A Compassion-Centric Behavioral Agency Perspective for Organizations in Times of Crisis

Abstract

In times of crisis, organizations face a dilemma. How should they balance between minimizing losses and surviving financially, and acting for the benefit of all stakeholders and society-at-large? In theory, managers should balance between multiple demands, forgoing short term profits to address human needs when necessary. Yet, in practice, managers may face greater challenges in balancing demands during crisis. Combining the stakeholder-agency and compassion perspectives in the context of crisis management, we present the compassion-centric behavioral agency in crisis (CCBAC) framework to address this theory-practice gap. We suggest three levers for organizations and policy makers to encourage this behavior from organizations: developing and using technological and innovation capabilities, paradoxical leadership behaviors, and employee well-being and generosity programs. Organizations benefit from the CCBAC framework because they become better positioned to maintain their long-term competitive advantage and positive organizational identity while contributing to the needs of society. Policy makers benefit from incentivizing such organizations because they serve as an intermediary to achieve outcomes for society at large. Throughout, we use COVID-19 pandemic and other crises as examples to highlight the tension and opportunity within our “both-and” approach – organizations can be compassionate and pursue profit and efficiency in the long run.