Collegiality, Loyalty, and Friendship: Emerging Tensions in the C-Y-F

• In Event: Productive Tensions in Mentoring

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to frame, conceptualize, and interrogate the constructs of collegiality, loyalty, and friendships as sites of tension in informal peer mentoring groups/circles of C-Y-F. The intent in our reflective examination is to highlight our inclusive and flexible collaboration, known here as generosities of spirits (Ludwig & Imberti, 2006), as we navigated the personal in professional mentoring.
Theoretical framework
In an era of the massification of education and increased managerialism within institutions of higher education, collaborative and cooperative encounters are under threat. In fact, ten Brummelhuis, Haar and van der Lippe (2010) suggest, “collegiality is under pressure” (p. 2831). Globally, while universities are encouraging more collaborative professional engagement, the infrastructures and conditions within and without the walls of academia can act as barriers to quality collegiality (ten Brummelhuirs et al., 2010). Mentoring and informal mentoring practices actually foster experiences of collegiality, loyalty and friendship, and create opportunities to actualize ownership, reciprocal learning, mutuality, and richer cross-disciplinary research (Donnelly & McSweeney, 2011; Hegarty, 2009; Patrick et al., 2010; Weinberg & Graham-Smith, 2012). Despite these substantiated benefits, institutions have been slow to formalize mentoring programs (Lumpkin, 2011). Workplace friendships, an outgrowth of mentoring, can further enable people to feel loved, included, and to build identity of self, provide others to engage in activities, show concern, provide assistance, and develop emotional bonds (Bryant & Marmo, 2012). At the same time, workplace friendships may deteriorate due to mismanagement of the dialectical tensions experienced when individuals ‘blend’ workplace and friendship roles (Bridge & Baxter, 1992). When these dialectical tensions are not productively managed friendships can be destroyed (Sias, Heath, Perry, Silva, & Fix, 2004, p. 323).
Modes of inquiry
This interrogation draws upon the theoretical constructs of collegiality, loyalty, and friendship as the analytical lens to examine lived experiences in our C-Y-F collaborative network, tensions that emerged, and our responsiveness to them. Using an ethnographic approach we collaboratively reflect and illustrate the nuanced dimensions of resolution and productive collaborative engagement in a transnational peer-mentoring network. The point of our interrogation is to highlight generosities of spirit that supported our navigation between personal relationships and public mentoring.
Substantiated conclusions
The study foster deepened examinations of group collaboration and promoted critical conceptualizations of the collaborative dispositions of collegiality, loyalty, and friendship. It also highlighted the productive tensions associated with these constructs and provided an opportunity for self-evaluation. These outcomes have practical implications for those who engage in and design institutional and transnational mentoring relationships.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to an emerging body of research based on relationships within peer mentoring groups (i.e., networks, circles). Through research bound by the open network of C-Y-F, the successes we find navigating tensions to sustain our global collaborative of women faculty. This paper has implications for others seeking to foster their own collaborative efforts for shared research and navigate dialectical tensions productively in professional practices.

Authors

• Ann Unterreiner, Education Consultant/Independent Scholar

• Laurette Maria Stacy Bristol, Charles Sturt University

• Antonette M. Aragon, Colorado State University

• Joyanne Beverly De Four-Babb, Caribbean Educators' Research Initiative