1507: Managing Distress and Expressing Compassion in Organizations (17339)

Monday, August 12, 2024

13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

Location: Swissotel: Zurich E

Session Number: 1507
Symposium (panel)
Orientation: Practice,Theme,Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/vaBgY7

Organizer(s)

SD

Solomiya Draga

U. of Toronto, Canada

Panelist(s)

SD

Solomiya Draga

U. of Toronto, Canada

Organizer(s)

MC

Marlys K. Christianson

U. of Toronto, Canada

Panelist(s)

JL

Jacoba Marja Lilius

Queen's U., Canada
RM

Ryann Elizabeth Manning

U. of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, Canada
GD

Gregory Depow

U. of Toronto

Moderator(s)

RR

Rachel Lise Ruttan

U. of Toronto, Canada

Discussant(s)

MW

Monica C. Worline

Stanford U. Center for Compassion and Altruism Research, United States

Scholarship from prior decades suggests that as much as a third of the working population experiences emotional distress or suffers from poor psychological health, suggesting that this is an important topic for management scholars. Indeed, existing management scholarship on workplace distress has examined the causes and consequences of distress, as well as the characteristics of individual employees that impact their ability to cope with distressing events at work. Still, there is still much we do not know; in particular, we suggest that the direct experience of distress across workplaces, as well as the organizational and interpersonal factors that can help mitigate employee suffering warrant greater scholarly attention. Further, relatively little attention has been paid to how the distress of others influences us, and how responding with compassion influences both the one suffering and the one trying to help – topics that are key to improving the function of organizations in the future. To consider this intersection of distress and compassion, we have assembled a panel of scholars who study these topics in the context of organizations. Together, these panelists will shed light on the experience of distress in workplaces, as well as how workers manage the distress of others, and the role that compassion plays in mitigating the distress of both primary and secondary sufferers.