You can't fix what you don't see: a case study of unprofessional behaviour in the workplace

The purpose of the project is to conduct an audit of unprofessional behaviour experienced by University of Northern British Columbia Faculty Association members (professors, librarians, senior laboratory instructors and term instructors). The project explores how much, what kinds, and from whom, individuals experience different types of unprofessional behaviours. When asked if they felt that unprofessional behaviour, in general, was a problem at the university, almost half (49%) of respondents said yes. Forty-three percent said no (9% did not answer). One fifth (20%) believed that the problem was getting worse, while 43% felt that the level of unprofessional behaviour was about the same as it was the previous year. The results indicate that the majority of members have experienced one or more types of unprofessional behaviours in the past year. Most members tried to address an incident using a range of strategies from ignoring the behaviour to filing formal grievances. An important finding is that three quarters (73%) of individuals felt that the strategies they had employed had not been effective. Using results from a survey, interviews, and best practice literature, the project makes recommendations to help address unprofessional behaviour in the workplace. The recommendations includes both formal (rules and policies) and informal (communication skills, awareness building) strategies. As a starting point, this project is the first step in building awareness of the issue of unprofessional behaviour in the UNBC workplace.