GUIDE - Procedures | Prevention GUIDE – Procedure for dealing with conflicts and misconduct
In order to ensure respectful and fair interaction in a consistently positive working and educational climate at Heidelberg University GUIDE was conceptually developed in a long-term participatory process and is currently being put into practice. GUIDE's vision is to ensure that all people at the university are treated with respect in their studies, teaching and work.
Definition
GUIDE regulates how to deal with conflicts in the workplace as well as misconduct. Misconduct includes bullying, stalking, discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Senate Guideline on Fair Conduct stipulates that such misconduct will not be tolerated at the university. The legal definition linked here helps with the initial classification of misconduct.
GUIDE is a comprehensive procedure for dealing with conflicts and misconduct at Heidelberg University. The aim is to resolve conflicts and misconduct as quickly as possible and prevent escalations. The target group includes employees, managers, students and all members of the university.
One component of the GUIDE procedure is the confidential guides. Almost 70 university members are active as volunteer confidential guides, ranging from students to administrative and technical staff to academic personnel. They offer a low-threshold opportunity to make contact in order to provide support in cases of conflict and to refer people to internal and external contact points at the university. When they take up their duties, the advisors receive support in the form of training on legal principles, conversation techniques, etc., and communication materials. In the internal area for confidential advisors, they will find further templates and important information on how to conduct conversations, an anonymous tool for case reporting, and offers for regular case exchange (supervision and intervision).
Get involved
GUIDE - Contact points and process model
There are many different points of contact at the university for advice in cases of misconduct and conflicts. In addition to the Central Contact Point as the ‘heart’ of the GUIDE procedure, the LHG contact persons for bullying, stalking, sexual harassment and discrimination, and the trusted advisors already presented, the following offices/representatives can also be contacted while maintaining anonymity and confidentiality:
- UNIFY - Unit for Family, Diversity and Equality
- Staff Council
- Representative for severely disabled persons
- Contact person for mediation/coaching
- Representative for students with disabilities and chronic illnesses | Inclusive Studying Team
- Confidential advisor for medical students
- Psychosocial counselling centre of the Student Services Association
- Central Student Advisory Service
- Subject-specific student advisory services
- Graduate Academy
- Contact persons at the Heidelberg School of Education
- Equal opportunities officer
The internal process flow model shows the options available to affected university members for confidential counselling or official complaints. As illustrated in the flow chart, the conflict resolution process differs depending on whether a case is discussed confidentially (neutral/consensual cases) or whether an official complaint is lodged and legal action is taken (cases following official channels). When cases are referred to the confidential conflict resolution centres, neutral counselling is provided first. Legal expertise for the counsellors can be obtained at this point from the central contact point, subject to confidentiality, in order to understand the facts of the case correctly and provide appropriate advice. If it turns out that the person seeking advice wishes to take legal action/official action, the cases are forwarded to D5, D1 or D2 (depending on the facts). In this case, the consensual counselling withdraws and is no longer involved in the case. If necessary, it will resume its activities after the non-consensual process has been completed, e.g. if the aim is to restore the ability to work in a team. In particularly complex/contentious cases, the Rectorate Commission on Partnership Behaviour may be convened, which in turn may appoint an arbitration board as an independent ombudsman. Based on the advice of these bodies, the Rectorate has the final responsibility for deciding on personnel/disciplinary or university law consequences.
Further prevention measures
The GUIDE procedure forms an umbrella structure for dealing with and preventing conflicts and misconduct. In addition, there are further measures to prevent incidents and increase safety for university members, such as the Walk Safe programme and the 'nachtsam' campaign, sponsored by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration of Baden-Württemberg. Prevention requires knowledge and visibility, which is why the Central Equal Opportunities Officer and UNIFY conduct regular university-wide surveys on discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and stalking. The first survey took place in 2022 as part of the campaign ‘Live respect, promote diversity, shape togetherness’. The results can be viewed in the form of an executive summary on the campaign page.