Research Ethics Videos

Assessing Research Climates

Our Assessment Tools

Effectively managing the academic environment requires data. A professional, principled, inclusive and psychologically safe climate is crucial to for the facilitation of work flow and interactions between academic leaders, faculty, staff, and students. The National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics has helped to develop tools which make it easier to efficiently measure work place climate. Tools include SOURCE, which measures research integrity, and KINDER, which measures interpersonal engagement. We use a purpose-built Results Analysis Engine to manage the process and present findings. Both SOURCE and KINDER comprise survey questions based on a Likert Scale as well as background questions. The Engine allows leaders to see a full summary on what areas of the environment are succeeding or failing. These tools are useful for addressing long term and short term issues within the professional academic environment, to ensure that each member of the community can thrive.

About The SOURCE

The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SOURCE) is a validated instrument specifically designed to measure the climate of research integrity in academic organizations. It collects confidential responses from participants and provides a snapshot of program and unit microclimates through the aggregated perspectives of their members. Its use also contributes to the overall climate for research integrity by contributing de-identified data to a national comparison database. For an insight into how SOURCE results relate to institutional research integrity, please see this Nature article on the subject. For our newest white paper on developing academic leaders, see Academic Leadership Development, Critical Capabilities at the Department Level.

Results can help individual academic and research institutions:

  • Characterize and compare departmental research integrity climates,
  • Assess the efficacy of educational and mentoring approaches,
  • Detect where research policies or practices (e.g., concerning data management, etc.) might need attention through responsible conduct of research (RCR) instruction
  • Document and demonstrate for research sponsors institutional commitment to research integrity and RCR education,
  • Justify enhanced efforts to foster a climate of integrity education and quality research.

Running the SOURCE at intervals of two to four years will demonstrate a commitment to improving the research integrity climate and provide data to assess its effectiveness over time.

The survey contains 32 items (5 point Likert scales) plus classification information about respondents (rank, departmental affiliation, type of highest degree). It takes 10-15 minutes to complete online.

In addition to enabling confidential institution-specific reports on units and the campus as a whole, de-identified data is compiled in a national comparison database so that the community as a whole may benefit. The norming initiative permits home institution departments to be appropriately assessed with respect to other comparable units in the same discipline.

About KINDER

KINDER was developed specifically to assess the quality of interpersonal climates in research settings. We know from the validation of this new instrument that results from the KINDER correlate with research integrity climate, organizational commitment, and a sense of integration with one’s work unit.

Although existing work has been done to develop assessments of research integrity climate (via the SOURCE, the Survey of Organizational Research Climate), up to now, no assessment tool has existed to measure interpersonal climate, particularly as it exists within academic research-focused environments. Over the past several years, as part of a project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Sloan Grant #2019-12294), our team has rigorously developed and validated such a tool in KINDER.

KINDER includes 24 question items (α=0.95), all asked on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, with the following response categories: Not at All, Somewhat, Moderately, Very, and Completely. A “No basis for judging” option is also provided. These questions yield four means-scored summary dimensions, one tapping Institutional Practices influencing climate, and three tapping various aspects of the work-unit climate.

How can you and your university run the SOURCE or KINDER?

An organization that wishes to run the SOURCE or KINDER can make arrangements to do so with the University of Illinois’ National Center for Professional and Research Ethics (NCPRE). The license fee is based on the size of the project and the level of support desired in interpretation and analysis.

Once the license with NCPRE is in place, an institution provides emails and names of participants with departmental affiliations and status (graduate student, post-doc, faculty member). NCPRE manages the survey administration using the Results Analysis Engine (RAE)

The RAE sends emails via institutional email addresses seeking survey participation and follows up with reminders over a 4 week period.  Response rates during previous studies have ranged from 15-50%.

The RAE provides analyses used to generate the summary reports for the contracting institution. As part of building a national “norming” database for providing comparative data, NCPRE retains de-identified information with limited demographics for comparison and benchmark purposes.

More detailed information on the procedures involved in implementing these instruments at your institution can be found here.

If we can answer any questions for you, please contact us at: ncpre-source@illinois.edu or 217-333-1416.

 

LC Pathway Index

[a-z-listing “Leadership Collection”]

KINDER Climate Survey

Civility, Interpersonal Dynamics, and Organizational Respect Climate Survey 

Introduction and Background

Cultures are critical to the success of workplaces, and the resulting interpersonal climates are an important factor in research quality and integrity. We believe that cultures of excellence are those that facilitate their members’ ability to produce their best work. Members in these work climates feel welcome to engage fully and share creatively in the workplace. 

Although existing work has been done to develop assessments of research integrity climate (via the SOURCE, the Survey of Organizational Research Climate), up to now, no assessment tool has existed to measure interpersonal climate, particularly as it exists within academic research-focused environments. Over the past several years, as part of a project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Sloan Grant #2019-12294), our team has rigorously developed and validated such a tool—the KINDER survey.

 

Survey Domains and Topics  

Survey Features

The KINDER survey includes 24 question items (α=0.95), all asked on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, with the following response categories: Not at All, Somewhat, Moderately, Very, and Completely. A “No basis for judging” option is also provided. These questions yield four means-scored summary dimensions, one tapping Institutional Practices influencing climate, and three tapping various aspects of the work-unit climate.

EAL LAS 2021

Excellence in Academic Leadership: LAS

Welcome to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence in Academic Leadership (EAL) program cohort. This program is presented by the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics (NCPRE), housed in the Coordinated Science Lab here on campus.

Your cohort facilitators will include an array of highly-experienced Illinois leaders, including NCPRE director and former Associate Provost C. K. Gunsalus, President Emeritus Robert Easter, and Assistant Dean of Inclusive Excellence Lloyd Munjanja.

Your primary point of contact will be Sarah Mustered. She is available for any questions you may have about the program.

General Reference Materials:

Session 6: EAL LAS Workshop

Session Date: Monday, May 16, 2022

*The Leadership collection videos are now available again. We apologize for any inconvenience!*

Leadership Collection Resources: 

  • Bullyproofing:
    • Meet Professor Major (Part I)
    • Meet Professor Major (part II)

Handouts and References:

Slide Deck (for individual use only):

Pre-session homework:  

Before this meeting, we ask that you do the following:
  1. Please read “Are You the Doormat?”, the case study sent via email (marked with “READ ME” in the file name for clarity). We will be discussing this in breakout rooms later in the session and taking the time to read it ahead of time will give you more time to have meaningful group discussions.
  2. You have also been assigned one of two roles for a negotiation role play to be undertaken in pairs. Typically, these documents would be distributed the moment before beginning the exercise. To adapt to an online setting, we will be providing them now, so that you may print them out to have ready for the activity. We ask in the strongest terms that you please refrain from reading them beforehand. For clarity, I have marked these files with “PRINT ONLY” in the file name. The experience will be far more valuable and provide a better learning opportunity if you read their contents for the first time during the exercise.
    • We also request that you please refrain from distributing this particular document in any form. As such, I will not be uploading the roles to the webpage. Typically, we would collect these handouts after the exercise and ask that you please dispose of them with care given this online setting.

Session Five: Exploring Leadership

Session Date: Friday, February 25, 12pm-1:30pm CT

This session will focus on leadership through the lens of preparing for (and responding to) paradigm shifts–Leadership Through Challenging Times, if you will.
In preparation for this week’s session, we ask that you take the time to:
1) consider and identify a fundamental change occurring in your field and be prepared to describe how your unit will adapt to it. Consider the impact that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity had on Newtonian Physics, or the impact of genetic engineering on agriculture, or the introduction of satellites on meteorology. These are all examples of major paradigm shifts. Other changes are smaller in scale and still impactful. How you recognize and respond to these events is key to being a successful academic leader. Please prepare to discuss the fundamental changes occurring in your fields in breakout sessions.
2) In addition, we ask that you remember to have your definition of leadership from our first session on hand and ready to discuss. 

Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

Re-visit your definition of leadership and reflect on your strengths; how will you play to them? What would you like to focus on going forward? Record your thoughts in your journal.

  • Do you see a paradigm shift in your field or institution? How will your leadership help your colleagues prepare for or react to it? Record your thoughts in your journal.
  • Submit via email discussion questions or a topic you would like to discuss with the group from your reading of Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability (whichever you read).

Session Four: Difficult Conversations and Personal Scripts

Session Date: Friday, February 4 at 12pm-2:00pm CT

Please be prepared to share your one-minute elevator pitch and to report back on your Critical Friends sessions.
 
I have attached the conflict self-assessment we sent once before. We ask that you continue to keep this in mind as you consider your conflict style and how you tend to react to difficult conversations. Among other topics we will cover, we will revisit your conflict comfort and style and introduce the And Stance, a powerful tool that grows out of work on influence and persuasion at the Harvard Project on Negotiation. The idea behind the And Stance is that ‘but’ is a stopper word in American English; the exercise is to practice moving to the And Stance, where you use “and” instead of “but” (or “however” or “although”)– without changing your message. If you have time to look over the exercise in advance, we can spend more time discussing and working on it during the session. 

Session Materials:

Leadership Collection Reference Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

Practice applying the And Stance in your everyday life. First, try to go one week without using “but” in an email, instead restructuring the statement with “and” in order to align with others. Then, try to go 24 hours without saying “but” at all. This is a very difficult and worthwhile exercise that helps make you aware of just how often you use stopper words and where you can change your approach.

  • Start reading either Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability. (If you haven’t read either, start with Crucial Conversations.) Both are readily available for purchase online. We wish to provide time for all members of the cohort to read one or the other before we start a discussion, so are providing a head start for a future discussion.
  • Prepare personal scripts and share them with other members of the cohort, using the Personal Scripts Quick Tips as a guide. Also consider the Complaint-Handling Guidelines. You may find these helpful for handling difficult conversations and for constructing personal scripts when faced with these scenarios.
  • Before our next session, find and have ready the definition of leadership you recorded in your journals during the first session. Prepare to discuss.

Session Three: Vibrant Academic Units

Session Date: Friday, December 3 at 12pm-1:30pm CT

We ask you to be prepared to discuss the AUDiT that you filled out for your unit along with the real or hypothetical situation you developed for use with a Critical Friends group. We have also attached a self-assessment document that we will be using during today’s session. Please download it to have at hand during our meeting.
 
As always, please make sure that you have your journals at hand. We will be asking you to refer back to them throughout the program. 

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned: 

  • Create a ONE MINUTE or shorter elevator pitch for your unit, based in its purpose and mission.
  • Participate in a Critical Friends discussion: be prepared to report back.
  • Remember that there are books available to support your development—use your funds! 

Session Two: Critical Friends/Group Problem Solving

Session Date: 10/22/21 at 12pm-1:30pm CT

For this session, we would like you to watch, in advance, the video provided below. This one is a bit longer than last time, around 9-10 minutes. It depicts a staged meeting discussing the Thomas Santo case study we addressed in the first cohort meeting, using a protocol created by the Annenberg Institute known as Critical Friends. We have provided a description of the protocol along with the full background from the Annenberg Institute for reference. We also have included a quick reference summary sheet of the Decision Making Framework (DMF) discussed in our last meeting that many find useful during a Critical Friends session. We will discuss the protocol, its uses, and do an abbreviated Critical Friends session during our upcoming online meeting.
 
We will be opening with your reviews of items in the Leadership Collection and the Testing Yourself prompts provided as homework after our last meeting, and discussing the AUDiT assessments you started.

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

  • Review the AUDiT you filled out for your unit; be prepared to discuss 
  • Develop a real or hypothetical situation to use in a Critical Friends group

Session One: The Special Challenges of the Academic Environment

Session Date:  09/24/21 at 12pm-2pm CT

Our first session is scheduled for Friday, September 24, from 12 -2:00 PM in Lincoln Hall 2000. This opening session will be held in-person, over lunch and will serve as an introduction between cohort members and program facilitators. Lunch will be served outside on the quad – east side entrance to Lincoln Hall  at 12pm (weather permitting),  and will be followed by the 90 min session held indoors, starting at 12:30pm. Subsequent synchronous sessions will be held online. 

Prior to our meeting on Friday afternoon, we ask that you watch this short vignette that was filmed as part of our larger Leadership Collection. This particular clip features a faculty member named “Professor Major” having a conversation with a new Department Head on his first day.

As you watch the scene unfold and the behavior of the characters within it, we invite you to think about what is really happening in this interaction. Please consider the questions posed within the video and write some thoughts down in the Journal we have asked you to maintain as part of the program.

We will begin Friday’s session by discussing this scenario, after which we will take some time to explore the unique challenges our environment presents.

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned

  • We invite you all to take a look through NCPRE’s Leadership Collection. This library of resources has been developed over several years, built on the experiences and wisdom of our experts. The collection includes Quick Tips, Executive Briefings and Annotated Bibliographies, as well as many video interviews with our experts themselves sharing their thoughts on a variety of subjects. Please take some time to browse the collection – during our second session we will ask each of you to share a couple of the assets you found most interesting or useful.
  • Find attached the Testing Yourself  exercise and take a few minutes to respond to the prompts within. We will discuss these prompts and share responses in our next session when we dive deeper into handling contentious situations like these.
  • Also attached is a copy of the AUDiT Dashboard developed by NCPRE to help systematically assess the health of your department. Our observation has been that many leaders tend to focus on areas that they think are problematic. The AUDiT approach helps ensure that your assessment is comprehensive. Use the AUDiT table to score your unit. Start by putting a number in each cell – the more the cell describes your unit, the higher the number should be. In the green and red columns, scores run from 0 to 5; in the yellow column, it is 0 to 3. When you are finished, add up your green scores and subtract the totals from your yellow and red scores. We will be revisiting this tool throughout the course so please keep the original with your journal.

News

The College Administrator’s Survival Guide by C.K. Gunsalus has a new edition. Click here to check it out.

In Teaching Ethics: Instructional Models, Methods, and Modalities for University Studies, follow Elizabeth A. Luckman and C.K. Gunsalus as they explore common ethical missteps, and offer tested and effective approaches for teaching approaches to counteract them. In their chapter of Teaching Ethics: Instructional Models, Methods, and Modalities for University Studies, Luckman and Gunsalus review research on ethical decision-making and connect this to the pedagogical goals of teaching ethics to students in a classroom setting. They offer a variety of exercises focused on academic based decision-making that can be easily adapted to any class. Educators seeking to teach ethical decision-making can adapt the exercises described for any student body in any area of academic study. This chapter’s exercises are meant to challenge readers and get them to think more critically, and solidifying good habits in decision making. 

EAL Duluth

Excellence in Academic Leadership: Duluth

Greetings and welcome to the Excellence in Academic Leadership (EAL) program presented by the National Center for Principled Leadership & Research Ethics (NCPRE). Our goal is to support your growth as an academic leader. The program will be offered through online group Zoom sessions augmented by outside readings and your reflections and analyses.

NCPRE creates and shares resources to support better ethical and leadership practices in academic and other professional contexts. Leadership—and particularly ethical leadership—is central to creating a culture that establishes healthy and productive professional interactions. We equip you with evidence-based tools to support intentional leadership development and institutional integrity.

Your cohort’s presenters are C. K. Gunsalus and Robert Easter. Sarah Mustered is your Cohort Coordinator and will be your main point of contact for scheduling and logistics.

We are planning 1.5 hour online meetings once a month through the academic year. There are a select few topics that require a longer period of two hours; you will receive advance notice of at least a month before those sessions. Each meeting will focus around a particular topic and include related resources available for you to pursue as your interests direct. Other than these online meetings, you will be in control of how much external time you spend; there will be ‘homework’ assignments after each session and it will always be your choice as to the time you devote.

Please feel free to contact Sarah Mustered, the Cohort Coordinator for this program, if you have any questions: mustered@illinois.edu

General Reference Materials:

Session Ten: Capstone Case and Closing

Session Date Monday, May 11, 2022 at 12:30-2:30pm CT

Session Materials: EAL Capstone Case

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Session Nine: Leadership, Shared Governance, and You

Session Date: Wednesday, April 20 at 12:30pm – 2:00pm CT

This session, featuring shared wisdom from President Emeritus Robert Easter and Professor Nicholas Burbules, asked you to consider your role as a leader and the values you bring to it. Below are materials you need for completing the homework for session ten and the slides from session nine.
As a reminder, our closing session will be on May 11th from 12:30-2:30pm CT

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

  • Use the attached capstone case study to develop a plan to address the scenario. Your task is to describe how to navigate the difficult process before you as effectively and constructively as possible. Each group of 2 people will present its approach to the full cohort in a 5-minute presentation. You are welcome to use slides, a document, or any other vehicle for making your presentation. You will be able to share your screen.
    • Be prepared to field questions from the NCPRE team and your peers following your presentation.
    • If you are unable to attend the final session, you are still encouraged to participate in preparing the capstone case with your colleagues.
  • Use the attached guidelines to put together an Individual Development Plan (IDP)
    • You are not expected to have a complete IDP ready by our meeting. We ask that you start to construct one and be prepared to informally discuss your progress with the group.

Session Eight: Bullyproofing Academic Units

Session Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 12:30-2:30pm CT

Below are copies of a case study  and  situation analysis  we will be using in the session. In order to make the best use of our time,  we ask that you read them ahead of the session. Please make sure to have them on hand for our group discussion tomorrow.
 
As a reminder, we ask that you dig far back to our first session  together and revisit the short video featuring “Professor Major” having a conversation with a new Department Head on his first day
 
We will be opening our session with a group discussion of the behavior you see in the video and the dynamics involved in the interaction. Please be prepared to share your thoughts.

Pre-Session Materials: 

  • Meet Professor Major, Version 1:
  • Meet Professor Major, Version 2:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

Review the second version of the Professor Major video. Make note of your thoughts on what the department chair learned in this program. What changes did he make to the interaction and its outcome?
  • Meet in a group to develop a list of skills you’ve acquired through this cohort program that you see being applied in the second version of Professor Major. Be prepared to report at our next session.
  • Meet in a Critical Friends group: use an issue a member of your group is facing.  If you would like a case study to discuss, please contact us and we will provide one for you.

Session Seven: Giving/Receiving Feedback

Session Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2022 12:30-2:00pm CT

Pre-Session Materials:

Leadership Collection Resources: 

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned: 

  • Take care of you and yours until we next meet.
  • Use your Critical Friends to work on difficult feedback situations, whether giving or receiving. (Feedback is a gift.)

Session Six: Negotiation

Session Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 12:30-2:30pm CT

Before tomorrow’s meeting, we ask that you do the following:
  1. Please read “Are You the Doormat?”, the case study sent via email (marked with “READ ME” in the file name for clarity). We will be discussing this in breakout rooms later in the session and taking the time to read it ahead of time will give you more time to have meaningful group discussions.
  2. You have also been assigned one of two roles for a negotiation role play to be undertaken in pairs. Typically, these documents would be distributed the moment before beginning the exercise. To adapt to an online setting, we will be providing them now, so that you may print them out to have ready for the activity. We ask in the strongest terms that you please refrain from reading them beforehand. For clarity, I have marked these files with “PRINT ONLY” in the file name. The experience will be far more valuable and provide a better learning opportunity if you read their contents for the first time during the exercise.
    • We also request that you please refrain from distributing this particular document in any form. As such, I will not be uploading the roles to the webpage. Typically, we would collect these handouts after the exercise and ask that you please dispose of them with care given this online setting.

Session Reference Materials:

Leadership Collection Resources:

Rob Rutenbar, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Pittsburgh, talks about the use of data in discussions with decision-makers.

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

  • Consider interactions you have that you now see as negotiations: what can do you do to improve your preparation for these conversations? Record them in your journal. 
  • Send Sarah topics of difficult conversations around feedback you find challenging (next session is about giving and receiving feedback).
  • Finish reading Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability to prepare for our session on giving and receiving feedback.

Session Five: Exploring Leadership

Session Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 12:30-2:00pm CT

This session will focus on leadership through the lens of preparing for (and responding to) paradigm shifts–Leadership Through Challenging Times, if you will.
In preparation for this week’s session, we ask that you take the time to:
1) consider and identify a fundamental change occurring in your field and be prepared to describe how your unit will adapt to it. Consider the impact that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity had on Newtonian Physics, or the impact of genetic engineering on agriculture, or the introduction of satellites on meteorology. These are all examples of major paradigm shifts. Other changes are smaller in scale and still impactful. How you recognize and respond to these events is key to being a successful academic leader. Please prepare to discuss the fundamental changes occurring in your fields in breakout sessions.
2) In addition, we ask that you remember to have your definition of leadership from our first session on hand and ready to discuss. 

Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

Re-visit your definition of leadership and reflect on your strengths; how will you play to them? What would you like to focus on going forward? Record your thoughts in your journal.

  • Do you see a paradigm shift in your field or institution? How will your leadership help your colleagues prepare for or react to it? Record your thoughts in your journal.
  • Submit via email discussion questions or a topic you would like to discuss with the group from your reading of Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability (whichever you read).

Session Four: Difficult Conversations and Personal Scripts

Session Date: Wednesday, December 8 at 1:00pm-3:00pm CT

Please be prepared to share your one-minute elevator pitch and to report back on your Critical Friends sessions.
 
I have attached the conflict self-assessment we sent once before. We ask that you continue to keep this in mind as you consider your conflict style and how you tend to react to difficult conversations. Among other topics we will cover, we will revisit your conflict comfort and style and introduce the And Stance, a powerful tool that grows out of work on influence and persuasion at the Harvard Project on Negotiation. The idea behind the And Stance is that ‘but’ is a stopper word in American English; the exercise is to practice moving to the And Stance, where you use “and” instead of “but” (or “however” or “although”)– without changing your message. If you have time to look over the exercise in advance, we can spend more time discussing and working on it during the session. 

Session Materials:

Leadership Collection Reference Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

Practice applying the And Stance in your everyday life. First, try to go one week without using “but” in an email, instead restructuring the statement with “and” in order to align with others. Then, try to go 24 hours without saying “but” at all. This is a very difficult and worthwhile exercise that helps make you aware of just how often you use stopper words and where you can change your approach.

  • Start reading either Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability. (If you haven’t read either, start with Crucial Conversations.) Both are readily available for purchase online. We wish to provide time for all members of the cohort to read one or the other before we start a discussion, so are providing a head start for a future discussion.
  • Prepare personal scripts and share them with other members of the cohort, using the Personal Scripts Quick Tips as a guide. Also consider the Complaint-Handling Guidelines. You may find these helpful for handling difficult conversations and for constructing personal scripts when faced with these scenarios.
  • Before our next session, find and have ready the definition of leadership you recorded in your journals during the first session. Prepare to discuss.

Session Three: Vibrant Academic Units

Session Date: Wednesday, November 17 at 1:00pm-2:30pm CT

We ask you to be prepared to discuss the AUDiT that you filled out for your unit along with the real or hypothetical situation you developed for use with a Critical Friends group. We have also attached a self-assessment document that we will be using during today’s session. Please download it to have at hand during our meeting.
 
As always, please make sure that you have your journals at hand. We will be asking you to refer back to them throughout the program. 

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned: 

  • Create a ONE MINUTE or shorter elevator pitch for your unit, based in its purpose and mission.
  • Participate in a Critical Friends discussion: be prepared to report back.
  • Remember that there are books available to support your development—use your funds! 

Session Two: Critical Friends/Group Problem Solving

Session Date: Oct 27, 1:00pm-2:30pm CT

For this session, we would like you to watch, in advance, the video provided below. This one is a bit longer than last time, around 9-10 minutes. It depicts a staged meeting discussing the Thomas Santo case study we addressed in the first cohort meeting, using a protocol created by the Annenberg Institute known as Critical Friends. We have provided a description of the protocol along with the full background from the Annenberg Institute for reference. We also have included a quick reference summary sheet of the Decision Making Framework (DMF) discussed in our last meeting that many find useful during a Critical Friends session. We will discuss the protocol, its uses, and do an abbreviated Critical Friends session during our upcoming online meeting.
 
We will be opening with your reviews of items in the Leadership Collection and the Testing Yourself prompts provided as homework after our last meeting, and discussing the AUDiT assessments you started.

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned:

  • Review the AUDiT you filled out for your unit; be prepared to discuss 
  • Develop a real or hypothetical situation to use in a Critical Friends group

Session One: The Special Challenges of the Academic Environment

Session Date: Oct 6, 1:00pm-2:30pm CT

Prior to our meeting, we ask that you watch this short vignette that was filmed as part of our larger Leadership Collection. This particular clip features a faculty member named “Professor Major” having a conversation with a new Department Head on his first day.

As you watch the scene unfold and the behavior of the characters within it, we invite you to think about what is really happening in this interaction. Please consider the questions posed within the video and write some thoughts down in the Journal we have asked you to maintain as part of the program.

We will begin the session by discussing this scenario, after which we will take some time to explore the unique challenges our environment presents.

Pre-Session Materials:

Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

Homework Assigned

  • We invite you all to take a look through NCPRE’s Leadership Collection. This library of resources has been developed over several years, built on the experiences and wisdom of our experts. The collection includes Quick Tips, Executive Briefings and Annotated Bibliographies, as well as many video interviews with our experts themselves sharing their thoughts on a variety of subjects. Please take some time to browse the collection – during our second session we will ask each of you to share a couple of the assets you found most interesting or useful.
  • Find attached the Testing Yourself exercise and take a few minutes to respond to the prompts within. We will discuss these prompts and share responses in our next session when we dive deeper into handling contentious situations like these.
  • Also attached is a copy of the AUDiT Dashboard developed by NCPRE to help systematically assess the health of your department. Our observation has been that many leaders tend to focus on areas that they think are problematic. The AUDiT approach helps ensure that your assessment is comprehensive. Use the AUDiT table to score your unit. Start by putting a number in each cell – the more the cell describes your unit, the higher the number should be. In the green and red columns, scores run from 0 to 5; in the yellow column, it is 0 to 3. When you are finished, add up your green scores and subtract the totals from your yellow and red scores. We will be revisiting this tool throughout the course so please keep the original with your journal.

Learn More

How to Use the Leadership Collection

How to Use the Leadership Collection

  • Developing Your Foundational Skills
  • Building Your Leadership Presence
  • Values Goals and Priorities
  • Solving Problems and Issues
  • Handling Difficult Situations

    • Get Started

    About the Leadership Collection

    The Leadership Collection was inspired by, and initiated with support and in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It is a multi-media library of management and leadership materials curated for academic leaders. The Collection is accessible via the Internet, and is updated regularly. The Collection can be used on a “just in time” basis or as a platform for personal study and reflection. Categories of materials in the collection include:

    Just-in-Time Collection (I need to know now!)

    • Quick Tips
    • Checklists
    • Videos: how to “do it right”

    Leadership Bookcase

    • Resources for the longer-term, travel, and reflection

    Deep-Dive Collection (I am looking for deeper knowledge.)

    • Videos: interviews with, and presentations by, experts and authorities
    • Executive Briefings
    • Curated Articles
    • Annotated Bibliographies
    • Case Studies
    • Self-Assessments
    Leadership Collection resources are research and evidence-based; tailored for the academic environment; and practical. They are built around four leadership competencies Ethical: An ethical leader models, requires, and rewards appropriate professional conduct in personal, interpersonal, and organizational settings. He or she makes principle- and fact-based decisions, seeking consistency among ethical beliefs, values, and conduct. Such a leader encourages exploration of and discussion about the ethical challenges inherent in work life. Strategic: A strategic leader develops and implements long-term goals tied to the organization’s mission. A strategic leader sets SMART (specific, measurable, agreed-upon, realistic, and time-based) goals and aims at achieving long-term goals. Competencies include anticipation of pitfalls, management of budget and resources, prioritizing, use of data to inform decisions, and risk assessment. Influential: An influential leader is a strong communicator, motivating, energizing, and facilitating effective interactions. This leader delegates thoughtfully, provides constructive coaching and mentoring, and conducts meaningful performance evaluations. Influential leaders build strong relationships and use skills of persuasion and negotiation effectively. Adaptive: An adaptive leader uses a range of approaches based on situational needs. Adaptive leaders anticipate, identify, and manage change with flexibility rooted in principled approaches. Adaptive leaders devise creative solutions, implement initiatives, maintain and update their skills and knowledge, and manage stress to be effective leaders of others. © 2016 NCPRE

    Additional Material

    Leadership Collection Overview (PDF) A Brief Introduction to Leadership Essentials (PDF) Leadership Essentials Part 1: Executive Briefing, part I (PDF) Leadership Essentials:  Executive Briefing, part II (PDF) Tools for Leadership – Annotated Bibliography (PDF)

    Meet Your Leaders

    Meet Our Leaders

  • Meet Andrew Alleyne

  • Meet Michael Loui

    https://youtu.be/xMq-PK0U4jk

  • Meet Barb Wilson
  • Meet Rob Rutenbar

    https://youtu.be/RGVB1OPZV2w

  • Meet Edward Feser
  • Meet Ruth Watkins
  • Meet Joan Dubinsky
  • Meet BrandE Faupell
  • Kendall Zoller

    • EAL WMU

    Excellence in Academic Leadership: WMU 2021

    Greetings and welcome to the Excellence in Academic Leadership (EAL) program presented by the National Center for Principled Leadership & Research Ethics (NCPRE). Our goal is to support your growth as an academic leader. The program will be offered through online group Zoom sessions augmented by outside readings and your reflections and analyses. You are in a cohort with colleagues from Western Michigan University, tailored to your interests, and supported by resources in the NCPRE online Leadership Collection. NCPRE creates and shares resources to support better ethical and leadership practices in academic and other professional contexts. Leadership—and particularly ethical leadership—is central to creating a culture that establishes healthy and productive professional interactions. We equip you with evidence-based tools to support intentional leadership development and institutional integrity. Your cohort’s presenters are Ann Briggs Addo, BrandE Faupell, and C. K. Gunsalus. Jacob Ryder is your Cohort Coordinator and will be your main point of contact for scheduling and logistics. We are planning two hour online meetings, approximately once a month, throughout the academic year. Each meeting will focus around a particular topic and include related resources available for you to pursue as your interests direct. Other than these online meetings, you will be in control of how much external time you spend; there will be ‘homework’ assignments after each session and it will always be your choice as to the time you devote. Please feel free to contact Jacob Ryder, the Cohort Coordinator for this program, if you have any questions: jjryder2@illinois.edu 
    WMU 2021 Schedule
    • Session 1: September 27 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 2: October 25 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 3: November 22 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 4: December 6 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 5: January 31 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 6: February 14 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 7: February 28 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 8: March 28 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 9: April 11 at 2-4pm ET
    • Session 10: April 25 at 2-4pm ET

    General Reference Materials:

    Session Ten: Capstone Case and Closing

    Session Date Monday, April 25, 2022 at 2:00-4:00pm ET

    Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Session Nine: Leadership, Shared Governance, and You

    Session Date: Monday, April 11 at 2:00pm – 4:00pm ET

    This session, featuring shared wisdom from President Emeritus Robert Easter and Professor Nicholas Burbules, asked you to consider your role as a leader and the values you bring to it. Below are materials you need for completing the homework for session ten and the slides from session nine.
    As a reminder, our closing session will be on April 25th from 2:00-4:00pm

    Pre-Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    • Use the attached capstone case study to develop a plan to address the scenario. Your task is to describe how to navigate the difficult process before you as effectively and constructively as possible. Each group of 2 people will present its approach to the full cohort in a 5-minute presentation. You are welcome to use slides, a document, or any other vehicle for making your presentation. You will be able to share your screen.
      • Be prepared to field questions from the NCPRE team and your peers following your presentation.
      • If you are unable to attend the final session, you are still encouraged to participate in preparing the capstone case with your colleagues.
      • Groups are listed here:
        • Group 1:  Cynthia and David
        • Group 2:  Megan and Heather
        • Group 3: Linda and Pablo
        • Group 4: Jon and Dave
        • Group 5: Charles and Mike
        • Group 6: Udaya and Kathleen
    • Use the attached guidelines to put together an Individual Development Plan (IDP)
      • You are not expected to have a complete IDP ready by our meeting. We ask that you start to construct one and be prepared to informally discuss your progress with the group.
    Please let Jacob Ryder know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to our next and final session with you. We have valued the opportunity to work so closely with you over the past year, and all of us at NCPRE are thankful for your engagement with the material.

    Session Eight: Bullyproofing Academic Units

    Session Date: Monday, March 14 at 2:00pm-4:00pm ET

    Below are copies of a case study  and  situation analysis  we will be using in the session. In order to make the best use of our time,  we ask that you read them ahead of the session. Please make sure to have them on hand for our group discussion tomorrow.
     
    As a reminder, we ask that you dig far back to our first session  together and revisit the short video featuring “Professor Major” having a conversation with a new Department Head on his first day
     
    We will be opening our session with a group discussion of the behavior you see in the video and the dynamics involved in the interaction. Please be prepared to share your thoughts.

    Pre-Session Materials: 

    Meet Professor Major, Version 1:
    Meet Professor Major, Version 2:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    Review the second version of the Professor Major video below. Make note of your thoughts on what the department chair learned in this program. What changes did he make to the interaction and its outcome?
    • Meet in a group to develop a list of skills you’ve acquired through this cohort program that you see being applied in the second version of Professor Major. Be prepared to report at our next session.
    • Meet in a Critical Friends group: use an issue a member of your group is facing.  If you would like a case study to discuss, please contact us and we will provide one for you.

    Session Seven: Giving/Receiving Feedback

    Session Date: Monday, February 28, 2022 at 2:00-4:00 PM ET

    Pre-Session Materials:

    Leadership Collection Resources: 

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned: 

    • Take care of you and yours until we next meet.
    • Use your Critical Friends to work on difficult feedback situations, whether giving or receiving. (Feedback is a gift.)

    Session Six: Negotiation

    Session Date: Monday, February 14, 2022 at 2:00-4:00 PM ET

    Before tomorrow’s meeting, we ask that you do the following:
    1. Please read “Are You the Doormat?”, the case study sent via email. We will be discussing this in breakout rooms later in the session and taking the time to read it ahead of time will give you more time to have meaningful group discussions.
    2. You have also been assigned one of two roles for a negotiation role play to be undertaken in pairs. Typically, these documents would be distributed the moment before beginning the exercise. To adapt to an online setting, we will be providing them now, so that you may print them out to have ready for the activity. We ask in the strongest terms that you please refrain from reading them beforehand. For clarity, I have marked these files with “PRINT ONLY” in the file name. The experience will be far more valuable and provide a better learning opportunity if you read their contents for the first time during the exercise.
      • We also request that you please refrain from distributing this particular document in any form. As such, I will not be uploading the roles to the webpage. Typically, we would collect these handouts after the exercise and ask that you please dispose of them with care given this online setting.

    Session Reference Materials:

    Leadership Collection Resources:

    Rob Rutenbar, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Pittsburgh, talks about the use of data in discussions with decision-makers.

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    • Consider interactions you have that you now see as negotiations: what can do you do to improve your preparation for these conversations? Record them in your journal. 
    • Send Sarah topics of difficult conversations around feedback you find challenging (next session is about giving and receiving feedback).
    • Finish reading Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability to prepare for our session on giving and receiving feedback.

    Session Five: Exploring Leadership

    Session Date: Monday, January 31, 2022 at 2:00-4:00 PM ET

    This session will focus on leadership through the lens of preparing for (and responding to) paradigm shifts–Leadership Through Challenging Times, if you will.
    In preparation for this week’s session, we ask that you take the time to:
    1) consider and identify a fundamental change occurring in your field and be prepared to describe how your unit will adapt to it. Consider the impact that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity had on Newtonian Physics, or the impact of genetic engineering on agriculture, or the introduction of satellites on meteorology. These are all examples of major paradigm shifts. Other changes are smaller in scale and still impactful. How you recognize and respond to these events is key to being a successful academic leader. Please prepare to discuss the fundamental changes occurring in your fields in breakout sessions.
    2) In addition, we ask that you remember to have your definition of leadership from our first session on hand and ready to discuss. 

    Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    Re-visit your definition of leadership and reflect on your strengths; how will you play to them? What would you like to focus on going forward? Record your thoughts in your journal.

    • Do you see a paradigm shift in your field or institution? How will your leadership help your colleagues prepare for or react to it? Record your thoughts in your journal.
    • Submit via email discussion questions or a topic you would like to discuss with the group from your reading of Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability (whichever you read).

    Session Four: Difficult Conversations and Personal Scripts

    Session Date: Monday, December 6 at 2:00pm-4:00pm ET

    Please be prepared to share your one-minute elevator pitch and to report back on your Critical Friends sessions.
     
    I have attached the conflict self-assessment we sent once before. We ask that you continue to keep this in mind as you consider your conflict style and how you tend to react to difficult conversations. Among other topics we will cover, we will revisit your conflict comfort and style and introduce the And Stance, a powerful tool that grows out of work on influence and persuasion at the Harvard Project on Negotiation. The idea behind the And Stance is that ‘but’ is a stopper word in American English; the exercise is to practice moving to the And Stance, where you use “and” instead of “but” (or “however” or “although”)– without changing your message. If you have time to look over the exercise in advance, we can spend more time discussing and working on it during the session. 

    Session Materials:

    Leadership Collection Reference Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    Practice applying the And Stance in your everyday life. First, try to go one week without using “but” in an email, instead restructuring the statement with “and” in order to align with others. Then, try to go 24 hours without saying “but” at all. This is a very difficult and worthwhile exercise that helps make you aware of just how often you use stopper words and where you can change your approach.

    • Start reading either Crucial Conversations or Crucial Accountability. (If you haven’t read either, start with Crucial Conversations.) Both are readily available for purchase online. We wish to provide time for all members of the cohort to read one or the other before we start a discussion, so are providing a head start for a future discussion.
    • Prepare personal scripts and share them with other members of the cohort, using the Personal Scripts Quick Tips as a guide. Also consider the Complaint-Handling Guidelines. You may find these helpful for handling difficult conversations and for constructing personal scripts when faced with these scenarios.
    • Before our next session, find and have ready the definition of leadership you recorded in your journals during the first session. Prepare to discuss.

    Session Three: Vibrant Academic Units

    Session Date: Monday, November 22 at 2:00pm-4:00pm ET

    We ask you to be prepared to discuss the AUDiT that you filled out for your unit along with the real or hypothetical situation you developed for use with a Critical Friends group. We have also attached a self-assessment document that we will be using during today’s session. Please download it to have at hand during our meeting.
     
    As always, please make sure that you have your journals at hand. We will be asking you to refer back to them throughout the program. 

    Pre-Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned: 

    • Create a ONE MINUTE or shorter elevator pitch for your unit, based in its purpose and mission.
    • Participate in a Critical Friends discussion: be prepared to report back.
    • Remember that there are books available to support your development—use your funds! 

    Session Two: Critical Friends/Group Problem Solving

    Session Date: Monday, October 25th at 2:00pm-4:00 PM ET

    For this session, we would like you to watch, in advance, the video provided below. This one is a bit longer than last time, around 9-10 minutes. It depicts a staged meeting discussing the Thomas Santo case study we addressed in the first cohort meeting, using a protocol created by the Annenberg Institute known as Critical Friends. We have provided a description of the protocol along with the full background from the Annenberg Institute for reference. We also have included a quick reference summary sheet of the Decision Making Framework (DMF) discussed in our last meeting that many find useful during a Critical Friends session. We will discuss the protocol, its uses, and do an abbreviated Critical Friends session during our upcoming online meeting.
     
    We will be opening with your reviews of items in the Leadership Collection and the Testing Yourself prompts provided as homework after our last meeting, and discussing the AUDiT assessments you started.

    Pre-Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned:

    • Review the AUDiT you filled out for your unit; be prepared to discuss 
    • Develop a real or hypothetical situation to use in a Critical Friends group

    Session One: The Special Challenges of the Academic Environment

    Session Date:  Monday, September 27th at 2:00-4:00 PM ET

    Prior to our Zoom Call on Monday afternoon, we ask that you watch this short vignette that was filmed as part of our larger Leadership Collection. This particular clip features a faculty member named “Professor Major” having a conversation with a new Department Head on his first day. As you watch the scene unfold and the behavior of the characters within it, we invite you to think about what is really happening in this interaction. Please consider the questions posed within the video and write some thoughts down in the Journal we have asked you to maintain as part of the program. We will begin Monday’s session by discussing this scenario, after which we will take some time to explore the unique challenges our environment presents.

    Pre-Session Materials:

    Slide Deck Reference (for Personal Use Only):

    Homework Assigned

    • We invite you all to take a look through NCPRE’s Leadership Collection. This library of resources has been developed over several years, built on the experiences and wisdom of our experts. The collection includes Quick Tips, Executive Briefings and Annotated Bibliographies, as well as many video interviews with our experts themselves sharing their thoughts on a variety of subjects. Please take some time to browse the collection – during our second session we will ask each of you to share a couple of the assets you found most interesting or useful.
    • Find attached the Testing Yourself exercise and take a few minutes to respond to the prompts within. We will discuss these prompts and share responses in our next session when we dive deeper into handling contentious situations like these.
    • Also attached is a copy of the AUDiT Dashboard, developed by NCPRE to help systematically assess the health of your department. Our observation has been that many leaders tend to focus on areas that they think are problematic. The AUDiT approach helps ensure that your assessment is comprehensive. Use the AUDiT table to score your unit. Start by putting a number in each cell – the more the cell describes your unit, the higher the number should be. In the green and red columns, scores run from 0 to 5; in the yellow column, it is 0 to 3. When you are finished, add up your green scores and subtract the totals from your yellow and red scores. We will be revisiting this tool throughout the course so please keep the original with your journal.

    These videos are part of a series of videos on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) produced by the Office of Research, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.




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