brought a fellowship with you, presumably he provided financial support for your research. He is within his rights to demand that you turn over the files. I'm not saying this is right, but this is how it is.
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alleyoxenfree
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« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2012, 11:06:24 AM » |
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I would stall while meeting the ombudsman and getting legal advice. In the meantime, what concrete steps could be taken to finish the projects and get them out? Is he stalling them? Trying to deny you credit? You need to cut the cord ASAP, perhaps without all you hoped for, but one of the things an ombudsman would ask is how could this be resolved? What do you want that others could provide, given that you probably signed an intellectual property agreement? Get some advice and get out your paperwork, and get started thinking of quick solutions because it's obvious this relationship needs to be terminated - it can't be "managed" anymore.
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msparticularity
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« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2012, 10:17:37 PM » |
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OP, were these NSF-funded studies? If so, then the program director may have some interest in the issues you are facing. NSF funding now requires an explicit plan for postdoc mentoring, and it sounds as if this has not gone well in your lab--which possibly echoes larger national trends, and would be exactly the reason the requirement has been added for grant proposals. Further, the NSF has an interest in getting findings out, and will not be pleased if squabbling or nitpicking is holding up publication.
I am not suggesting a nuclear option here by notifying a program officer--or at least not yet--but can you get your hands on the grant application and figure out whether appropriate mentoring procedures have been followed, per the grant proposal?
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"Once admit that the sole verifiable or fruitful object of knowledge is the particular set of changes that generate the object of study...and no intelligible question can be asked about what, by assumption, lies outside." John Dewey
"Be particular." Jill Conner Browne
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alleyoxenfree
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« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2012, 11:15:31 PM » |
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OP, were these NSF-funded studies? If so, then the program director may have some interest in the issues you are facing. NSF funding now requires an explicit plan for postdoc mentoring, and it sounds as if this has not gone well in your lab--which possibly echoes larger national trends, and would be exactly the reason the requirement has been added for grant proposals. Further, the NSF has an interest in getting findings out, and will not be pleased if squabbling or nitpicking is holding up publication.
I am not suggesting a nuclear option here by notifying a program officer--or at least not yet--but can you get your hands on the grant application and figure out whether appropriate mentoring procedures have been followed, per the grant proposal?
+1 |
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posttoastie
New member
Posts: 7
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« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2012, 11:45:48 AM » |
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Can't you cut yur losses in this situation? Isn't it possible for you to have nothing else to do with th bully?
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