1418: What’s Love Got to Do with It: Love and Organizational Studies (13635)

Love, with its various forms, is depicted as a dynamic force propelling creativity, care, innovation, progress, and overall well-being. Our analysis delves into the significance of love in business management. The challenge lies in bridging the gap between personal and professional selves, fostering the translation of love from personal to workplace settings, and transforming self-interest into a moral emotion that extends beyond oneself. Based on these premises, we aim to operationalize the concept of love, framing its importance in the organizational context and trying to understand the factors that enhance or detract from its complete application. We highlight various definitions that have been offered in the literature, with a focus on ethics. We then seek to provide an overview of love in the context of organizing, highlighting varying conceptions of love. Finally, we assess the impacts of these conceptions of love on the study and practice of leadership and management. Developing an organizational culture of inclusiveness may enhance the ethic of love. A culture can outlast the individuals who reify it, thus leading to a virtuous cycle capable of self-perpetuation, encouraging close identification with that created value system. We seek to demonstrate that a relational collective environment can foster love at an organizational level and that its various forms can drive human flourishing.

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