Selfless and strategic, interpersonal and institutional: a continuum of paradoxical organizational compassion dimensions

ABSTRACT

We asked 32 professionals what organizational compassion is to them. Analysis of the responses revealed four conflicting, if not paradoxical, dimensions. With insight from Habermas’ theory of ‘communicative action’, we paired these dimensions as two lifeworld/system couples: (1) selfless compassion (lifeworld) and strategic compassion (system), as well as (2) interpersonal compassion (lifeworld) and institutional compassion (system). While the colonisation of the lifeworld by system dimensions is a legitimate Habermasian concern, our analysis highlights the potential for system to magnify the power of compassion beyond lifeworld contexts, leveraging and transcending lifeworld/system tensions, aided by dialogue as ‘communicative action’.

KEYWORDS:

• Compassion
• organization
• organizational behaviour
• Habermas

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Professor Carl Rhodes and Dr Marco Berti for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Portuguese national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under project PEST-OE/CJP/UI0713/2013.

Notes on contributors

Maria L. Araújo

Maria L. Araújo is a Psychologist and has been working in education and social justice. She is a PhD student in Social Sciences specializing in Organizational Behavior at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Politicas, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, and researcher at Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas – CAPP, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Her research interests relate to Organizational Compassion and Human Capital Development. Her work has been published in journals such as Análise Psicológica and Psicologia, Educação e Cultura.

Ace V. Simpson

Ace V. Simpson is Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behavior in the UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney. His research brings a critical-social perspective to organizational practices, including positive practices of compassion, love and humility. Ace’s research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Inquiry and Management Learning.

Helena Á. Marujo

Helena Á. Marujo is an Assistant Professor at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Politicas, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, and Integrated Researcher at the Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas – CAPP, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Helena’s research interests relate to Virtuous Organizations, Positive Communities, Corporate Peace and Relational Goods. Helena has edited and collaborated in several books on the topic (Springer, E. Elgar, Worldshare Books by TAOS) and published in Journals such as the Journal of Psychology in Africa and Applied Research in Quality of Life.

Miguel P. Lopes

Miguel P. Lopes is an Associate Professor at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Politicas, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, and Integrated Researcher at the, Centro de Administração e Politicas Publicas – CAPP, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. His research interests relate to Positive and Negative Organizational Studies. His work has been published in journals such as Organization, Journal of Career Development, Journal of Positive Psychology and Journal of Management.