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Explaining Compassion Organizing
Abstract
We develop a theory to explain how individual compassion in response to human pain in organizations becomes socially coordinated through a process we call compassion organizing. The theory specifies five mechanisms, including contextual enabling of attention, emotion, and trust, agents improvising structures, and symbolic enrichment, that show how the social architecture of an organization interacts with agency and emergent features to affect the extraction, generation, coordination, and calibration of resources. In doing so, our theory of compassion organizing suggests that the same structures designed for the normal work of organizations can be redirected to a new purpose to respond to members' pain. We discuss the implications of the theory for compassion organizing and for collective organizing more generally.
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“Compassionate behavior with employees during turbulent times leads to increased employee commitment and reduced absenteeism (Dutton et al. 2006).”
From Whither compassionate leadership? A systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as Dutton et al. 2006
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dutton, J. E., Worline, M. C., Frost, P. J., & Lilius, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Emory University (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Queen's University (CA)
- Venue
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-03
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 59-96
- ISSN
- 0001-8392 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-3815
- OpenAlex
- W2132999934
- Cited by
- 714
- References
- 134
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 22.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Administrative Science Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Change
- Keywords
- compassion, social coordination, collective organizing, organizational structure, agency, emergent properties, trust, attention, emotions, social architecture
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