When communicating with teachers and researchers of different higher education institutions of my country, I sometimes hear about incorrect behaviour of colleagues and the leadership in respect of them. Very often “unhealthy” competition is simply out of envy because of the higher academic results, better students’ feedback on their subject taught, etc. There are some cases when colleagues bias students against other teachers. And extremely fierce struggle begins when one of colleagues has a chance to get a higher position, e.g. Professor’s.
I am inviting you to share your experience in this discussion or take part in my research by writing me a personal message to the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Even though this is not good, in reality every organization has something unpleasant acts and relationships which are latent or displayed among its members. Reasons can be more exhaustive and limited by exposures and imaginations only.
I describe the academic world is pool of passion. And seldom are thei fair. The competition to find out who the best one, the fastest, the most complete is amazing.
Yes, dear Jolita.
Unfortunately, competition is part of the academic world. You put too many brainy people in a small spot, and you get inevitable conflict. We have to learn how to cope and to get by, without hurting others. It is not easy to earn respect in a smal community of intelligent people who all aim the same. But peaceful respect for one self and for the others is certainly the keyword to get by.
Yes, there is!
Sometimes it is not visible, but such envious behaviour out of academic competition is prevalent in academic institutions.
Well, as like any other field, academics and research too has its own fair share of competitions. Judging whether the competition is healthy or unhealthy can only be done after knowing the situation as a whole! ( I am sure each one of us have witnessed or have been a part of it some way or the other)
Most often, the unhealthy competitive behaviors in academic and research settings (especially within the same department) is some kind of a chain reaction and has past events which act as predispositions.
In case of interdepartmental or inter institutional unhealthy competitions, mostly involves academicians or researchers being (allegedly) overtly curious about others rather than concentrating on their own work at hand!
regards
Rathish
'Unhealthy' competition between researchers and teachers is a real example for children/students?! How can teachers/researchers ask behavior from children/students they are not able to master themselves?
By the way, what is unhealthy competition? E. g. that some people are more healthy than others and therefore perform better or that some people are more healthy than others and exclude less healthy people to improve performance even more?
Dear Jolita,
Do you wish to focus on unhealthy competition in sports, e.g. the use of chemicals, genes, or tools to improve performance but paying the health costs later in life?
Yes, I have experienced dear @Jolita on my skin. I was not elected for assistant professor at University of Belgrade in 1985, even I have had better references than my competitors. The problem was the fact that I was not a member of a Communist Party. At that time I was living in Yugoslavia, there was a mono-party system instead of democracy. Referees and some other colleagues took part in unfair competitions. They have written a letters and complaints against me.
There are some (former and recent) colleagues with whom I had a fair and inspirational "challenge" over some years, seeing who managed to publish more high-quality papers ... which was indeed always a friendly sort of challenge about which we could laugh when we met, with honest gratulations to the others' success.
Other colleagues in my former institutions had another idea of these challenges inside the same faculty, i.e. keeping colleages "small" instead of supporting them. This is the sort of competition which can easily destroy groups which should actually work together ... and I have seen several former colleagues leaving science due to these experiences. I am quite happy that I didn't have to experience the latter in my recent faculty.
Yes, I have “unhealthy” competition inside me - is it better research or good teaching?
I am enjoying reading you all. Thank you Jolita, for your valuable question.
I cannot resist quoting from Confucius :
« When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self »
« Do not worry because you have no official position. Worry about your qualifications. Do not worry because no one appreciates your abilities. Seek yo be worthy of appreciation.'»
CONFUCIUS - The Analects.(III.Book IV)
What's the use of Scientific reputation? Is this a goal to obtain? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Whats_the_use_of_Scientific_reputation_Is_this_a_goal_to_obtain#56c9d90b64e9b245258b4597 [accessed Feb 21, 2016].
Is the perception of competition a mental state depending on the individual? Twenty individuals exposed to the same education or research environment will perceive these environments differently, even if they all are socially treated in the same way?
Individual differences in the ability of mind reading?
Consequences of unhealthy competition?
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+of+refugees&qpvt=images+of+refugees&qpvt=images+of+refugees&FORM=IGRE
My self is research guide. When the university recognized me as a Research Guide in commerce in 2005. First upon i told my colleague departmental staff to register for Research leading Ph. D. Both are happy and registered. they got Ph.D. under my Guidance. Dr. Abdul Kalam honored with them by the Ph.D. degree certificate. I proudly tell everyone that they are doing research. So there is no problem of unhealthy competition between Researcher and their colleague. Its depend upon your behavior.
Each person is involved in a complicated social network which is often not accessible to other persons. I think it is very complicated to judge other people!!
Cheers
Maria,
It is a good question... The question is more relevant... I find professional competition and mutual respect and dis-respect... Yes, there are elite class of more practical noble teachers who wish to learn from Industry, while Industry respecting knowledge and intellect of academic experts. But, there are teachers in academic Industry who create hurdles, unable to accept others and feel researcher is competitive... These segment de-motivate and kill the research interests in passionate researchers. This scenario is more relevant in India.
Dear Krishnan Umachandran, thank you for participating in the discussion. I agree with your opinion, really every organization has unpleasant acts and relationships which are latent or displayed among its members. Just not every organization shall make every effort to prevent or reduce this.
Dear Subhash C. Kundu, the bad thing is that envious behaviour is very often invisible and difficult to prove.
Dear Mohammad Ayaz Ahmad, thank you for sharing the valuable material.
Dear Andrea Ehrmann, I’m glad that there is the atmosphere of fair and inspirational "challenge" in your team and you didn’t have to experience the destructive competition. Thank you for participating in the discussion of the important issue for me.
Dear Eraldo Banovac, thank you for the beautiful Baltasar Gracián quotation!
Dear Vilemar Magalhaes, thank you for your reply. Your comparison of the academic world to the pool of passion meets my opinion.
Dear Josef Punčochář, I also very often ask myself the same question. But probably some area is better anyway? Although we are required to be the best researchers and lecturers at the same time. This is not always easy to reconcile.
Dear Hero Mohammad Ismael, thank you for sharing your experience.
Dear Maria Bettencourt Pires, I agree with your thoughts that we must work without hurting others. It is kind of clear that people with higher education, carrying out various researches themselves, aiming to ensure the well-being of the society should behave decently. But for a number of years my research results are dominated (in a bad sense) by higher education institutions. Many teachers emphasize the incorrect behaviour of their colleagues and constant harm that is difficult to prove. Thank you for inspirational Confucius quotations and the useful link!
Dear Rathish Nair, time and again I ask myself the question of how to find the divide between "healthy" and "unhealthy" competition. But you have perfectly written that “Judging whether the competition is healthy or unhealthy can only be done after knowing the situation as a whole!”. Undoubtedly, this is some kind of a chain reaction. Thank you for the thorough and valuable reply.
Dear Ljubomir Jacić, I am very grateful for sharing your story with me. I think your experience is very important. Although people who grew up in a different system can find it difficult to understand this experience, but it shows how people are pursuing their selfish goals in unfair ways and the science is marginalized. The reflection on unfair competition from these two positions would be very interesting. If you agreed to participate in my research, I’d send you the questions in a private message.
Dear Napoleon Ono Imaah, Your reply that “unfortunately, there is “unhealthy” competition between teachers and researchers everywhere” confirms my personal observations. The situation with publishing papers in the journals could be another topic for discussion and it is likely we would learn some very unpleasant experiences from colleagues around the world.
Dear Marcel M. Lambrechts, thank you for your active participation in the discussion, your observations, the questions for me and the link.
Dear Sanjay Aswale, Thank you for sharing the good practice. The more examples of such impeccable behaviour we will have, the more rarely the issues such as mine will occur in discussions.
Dear Ramanan L, I have read your comment with great interest and I absolutely agree that professional (in this case, the “unhealthy”) competition is closely related to disrespect. As you argue that teachers in academic industry who create hurdles, unable to accept others and feel researcher is competitive – it is very recognizable to me in higher educational institutions in our country as well.
Dear S.A. Khan, the fact that “we cannot eliminate this” is indeed depressing. After all, in the academic world there are so many various codes of professional and scientific ethics, so I constantly ask myself the question, “is it really impossible to “mitigate” those fields of stress, at least a little?”
The sheer number of responses indicates that professional jealousy is rampant in higher education. You may want to explore the conceptual model termed the "toxic triangle."
Leadership (a.k.a. Deans or senior professors) that do not curb and control those behaviors are part of the problem.
It is true that even in my country, you can hear about such cases, but I have not experienced, fortunately ...
Have you ever experienced/seen any examples of “unhealthy” competition between teachers and researchers in your environment?
"Unhealthy" competition between teachers and researchers in universities and research institutes of the USSR and Russia is a common occurrence, unfortunately. This "unhealthy" competition (phenomenon) is not felt if the researcher or teacher of mathematics or chemistry works among physicians, and a physician among chemists or other specialists.
The head of the department could deprive the teacher of the opportunity to become a doctor of science. He considered such an employee as a competitor. This was done, as a rule, by mediocre scientists (professors), many of whom for 20 years of chair management did not admit to becoming a doctor of science (PhD; D.Sci; MD), no employees. I know one "candidate of science" (USSR), who went to work as a loader in protest. Then he returned to university, became M.D. at age 63, and died 2 years later.
Defenitly;
A researcher is someone who is concerned with evolvement, innovation and creativity; while a teacher most of the times is someone that is stuck to the old principles and suffers from resistance to change. Such conflicts are always possible to occur.
There is a difference between both of them even some scholars divide them into three categories, teachers, teacher educators and researchers.
The relationship between teaching and research is often assumed and just as often ignored. Research should and does influence teaching (and vice versa), but the gulf between the two can at times seem large. Teachers are told to use “research-based strategies” and yet such strategies may be presented to them stripped of the very sensitivity to context, analytic rigor, and thoughtful skepticism that are the hallmarks of quality research.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Zoology
- Ornithology
- birds
- Scopus