Toward A Transformative And Sustainable Practice Of Compassion In Workplaces

Abstract

Compassion has received much attention in recent organizational scholarship as an important factor for creating an emotionally healthy workplace. This study contributes to the growing literature on organizational compassion by seeing compassion through the lens of Christian biblical theology. The biblical word for compassion is an emotive-action word that always demands holistic involvement of the compassion-giver in response to others’ suffering. Moreover, it requires interpersonal commitment and comes at a significant cost to the compassion-giver. Such understanding of compassion can help organizational leaders better appreciate the potential and limits of compassion and nurture truly transformative and sustainable practice of compassion in organizations.