One of the things that bothers me the most about the scientific establishment these days is the pervasive lack of professionalism I see at every level. From department heads and PIs to postdocs, lab managers and lab technicians. The only people who might be excused for not having learnt some professionalism are early grad students, but as they move onwards through grad school it should really be something they learn. Given the nature of many labs today though, they are not going to learn the value of being professional and will go on to be unprofessional postdocs, then PIs, then department heads.
What do I mean when I say professionalism? I mean that you have a job, therefore do your job, whinge if you will but do not make a career out of emotion and insularity. One's boss does not have to be one's friend. Their moods should not be a cause of great concern to their employees. Tantrums, hissy fits, concealment, bitching, sabotage, paranoid delusions, prestige issues, ego hassles, ignorance and just plain idiocy shouldn't have to be a normal part of one's day. I don't claim these as problems unique to a laboratory setting, I am sure these issues affect many workers in many walks of life (I know they affect publishers and engineers for example). But am I wrong in thinking that these problems are overrepresented in academic research settings?
Research is a hard job, it is completely self-driven, there are no benchmarks, no signposts that mark significant achievements other than peer-reviewed publications that go through an incredibly subjective evaluation process. You don't get much pay, praise or publicity. You work on an arcane subject in dimly-lit surroundings (maybe not always) and set yourself up for pillory by your peers every so often. Maybe 0.1% of us will find a cure for AIDS. Or even discover what AIDS is. I don't, however, think that the difficulty of what we do makes a lack of professionalism okay.
In fact being a professional would make life easier, at least it would according to me. Detachment from drama, perspective about achievement, calm in the workplace, hell, I want all these things! I am a better scientist when I don't want to curl up in a ball of stress every time I sit down at my desk. The experiment didn't work? Oh well, troubleshoot it and do it again. It did? Awesome, go get a drink. It's a job, life goes on. The boss didn't say hello? Forget it, as long as he or she discusses your data with you constructively and with an open mind. Go in, do your job, make some friends as a bonus, leave at the end of the day, go on with your life. Courtesy and respect (Propter Doc has put this very well) should be the cornerstones of the lab not precedence and credit-mongering. I don't know how we came to be a generation of scientists and mentors who are so caught up in the cult of scientific personality that an egregious tyrant with Cell papers in their CV is worshiped while a fair-minded collaborative mentor with less famous papers is followed by condescension and pitying whispers. It saddens me.
I really believe that increased professionalism, which also involves better treatment of employees and better compensation of exceptional talent, is the only way to better research. The question is, is unprofessional behaviour too institutionalized to root out? I don't know. What do you think?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
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4 comments:
Lack of lab professionalism is one of my huge complaints about academia. My current lab is pretty much the epitome of all the negative examples you give (except cell publishing tyrants, we're not in the same field).
The boss has hissy fits on a global scale (although I am immune), the lab manager just takes over everything, the grad students whinge and complain and bitch and ego struggles are everywhere.
Problem is, no matter how professional you are in return, the impact on your work is significant. People mucking around daily - distraction. Someone wants loud music - inconsiderate inconvenience. Boss turns up 30 minutes late to group meeting - lack of respect.
We have to get these people when they are still undergraduates, use undergraduate training to impress upon them that their science degree comes with professionalism requirements, and then instill it in their heads every single day.
Exactly! and the only way we can get them while they're young is if we are conscious of the need for professionalism ourselves. Maybe there is hope for the people we go on to mentor :)
I've been thinking about this all day, trying to decide what I think. Being a pretty emotional person myself, I fear I step over the line of professional behavior sometimes - I get snippy (though I don't throw tantrums), I'm obviously hurt by some situations and feel those feelings are evident. I also work from home a good deal, which is hardly the epitome of professional behavior.
I guess I see how the current funding climate can make frustration and fear overwhelming and since many of us work so much, those negative emotions take over our professional lives. I tend to soothe myself with the idea that I'm not a mentor and therefore have some wiggle room on acceptable behavior. Yet you're absolutely right in noting that grad students often take their cues from more senior members of the group and that professional behavior should just be a standard practice.
I'm still mulling it over, but the point was well presented and well taken. Thanks - it's giving some important topics to consider.
I have done several of the things you mention - the complaining, the insecurity and the griping, but never the tantrums or the anger-fests.
As you mention, academics are under great deal of pressure, but have to pretend that we are not. If you consider somebody higher up in the hierarchy like the PI, or a senior tech, they are not accountable to anybody. Another factor is that there is a huge power gradient but absolutely no recourse if you have a complaint. The result - people put up with a lot of stuff and their only release is in the griping. If you have a regular job, you can change to a new one (difficult but not impossible). However, if you are a post-doc or a lowly grad student, you have absolutely no choice - higher-ups can make or break your career.
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