Business as an Agent of World Benefit Inaugural Conference: New Designs in Tranformative Cooperation. 2003

ICOS Dissertation Poster Session, Ann Arbor, MI. February 2003.

In K. S. Cameron (Chair), Organizational Virtues: Implications for Performance
August 2002 - Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Academy of Management, Denver Colorado.

Monica Worline, Jane E. Dutton, Peter J. Frost, Jason Kanov, Jacoba Lilius, and Sally Maitlis

Presented at the Academy of Management National Meetings, Denver Colorado, August 2002.

Compassion in the Workplace: Making a Difference for Individuals and Organizations

Talk presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society, New Orleans, LA June 6-9, 2002.At one time or another, members of work organizations may experience painful episodes in their personal lives such as the death of a loved one, personal health issues, or divorce. When this happens, the person's suffering inevitably becomes a part of the organizational landscape and other members of the organization are in a position to respond with compassion. This research explores the nature of compassion in the workplace at a Midwestern hospital and assesses the impact of compassion on individual employees and the organization as a whole. The results of a survey and a narrative analysis of stories about compassion suggest that compassion in the workplace is associated with positive individual outcomes for employees who experience or witness it, such as increases in well-being and positive emotions and decreases in stress, as well as contributing to a sense of community in the workplace.

Jason Kanov and Jacoba Lilius

UBC Alumni Talk

Overview
Is it possible that emotional pain caused by bad bosses, dysfunctional systems and cultures, and poorly managed change can affect the bottom line? At one time or another, we have all experienced toxic situations in the workplace. New research conducted by Dr. Peter Frost and his colleagues addresses the nature and impact of compassionate responses to such pain by managers and institutions and the effects of emotional healing on organizational performance.Talk presented to UBC Alumni in Toronto and Vancouver, November/December 2000; to Service Human Resource Managers at Fundãçao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, September 2001.

Western Academy of Management

April 2001

On Combustion, Corrosion, Courage, and Care: Key Challenges of Relational Practice in Organizations

Jane E. Dutton, Monica C. Worline, and Peter J. Frost
Three students and a fire: The process of compassionate organizingOverview
Fires ignite and inflict destruction. Employees and their family members get ill and sometimes die. Divorce, suicide, sickness, accidents are all part of the ebb and flow of the lives of organizational members. These events are never minor or inconsequential for the people who suffer them. They are often marked by immense shock, grief, and emotional pain. Organizations vary considerably in how they respond to the traumatic events that confront their members (see Frost, 1998; Frost, Dutton, Worline & Wilson, 2000). Events like these exist in what we call the "gray zone" of organizational action-where the organizational response and how that response is carried forward is neither routinzed nor pre-planned. Rather, in response to gray zone events that cause human suffering, organizations improvise and innovate. This presentation tells one story of an organizational improvisation in the wake of unpredictable and unprogrammable human grief and shows what we learn from that story.

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