Managing Difficult Faculty and Staff: A Four-Step Guide

Managing Difficult Faculty & Staff guides academic leaders through the tricky waters of personnel management in American higher education.Colleges and universities have a poor track record of holding difficult employees accountable for their damaging behavior.Years go by as the bully, the no-show, the terrible teacher, the negativity spreader, and others inflict harm on people and on the department’s collective work with impunity.This book details the reasons that higher-ed fails at managing difficult people and introduces a four-step method by which academic leaders can fairly, firmly, and successfully change their behavior.The “EM & EM” method follows four sequential steps:Engagement - the leader blends authority and empathy to make sure the individual feels heard and also receives the clear message that they must improve their behavior or performance. Management - the leader increases the pressure on the individual who thinks that they continue to have the option to ignore messages