Emergent Organizational Capacity for Compassion

Our model of emergent organizational capacity for compassion proposes that organizations can develop the capacity for compassion without formal direction. Relying on a framework from complexity science, we describe how the system conditions of agent diversity, interdependent roles, and social intera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Academy of Management review 2012-10, Vol.37 (4), p.689-708
Main Authors: Madden, Laura T, Duchon, Dennis, Madden, Timothy M, Plowman, Donde Ashmos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Complexity theory
Culture
Management science
Organizational behavior
Organizational behaviour
Organizational structure
Probability theory
Social interaction
Studies
U.S.A
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Summary:Our model of emergent organizational capacity for compassion proposes that organizations can develop the capacity for compassion without formal direction. Relying on a framework from complexity science, we describe how the system conditions of agent diversity, interdependent roles, and social interactions enhance the likelihood of self-organizing around an individual response to a pain trigger. When agents then modify their roles to incorporate compassionate responding, their interactions amplify responses, changing the system, and a new order emerges: organizational capacity for compassion. In this new order the organization's structure, culture, routines, and scanning mechanisms incorporate compassionate responding and can influence future responses to pain triggers. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0363-7425
1930-3807
DOI:10.5465/amr.2010.0424