Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Overview of Team Activities ......................................................................................................................... 3
Discussion Groups ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Three Word Survey ................................................................................................................................... 4
T-Shirt ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Creation of the Civility Statement ................................................................................................................. 5
Next Steps for Civility in the University Libraries .......................................................................................... 6
Appendix A: Civility Team Charge ................................................................................................................ 7
Appendix B: Programming ........................................................................................................................... 9
Appendix C: Metrics ................................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix D: Wordle ................................................................................................................................... 12
Appendix E: Action Items From Civility Team Retreat ............................................................................... 13
Appendix F: Civility Statement and Guidelines .......................................................................................... 14
Introduction
In February 2009 the Civility Team was charged by the Assistant and Associate Deans as an offshoot of the Diversity Committee. The purpose of the Team was to further investigate issues of civility and rankism identified in longitudinal analysis of three climate studies, to conduct activities with the employees of the University Libraries leading toward a unified definition and understanding of Civility and to coordinate programming to highlight the concepts of civility and rankism. The Team concluded it’s work in June, 2010 with the launch of the University Libraries Civility Statement. See Appendix A: Civility Team Charge.
The Diversity Committee with Library Administration will move forward on the recommendations of the Civility Team to meet strategic objectives stated in the University Libraries’ Diversity Strategic Plan 2010-2015.
Overview of Team Activities
The original plan outlined in the charge was to use CQI methodology along with an IRB approved study to survey library employees. We would establish a baseline measurement of the understanding of civility and rankism, conduct programming, focus groups and activities, re-survey at the mid point and once again at the conclusion of the project to see if understanding and knowledge of the effort had increased. Focus group outcomes would be used to construct the definition of Civility in the Libraries. The Team working closely with the Assistant and Associate Deans, concluded that this level of surveying outlined in the charge would not be well received by our employees. Instead we followed through with the IRB approval for focus groups. Unfortunately, employees were reluctant to participate as part of a formal study. The Team believes that civility, and rankism issues are very personal and people need to feel that they are contributing in a safe and comfortable situation.
Because the premise of this effort was to construct a civility statement as a grass roots effort representing the thoughts and perspectives of the whole organization, we decided that we would proceed informally, eliminate the IRB and find other means to gather this information.
The reformulated plan was:
Programming was built into the plan to both educate library employees and to draw interest to the civility initiative. See Appendix B: Programming for an outline of programming and attendance.)
Discussion Groups
Four discussion groups were offered to all employees of the University Libraries. Three were held in person at University Park and one was held online as a chat session. The discussion groups were facilitated by personnel from the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. These personnel collaborated to summarize outcomes and presented the Civility Team with a report. The report was shared only with the Deans and the Civility Team.
Discussion groups were asked to discuss the following:
1. What does an incivility incident look like?
2. What does a bullying incident look like?
3. What actions can the libraries take to make sure that this is understood as unacceptable behavior?
4. What does success look like in terms of creating a more "civil" work environment at your unit/campus?
5. Based on the conversation today what would a library definition of civility look like?
6. With all our differences, how does an organization find a common ground on how we treat each other?
Three Word Survey
As part of the effort to craft a civility statement with input from library employees, the team devised a simple three word survey that was offered to any library employee who wished to participate. The desired outcome of the survey was to discern the language that people used to describe civility and incivility. This survey was advertized at programming and events. The Team normalized the terms submitted by the 75 respondents combining variants of the same word, corrected misspellings, hyphenation, etc. and used the results to create the wordle that was used in promotional material and the T-Shirt design. The visual representation of civility and incivility in the form of a wordle or word cloud helped the Team to analyze the results and later use that information to inform writing of the civility statement. See Appendix D: Wordle.
Survey:
Your anonymous responses will be combined by the Civility Team to produce a Wordle of what civility is and is not that will be posted on the Civility Team website. The Team will also use your ideas to help them in developing the Libraries' statement of civility. Thanks in advance for your participation.
1. Please provide three words that come to mind when you think of civility
2. Please provide three words that come to mind when you think of incivility. Please! don't get personal (i.e., names, specific examples, etc.)
T-Shirt
The Team used the wordle as the design for a civility T-Shirt. The purpose of the T-Shirt was to generate interest in the civility initiative and to provide the opportunity for employees to demonstrate their support by purchasing and wearing a civility T-Shirt. The shirts were sold at cost.
Creation of the Civility Statement
At the conclusion of 18 months of planning, benchmarking through the literature, programming, discussion groups and the three word survey the Civility Team retreated for a day to craft the first draft of the civility statement. The first 90 minutes of the retreat was spent participating in a facilitated discussion group that mirrored the experience of the discussion groups offered to the library employees earlier in the year. At the conclusion the facilitator reviewed the summary of the library discussion groups. An important finding by the Center for Planning and Institutional Assessment facilitators was the similarity in themes that emerged across all of the discussion groups.
The Team spent the remainder of the retreat crafting the first draft of the civility statement using these themes and incorporating the most common terms from the three word survey. The statement was also informed by best practices and examples discovered through the benchmarking.
The civility statement was then shared with the Assistant and Associate Deans. Some word crafting and re-ordering of information was done by the Deans. The statement was then sent through the following vetting process:
Minor editorial changes made based on feedback vetting groups and and Civility Team
Final Civility Statement shared with University Libraries employees
See Appendix F: University Libraries Civility Statement and Guidelines
Next Steps for Civility in the University Libraries
The Civility Team completed its charge on June 30, 2010. It has become a focus of the University Libraries Diversity Committee in an effort to ensure that civility becomes ingrained into the fabric of our culture by continuing to spread ownership and a sense of responsibility as charged by Dean Eaton. Civility is one of the subcommittees of the incoming UL Diversity Committee for 2010-2011.
Fostering a Climate of Civility and Respect has been included as one of the goals in Challenge 2 (Creating a Welcoming Campus Climate) of the Libraries Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State, 2010-2015. Additionally, civility is outlined in Area 4 of the Strategic Focus in the UL Strategic Plan, 2008/09-2012/13. Civility is included in the strategies, high level tactics, and strategic indicators. The Diversity Committee will be responsible for metrics and documentation of progress of civility efforts.
Posters containing the Civility Statement and Guidelines are in the process of being distributed to all units of the libraries. They should be displayed in prominent places where UL faculty and staff can be reminded regularly of its principles. Issues of civility, respect and classism/rankism may be used as topics of discussion in unit/department meetings or elsewhere as appropriate.
Managing the concepts of civility, respect, and classism/rankism should occur similarly to the manner in which we have come to value diversity, by retooling our skill sets through education and programming. It is incumbent of each of us as employees of the University Libraries and Penn State to promote acts of civility much as we have embraced the values of diversity. The civil manner in which we treat each other and our constituents should become standard operating practice throughout the Libraries.
The Team recommends that the Diversity Committee with Library Administration consult the list of action items (See Appendix E) when planning next steps.
Additionally, several members of the original Civility Team are enthusiastic about sharing the work of the Team with a wider audience. Some of the ongoing work by these individuals includes but is not limited to:
Appendix A: Civility Team Charge
Sponsors:
Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications and Assistant/Associate Deans
Charge:
Employ a total quality management approach to improve the climate in the University Libraries by addressing and retooling skill sets of employees to deal with civility and rankism (classism) issues. The ultimate goal is to build a culture of respect and to value everyone's unique contribution to the University Libraries.
Purpose: The purpose of forming this team rather than carrying out this effort as part of the normal activities of the Diversity Committee is to spread ownership and a sense of responsibility for this effort throughout the organization as a grassroots effort.
Task List:
1. Senior management and the Diversity Committee charter the project, identifying timeline, metrics, outcomes expected and assign a task force whose membership represents the spectrum of employees in the University Libraries to implement the plan.
2. Libraries-wide effort
a. Launch this program with presentation by Robert Orndorff and Dulin Clark discussing their new book: The PITA Principle
b. Define vision of culture of respect and create civility code as a Libraries?wide social effort involving anyone who wants to be involved (keeping in mind existing University and Library policy.)
c. Library management, supervisors, and staff share vision and civility code at the unit level.
d. Give people tools for dealing with disrespect and incivility at work.
i. Educate staff on how to resolve problems, reporting channels, etc.
ii. Offer programming related to civility, respect, and rankism (e.g., HRDC Classism program, Climate Control - promoting mutual respect in the workplace, etc.)
3. Metrics
a. Devise plan for collecting data and information to monitor benefits and improvements, areas for further improvement (e.g., surveys, questionnaires, suggestions, exit survey information, etc.)
b. Provide regular feedback to the library community.
4. Recognition for ongoing success. Devise plan for recognizing, communicating, and celebrating successes.
5. Reassess and report back to library community; recommend next steps.
Resources Needed:
Budget request: $500 for Orndorff, presentation: purchase of 10 books plus honorarium $1,000 for programming/speaker costs $250 for miscellaneous costs including publicity, event supplies, etc. Total requested: $1,750 (from existing Diversity Committee budget and Library Human Resources Training budget)
Deliverables: Quarterly progress meetings with sponsors and library community, Programming, Metrics, Final Summary Report with recommendations for future actions. Final report includes recommendation as to how this effort will be maintained in the future and by whom.
Time Frame: February 2009 Kickoff with final assessment and next steps delivered in June 2010.
References: Orndorff, R. & Clark, D. (2009). The PITA principle : how to work with and avoid becoming a pain in the ass. Indianapolis: JIST Pub.
Rennie Peyton, P. (2003). Dignity at work : eliminate bullying and create a positive working environment (1st ed.). Hove ; New York: Brunner?Routledge.
Tehrani, N. (2001). Building a culture of respect : managing bullying at work. London: Taylor & Francis.
Approved by DLC, January 12, 2009
Appendix B: Programming
The following programming and events were offered as part of the civility initiative. Funding was provided by Library Human Resources, Library Diversity Committee, Dean’s discretionary funds and co-sponsorship with Information Technology Services and Outreach for the Dr. Fuller event.
Notable: The launch of the civility initiative on DATE was the highest attended event (combining in person and remote attendees) counted to date.
LIST of Programming and # of Attendees and availability via Breeze/MediaSite Live
Appendix C: Metrics
The charge of the Metrics subcommittee was to formulate a method of quantifying whether our programming was having an effect on the audiences, and to a greater extent, what the effect was. The Civility Team’s Metrics subcommittee produced a Programming assessment tool, which was used for every program the Civility Team sponsored. By placing the assessment tool on Survey Select, we were able to disseminate the surveys either Libraries wide or to a select group of attendees. Also, by utilizing the same form but with slight alterations for each program, we were able to supply longitudinal data to supplement the final reports of the Civility Team. There were a few glitches with the surveys, especially with maintaining the right questions for each survey. With a few minor exceptions, the surveys were well-received and utilized well.
There were 5 Civility Team sponsored programs for which we provided feedback opportunities. At our first program, The Pita Principle, there were 80 attendees and 49 survey respondents. The second program, Assertive Communication, had 20 attendees and 10 survey respondents. Then, for our third program, Business Etiquette, we had 17 attendees and 13 survey respondents. The fourth program, Non-Verbal Communication, had 33 attendees and 11 survey respondents. Our fifth program, Dignity for All with Dr. Robert Fuller, had 308 attendees and 98 respondents.
Overall, we always had a good amount of respondents for every program. For future research regarding this topic, we advocate the use of a programming assessment tool for gauging the approval of the programs. However, in order to ascertain whether there has been a cultural shift in the University Libraries’ environment, we advocate utilizing a Likert-type scale.
Appendix E: Action Items From Civility Team Retreat
Administrative Initiative
Changing the Libraries Culture
Support For Managers/Supervisors
Training
Conflict Resolution
Appendix F: Civility Statement and Guidelines
Civility Statement:
Within the University Libraries, civility comprises a conscious demonstration of mutual respect – for people, for their roles, for their knowledge and expertise. Civility requires cooperation, tolerance, acceptance, inclusiveness, kindness, courtesy, and patience. It is expressed not only in the words we choose, but in our tone, demeanor, and actions. All members of the University Libraries community are responsible for and expected to exemplify and promote civility.
The University Libraries is committed to creating and maintaining a positive learning and working environment. While it is understood that disagreement will, and should, occur in a collegiate setting, open communication, intellectual integrity, mutual respect for differing viewpoints, freedom from unnecessary disruption, and a climate of civility are important values that we embrace.
Examples of civility include:
All employees deserve to be treated with dignity and respect at their place of work. They deserve to work in an environment free from incivility, harassment, or bullying. Actions must be evaluated not only in light of what the actor intended, but also by what the recipient felt, i.e., impact as well as intent is important.
The University Libraries management is ultimately responsible for creating a positive work climate, and will deal with civility concerns in a timely manner. If you believe you have been treated inappropriately, click here for suggestions of what you can do http://publications.libraries.psu.edu/web/civility.
University Libraries Civility Guidelines
What to do about Uncivil Treatment:
Each University Libraries employee and community member is expected to treat others with civility and respect. If you feel that you have been treated in a manner that is inconsistent with these expectations, you have several options:
Any indication of retaliation for concerns about civil and respectful treatment that are raised in good faith will not be tolerated and will be investigated by the Libraries Administration.
