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Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Marcelle Allen

Through analysis of a real-life situation in which societal kindness was activated, this chapter proposes that because kindness is rooted in antiquity, it is present in society…

Abstract

Through analysis of a real-life situation in which societal kindness was activated, this chapter proposes that because kindness is rooted in antiquity, it is present in society and just needs to be activated. However, this kindness is lacking in organizations. Organizations need to frame their policies as kind so that kindness can be normalized.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Nina Winham

This chapter offers an overview of the field of care ethics as it has developed over the past 40 years. It considers ways in which care and kindness align, are mutually…

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of the field of care ethics as it has developed over the past 40 years. It considers ways in which care and kindness align, are mutually reinforcing or perhaps diverge, in an effort to consider how both might be bolstered in management and organizational studies (MOS), and beyond, in workplace practice. While definitions of care usually focus on the meeting of needs, kindness is less well defined and explored. The chapter examines the possibilities of kindness as a pathway to care, as a component or stage of care, as congruent with care, as an enhancement to or deepening of care, and also how kindness and care might impede each other. Finally, the chapter considers warnings against half-measures when attempting to entrench care and kindness in the workplace of today.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Michelle Thomason

This chapter offers an overview of the research the author completed for her dissertation. She studied public servants' understanding and enactment of kindness at work. Through…

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of the research the author completed for her dissertation. She studied public servants' understanding and enactment of kindness at work. Through the questions she asked and Weick's (1995) sensemaking properties, themes emerged. These themes are explored in the chapter through the voices of the public servants and how kindness is and is not understood in the working lives of the informants. Using a sensemaking approach, the author illustrates the multitude of meanings workers have of kindness. Finally, the chapter considers how kindness in management and organizational studies can move beyond theory and engage in meaningful practice to support the health and well-being of employees.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Kristin S. Williams and Heidi Weigand

In this chapter, authors take a narrative/interpretive approach by sharing insights from millennials and Generation Z as to the definition of kindness as a behaviour and action…

Abstract

In this chapter, authors take a narrative/interpretive approach by sharing insights from millennials and Generation Z as to the definition of kindness as a behaviour and action. Sixty-six individuals living in North America, Africa and Europe were interviewed during the pandemic (October 2020). They were asked to describe an incident in which they expressed kindness and/or in which it was expressed to them. Authors identified five themes (metapatterns) which denote different ways kindness is described through narrative. These kindness behaviours include: (1) kindness as a small act, (2) kindness as an event, (3) kindness as intervention and (4) kindness as consideration. The fifth form of kindness operates with more performative qualities, and the authors' have dubbed it as ‘kindness [that] makes me feel good’. Authors attempt not to constrain or essentialize what kindness behaviour is, but rather to reveal patterns while also leaving room for possibilities.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Amy Thurlow

This chapter looks at kindness in organizations through the perspectives of critical sensemaking and the communicatively constituted organization (CCO). These perspectives unlock…

Abstract

This chapter looks at kindness in organizations through the perspectives of critical sensemaking and the communicatively constituted organization (CCO). These perspectives unlock questions about the meaning of kindness and the challenges for individuals within organizations to make sense of how kindness is enacted around them. This approach is in contrast to a growing literature encouraging kindness as strategy within the workplace, emphasizing the potential of strategic kindness to improve employee and organizational performance. From the CCO perspective, kindness is reflected as a socially constructed phenomenon. Through this critical lens, this chapter will challenge assumptions about kindness within organizations, exploring the ways in which power and privilege influence its meaning.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Heidi Weigand, Heather Mackinnon, Erica Weigand and Jessica Hepworth

In this chapter the author examines intergenerational transmissions of kindness through four generations of women in her family. Employing an autoethnographic approach (Ellis

Abstract

In this chapter the author examines intergenerational transmissions of kindness through four generations of women in her family. Employing an autoethnographic approach (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011), the author shares her journey of understanding the importance of studying kindness in academia by acting as the connective tissue between the stories and how the author finds the meaning of kindness through her own experiences and interpretations. Using a research methodology called sensebreaking (Pratt, 2000), the author reveals how kindness acts as a catalyst to help recover from challenges by nurturing self-worth. Sensebreaking undoes meaning-making by disrupting the sensemaking process when contradictory evidence causes individuals to question their interpretation (Mirbabaie & Marx, 2020). The author demonstrates how these women struggle with the deep-rooted need for independence and dignity when facing a challenge and define random acts of kindness from others. Across the four generations, a theme of generativity is revealed, showing a need to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Kristene E. Coller

This chapter examines how key management theories in management and organization studies (MOS) have addressed kindness. Beginning with a definition of kindness, the chapter…

Abstract

This chapter examines how key management theories in management and organization studies (MOS) have addressed kindness. Beginning with a definition of kindness, the chapter reviews the primary works of Frederick Taylor, Elton Mayo and Henri Fayol to surface an alternate account of MOS. ANTi-History is adopted to examine how each of these management theories present kindness providing an alternate account of MOS that predominantly focuses on efficiency and effectiveness. The chapter then re-evaluates MOS using a lens of kindness and the impact to contemporary organizations.

Details

Kindness in Management and Organizational Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-157-0

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 January 2023

Kristin S. Williams, Heidi Weigand, Sophia Okoroafor, Giuseppe Liuzzo and Erica Ganuelas Weigand

This paper explores intergenerational perceptions of kindness in the context of Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the COVID-19 global pandemic. The purpose of this exploratory…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores intergenerational perceptions of kindness in the context of Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the COVID-19 global pandemic. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate perceptions of kindness in the context of traumatic events and its potential value in authentic allyship in organizational environments.

Design/methodology/approach

Authors interviewed 65 individuals (31 self-identifying as non-racialized and 34 self-identifying as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour aka BIPOC). Participants included Generation Z (Gen Z; born between 1997–2012/5) and Generation Y (Gen Y; also referred to as Millennials, born between 1981 and 1994/6) across North American, Europe and Africa. Millennials currently represent the largest generation in the workplace and are taking on leadership roles, whereas Gen Z are emerging entrants into the workplace and new organizational actors.

Findings

The paper offers insights into how to talk about BLM in organizations, how to engage in authentic vs performative allyship and how to support BIPOC in the workplace. The study also reveals the durability of systemic racism in generations that may be otherwise considered more enlightened and progressive.

Research limitations/implications

The authors expand on kindness literature and contribute theoretically and methodologically to critical race theory and intertextual analysis in race scholarship.

Practical implications

The study contributes to the understanding of how pro-social behaviours like kindness (with intention) can contribute to a more inclusive discourse on racism and authentic allyship.

Originality/value

Authors reveal the potential for kindness as a pro-social behaviour in organizational environments to inform authentic allyship praxis.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2018

Stephen Gibb and Shama Rahman

The purpose of this study is to model and explore kindness as a factor in employment contexts. “Kindness among colleagues” is a particular context for the scientific study of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to model and explore kindness as a factor in employment contexts. “Kindness among colleagues” is a particular context for the scientific study of kindness which has been under-researched. There is scope within the burgeoning study of kindness for research concerned with employment contexts and colleagues, adopting an employment context appropriate construct of kindness, generating and considering evidence that might be evaluated rigorously in the employment context where kindness is both advocated and critiqued.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature review identifies and explores the gaps in kindness research in the employment context. A construct distinguishing a set of antecedents of kindness among colleagues was developed to address these gaps. The relevance and usefulness of the construct was tested in semi-structured interviews among some work colleagues in a specific organization setting.

Findings

The results show that the four antecedents of kindness can be used to capture and explore perceptions and experiences of kindness among colleagues. There is scope for analysis at the levels of individuals, teams and organizations using data about these antecedents which allows for individual and more general workplace dynamics to be described and explored.

Research limitations/implications

The antecedents of kindness construct are validated to an extent by this initial study. The potential of this for describing and analyzing kindness and workplace relevant themes makes it worth further development; to refine and validate an instrument for measuring kindness among colleagues.

Practical implications

Kindness among colleagues, if understood in the nuanced way presented here, can help individuals, teams and organizations review and evaluate themselves in diverse contexts. Contexts can be expected to vary with workforce demographics, leadership style and organization cultures.

Social implications

Kindness is a burgeoning theme and concern across diverse social and cultural contexts for various reasons. The scientific contribution to the advocacy or critique of kindness, in this case kindness among colleagues, provides value in rigor, operationalization and evidencing of the case for and against advocacy of the value of kindness in general.

Originality/value

This is a focused review and study of kindness among colleagues which contributes to the nomological and methodological development of a scientific approach to organizational analysis concerns with this important theme in contemporary times.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Positive Psychology for Healthcare Professionals: A Toolkit for Improving Wellbeing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-957-4

1 – 10 of over 3000