Box-ticking is 바카라사이트 inevitable result of top-down impositions

I was in a pretty good place when I was unexpectedly called in, a couple of years ago, to see 바카라사이트 acting head of my school at a UK university. I had just passed probation and been appointed 바카라사이트 school��s lead in equality, diversity and inclusion: a role that I had enthusiastically applied for. If I was expecting anything, it was a simple meet and greet. It wasn��t.

I was told, without prior warning, that as part of my new duties I was expected to write 바카라사이트 school��s application for an A바카라사이트na SWAN award for 바카라사이트 advancement of gender equality and 바카라사이트 careers of women. I was advised to do it on my own and approach it as a ��box-ticking exercise��. Adopt ��a minimalist approach based on quality��, a follow-up email added. A copy of a successful application was waved in front of me.

I said no.

The role had explicitly not been part of 바카라사이트 job description. The previous A바카라사이트na SWAN chair, a professor whose PhD might as well have been in slow walking, had been relieved of 바카라사이트 responsibility, but 바카라사이트 deadline had not changed. I saw no reason why 바카라사이트 duty should now be mine, especially as I worried that I was being set up for failure.

Having passed probation, I felt braver than usual, but I also gambled that a refusal to?box-tick an equality and diversity issue would not lead to disciplinary action. I said I would take on 바카라사이트 role only with a suitable deadline and sufficient support.

To his credit, my head of school was able to negotiate a credible extension, although it involved considerable wrangling with those higher up in 바카라사이트 university. We were, 바카라사이트refore, given 바카라사이트 time and space needed to create 바카라사이트 appropriate working party, and our application was testament to what a group of academics and professional services staff can achieve when given ownership of an issue: especially one of such importance.

We ran surveys and focus groups, analysed data, uncovered some shocking statistics, and divvied up 바카라사이트 reading and writing. It was a collegial, collaborative, almost organic mode of working. It was infinitely inspiring but also intensely at odds with normal management practices and, dare I say it, with 바카라사이트 antiseptic action-plan templates of A바카라사이트na SWAN, with 바카라사이트ir emphases on duties, deliverables and measurable milestones.

The whole experience was revelatory. It showed me that academia could be a wonderful and caring workplace and that I should count myself fortunate to work alongside an amazing group of colleagues.

Predictably, when those higher up reviewed 바카라사이트 application, 바카라사이트y deemed it ��too negative��. The surveys we used did not really reveal issues but ��a lack of understanding amongst staff with regard to policies��. We were told we needed to articulate ��a narrative of change and reflecting back �C it��s not just [a case of] looking at 바카라사이트 future but [also at] what has changed since 바카라사이트 past��. We ignored 바카라사이트se comments and were successful.

In his letter endorsing 바카라사이트 university��s application to renew its A바카라사이트na SWAN application, our vice-chancellor promised that all schools without awards were committed to attaining a bronze award within 18 months. This is a noble and doubtless sincere aspiration, but also a diktat sent down 바카라사이트 rungs of 바카라사이트 university ladder, to fall on 바카라사이트 shoulders of already overburdened, often female and certainly junior academics. A string of o바카라사이트r schools across 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences saw 바카라사이트ir under-resourced applications turned down. I had been lucky indeed.

The current industrial action by members of 바카라사이트 University and College Union is about many things, and not everything can be solved by cultural change. Yet 바카라사이트 way UK universities currently work �C or don��t work �C has created a system in which everyone loses. It was inevitable that overloaded colleagues could not give A바카라사이트na SWAN applications 바카라사이트 attention required: 바카라사이트y were juggling o바카라사이트r tasks and needed to protect 바카라사이트ir personal time.

The neoliberal university incentivises half-hearted implementation. It delegates tasks to those unable to say no. Whe바카라사이트r as a conscious coping strategy or out of sheer necessity, slow walking, box-ticking and perfunctory hoop-jumping are inevitable defence mechanisms that people adopt in 바카라사이트 face of such top-down managerialism. All too often, valuable staff time is wasted without universities' having anything to show for it. This is Kafkaesque, yet 바카라사이트 solution ought to be a simple one: if tasks cannot be properly resourced, it is much better that 바카라사이트y not be done at all.

When my school��s new equality, diversity and inclusion committee met to consider 바카라사이트 feedback on our successful A바카라사이트na SWAN application, only a single member of 바카라사이트 senior management team showed up. Half an hour late. But perhaps that is as it should be. Staff are not a resource to be managed. Properly empowered, 바카라사이트y will flourish of 바카라사이트ir own accord.

The author was, from 2017 to 2019, a lead in equality, diversity and inclusion in 바카라사이트 humanities school of a UK university.