Compassion at Work: Looking at the Heart of Organizations

Abstract

As the world moves from one crisis to another, compassion in response to human suffering is an essential, yet often overlooked, aspect of life. Suffering is also pervasive in organizational life as work is an essential part of life. Whether the suffering is stemming from an employee’s life outside of work (e.g., financial problems), part of one’s job role (e.g., taking care of sick patients), or organizationally induced (e.g., abusive leadership), organizations harbor the suffering of its employees and its clients or consumers. Yet there are significant gaps in understanding the antecedents, consequences, and boundary conditions of expressing compassion at work. The objective of this symposium is to offer new methodological and theoretical directions to highlight areas of inquiry focusing on the expression of compassion at work. All four papers in the session employ novel conceptualizations, designs, and analyses (e.g., in the moment, interactional dyadic design, team-level analyses with objective medical error data, and experimental designs) and make new theoretical connections (e.g., using attribution theory, cognitive appraisal theory, process model of emotion regulation) that serve as a catalyst for new scholarship on workplace compassion. The Role of Appraisals and Values-Directed Action in the Compassion Responding Process Presenter: Shanta Dey; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Anya Madeleine Johnson; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Helena Nguyen; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Paul Atkins; Australian National U. Presenter: Felicia Huppert; U. of Cambridge Compassion at Work: Perceived Self-Concern vs. Other Orientation and the Attribution Impacts Presenter: Jason Kanov; Western Washington U. Presenter: Hongguo Wei; U. of Central Oklahoma Presenter: Shaobing Li; Miami U. Ohio Compassion as a Regulatory Strategy for Coping with Difficult Colleagues Presenter: Hooria Jazaieri; Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara U. Collective Compassion on Team Outcomes and Roles of Collective Mindfulness and Meditative Practices Presenter: Helena Nguyen; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Karyn L. Wang; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Nickolas Yu; Sydney Local Health District Presenter: Greg Fairbrother; U. Of Sydney