A friend asked:
i read something recently about how academics are often douchebags/office politics are particularly terrible in academia b/c the stakes are so low. i am hoping this does not extend to my workplace b/c we are doing meaningful research meant to help policymakers improve people’s lives.
After several years in the private sector, I started working in higher education in 2004. Without a doubt, office politics are less severe in Academia.
The Stakes are High
Academics have usually spent at least 10 years working on various degrees, and then they spend the rest of their lives seeking notoriety in their super-competitive field. All job hiring occurs between June and August. There are a maximum of maybe 50 openings per year, much fewer in this economy. If you don’t get one, you have to work part-time. Imagine trying to make it as a movie actor in Hollywood, except that the scenario gets played out at a really boring conference instead of on the big screen.
Bottom line: Academics perceive incredibly high stakes.
Bureaucracy controls competition
Generally speaking, all academics are specialists. They are hand-selected after a grueling nationwide search to fill a very specific job that their coworkers cannot fill. So they aren’t in competition with their coworkers.
However– There is no financial incentive to be nice.
The reason for this is the way money behaves in Higher Education.
There are no merit-based raises. You make more money by publishing books, getting grants, or when the central university administration gives a 3% raise to everyone who works there. Financial rewards are not pegged to how much people like you.
People are crazy
You will definitely meet challenging personalities in Academia. A typical example is a professor with zero interpersonal skills. This person is smart, they have multiple Ivy League degrees, they want to win in this highly competitive industry, and they hate it when people get in their way. They are a Professorzilla, abusing their students, fellow faculty members, and the staff equally. It happens. You must develop ways of dealing with these people, because you will meet them in all aspects of your life.
So don’t become a rat in a cage
There is no point in backstabbing your way around an academic department. You will just make other people miserable this way, with no benefit to you. If so-and-so quits because you are so mean to them, there is no way you will get their job. Someone from Harvard will get it eventually. You may as well be nice.
Work is its own reward
Perversely, academia is one of the few places where I think this adage holds true. Your hard work adds to your reputation, but has no immediate impact on anything else, including your salary.
Oh, except for when your research helps people.
And this is why we work in Academia in the first place- the opportunity to support learning. It sounds sappy, but it is true.