Compassion Lab

 

 About Publications Presentations Related Work Teaching Materials Photos

 

"I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance."
-- William Faulkner

Nobel Prize acceptance speech, December, 1950



A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe… He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us … Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
-- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

 

We are a group of researchers working in business schools who strive to create a new vision of organizations as sites for the development and expression of compassion. We are part of a broader community of scholars who are dedicated to developing a perspective on organizations as sites for human growth and the development of human strengths.

Presentations

2009

Lilius, J. M. (2009). Compassion in the workplace: The heart of healthcare. Presented at the Health Leaders Institute, Toronto, ON.

Lilius, J. M., & Kanov, J. M. (2009). Compassion in organizations and compassionate questions in organizational scholarship. Panel presentation at the National Academy of Management meeting, Chicago, IL.

Lilius, J. M., & Fisk, G. M. (2009). Do you feel what I feel? A comparison of self vs. subordinate rating of supervisor compassion. Paper presented at the National Academy of Management meeting, Chicago, IL.

Worline, M. C., Lilius, J. M., Dutton, J. E., Kanov, J. M., Maitlis, S., Frost, P. J. (2009). A practice-based view of the sustainable expression of compassion in low-wage work. Paper presented at the National Academy of Management meeting, Chicago, IL.

Worline, M. C. (2009). The sustainable practice of compassion in human communities. Paper presented at the European Group for Organizational Studies, Barcelona, Spain.

Worline, M. C. (2009). A practice-based view of emotion in capabilities for organizing. Presented at the Center for Organizational Research, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA.

Worline, M. C. (2009). Making a place for emotions in the workplace. Presented at the Emory University School of Medicine Administrative Professionals Retreat, Atlanta, GA.

Worline, M. C. (2009). Exploring emotion in capabilities for organizing. Presented at the May Meaning Meeting, Topsail Island, NC.

2008

Lilius, J. M. (2008). Compassion in the workplace: How organizations can respond to employee grief, and why it matters. Presented at the Municipal Health and Safety Association Annual Conference, Toronto, ON.

Lilius, J. M. (2008). Compassion in the workplace: The heart of healthcare. Presented at the Quality Worklife Quality Healthcare Summit, Ottawa, ON.

Worline, M. C. (2008). Enlivening work: Managing tensions to cultivate vitality in an organizational unit. Presented in a symposium on Sideways Organizing: A new stance for questions about practices and routines, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA.

Worline, M. C. (2008). Does compassion organizing cultivate resilience? Presented in a symposium on Resilience in organizations, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

Worline, M. C. (2008). At the intersection: How organizational practices related to compassion cultivate resilience. Presented at the Positive Organizational Scholarship Conference, Ann Arbor, MI.

2007

Worline, M., Lilius, J., Dutton, J., Kanov, J., Maitlis, S., Frost, P. (2007). Organizing resilience by cultivating resources. Presentation at the Atlanta Competitive Advantage Conference, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

2005

Dutton, J. (2005). Peter's pleas to emotion researchers: "Open our Eyes". Invited talk given at the Peter Frost Commemorative Festival: A Celebration of Emotion at Work. Annual Academy of Management Meeting, Honolulu, HA.

Maitlis, S. (2005). Sensemaking as healing. Presented in a Symposium on Healing, Forgiving, and Resolving Conflicts in the 21st Century at Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HA.

2003

Dutton, J. (2003). Damage control: Dealing with corrosive connections at work. Presented at Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington.

Dutton, J. E., Lilius, J. M., & Kanov, J. M. (2003, September). The transformative potential of compassion at work. Presentation at the Business as an Agent of World Benefit Inaugural Conference: New Designs in Transformative Cooperation. The Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cincinnati, OH.

Kanov, J. M. (2003). Pain, suffering, and compassion at work. ICOS Dissertation Poster Session, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Lilius, J., M. Worline, J. Dutton, J. Kanov, P. Frost and S. Maitlis. (2003). What good is compassion at work? Presented at Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington.

2002

Kanov, J. M. (2002). The organizational virtue of compassion. In K. S. Cameron (Chair), Organizational Virtues: Implications for Performance, August 2002 - Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Academy of Management, Denver Colorado.

Lilius, J. M., Kanov, J. M., Worline, M. C., Dutton, J. E., Frost, P. J., & Maitlis, S. (2002). Compassion in the workplace: Making a difference for individuals and organizations. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychologist Society, New Orleans, LA.

Worline, M. C. (2002). Playing the work, working the play: Forms of collaborative practice to support high-quality qualitative research. Presented a professional development workshop on qualitative research, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.

Worline, M., Dutton, J. E., Frost, P. J., Kanov, J., Lilius, J., & Maitlis, S. (2002). Organizing dynamics of resilience. Presented at the Academy of Management National Meetings, Denver Colorado, August 2002.

2001

Dutton, J. E., Worline, M. C., & Frost, P. J. (2001). On combustion, corrosion, courage, and care: Key challenges of relational practice in organizations. Presented at the Western Academy of Management Conference.

Frost, P. J. (2001). Pain, compassion and the bottom line: The impact of emotions in the workplace. Talk presented to UBC Alumni in Toronto and Vancouver (2000) and to Service Human Resource Managers at Fundãçao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2001).