Building healthier academic environments

1,000 million individuals on this planet are living with some or other sort of mental disorder. 12,000 million working days are lost in a year due to depression- and anxiety-related issues, which tentatively cost Rs 100 lakh crore. Welcome to reality!

Today, life has become very demanding for any individual at the professional front, irrespective of the industry in which one works, and academics is no exception to it. Any management faculty member would agree with me that the nature of their work is not as simple as employees in other industries perceive it to be. A management teacher is supposed to deliver lectures (knowledge dissemination), carry out research and publish (knowledge creation), act as a mentor, generate funds through consultancy and training for corporates, develop connections with industry, and the list does not end here. Further, they have to keep themselves abreast of all the changes happening in their field, along with technological advancements, which in itself requires a lot of effort, considering the speed with which the changes are taking place.

Here, one should be mindful that the major responsibilities mentioned above are cerebral in nature, and it is not only the quantity of work but also the nature of the work that demands a lot of physical, emotional and intellectual involvement. Hence, they are in a perpetual working zone, resulting in a negative impact not only on their physical well-being but also on their emotional as well as mental well-being, consequently affecting the university/institution’s performance. Like in any other organisation, in management education as well, a higher degree of work pressure and emotional fatigue results in attrition, job dissatisfaction, poor quality of research output and substandard teaching and learning outcomes.

Management institutes create leaders, teach critical thinking, resilience, teamwork and communication. They teach individuals how to use data to develop their unique insights and take final decisions. All this can be achieved only if the psychological well-being of the faculty is taken care of.

But is the issue related only to an individual’s resilience to cope with this counterproductive pressure? Definitely, NO.

There are other institutional issues that need to be taken care of by academic leaders. Empathetic academic leadership and institutional work culture matter. Academic leaders’ intervention can be critical in improving faculty mental health and consequently in improving university effectiveness because only they can create working environments where individuals can perform well without hampering their psychological and mental well-being. They need to develop a culture of congeniality among colleagues, ensure the absence of micromanagement, and provide the resources for research and their development. They should organise mental health training and allocate a reasonable workload in terms of teaching, research and administration. They should have systems and processes for discussing opportunities for individual growth and their career path while appreciating their efforts. They need to develop an environment of trust and not fear, of accountability and not anxiety, of performance and not pressure.

These suggestions are not optional but are inevitable because the success of any institution on a sustainable basis ultimately depends on the faculty who deliver the desired outcomes. Therefore, the future of management education depends not only on how effectively we prepare students for future workplaces, but also on whether we provide a culture to the ‘doer’ that is conducive to their overall well-being. Let us take care of those who take care of our future leaders.

The writer is Dean, School of Business, MIT-WPU; Views presented are personal.