David J Paul Project Management Professional, Management Professor, Author and Small Business Manager
Lately, more companies have identified that it is important to measure engagement. I’d like to submit that it is important to measure the Caring that Creates engagement.
Jane Dutton at Michigan and Hendrick and Hendrick (2006) have developed a measure of respect in close relationships, such as families, work groups, and intimate personal relationships. A central question in their research was When managers look at a culture of high mutual regard, what do they look for? More importantly, how does that mutual regard get reinforced and what conversations make sure that employees know they are trusted to want to come to work? And, in a follow on question, how do managers show they are confident that the employees will work for the benefit and mutual encouragement of one another, that prejudice, harassment, intimidation and threats will be replaced with connection, care, concern, virtue, forgiveness, and respect?
Can you imagine working in that kind of transformed environment?
Introduction to four of the Many Ways that academics have documented the impacts people create when they feel cared for.
Virtuousness and Forgiveness
Imagine you’ve just been laid off at work. Imagine further that your employer has come to you and said that they highly value your work, that your ‘job’ is to use all the company resources to find a new job, that certainly none of the economic difficulties the company is facing is in any way your fault, and that your performance has been ‘blinders’ (so brilliant you have to put on sunglasses). How do you feel? What do you imagine yourself doing. It turns out that this phenomenon has been researched by the team of Cameron, Caza and Bright (2006). They have data that suggest that virtuousness (an element of caring) in 16 industries is highly correlated to performance during periods of downsizing when forgiveness, optimism, compassion, integrity and trust are demonstrated by the organization toward the individual.
In Positive Organizational Scholarship, the focus is on what is uplifting, flourishing, and exceptional in organizations ….what is ennobling, transcendent, and honorable about the human condition” (Cameron, Caza, & Bright, 2006, p. 25). Their study of organizational behavior defines virtuousness as the state, capacity, and reserve in organizations that facilitates the expression of positive deviance among its members (Cameron, Caza, & Bright, 2006). “Virtuousness is the state which makes a man good and which makes him do his work well” (Cameron, Caza, & Bright, 2006, p. 29).
Forgiveness is an important characteristic of virtuousness in organizations. When employees experience virtuousness, truth, integrity and boldness, they are much more likely to forgive the organization for what are admittedly, some traumatic situations. As a result, their optimism produces especially positive social outcomes such as goal achievement, empowerment, and agency (Peterson, Maier, & Seligman, 1993). Collective optimism, such as optimism in organizations has an even more powerful effect on outcomes than individual optimism (Peterson & Bossio, 1991). These characteristics are related to caring in organizations through compassion and trust.
Compassion and Trust
People report that they feel cared for when they feel valued, connected, and appreciated. This results when other people care for them, and that is one element of compassion. Compassion in organizations facilitates a sense of humanity, assists healing, and nurtures interpersonal connections. Restoring a sense of kindness, belonging, and life-giving relationships among people at work is a direct result of acts of compassion in organizations. (Roberts, Dutton, Spreitzer, Heaphy, & Quinn, 2009). Compassionate persons demonstrate higher levels of helping behavior, moral reasoning, connectedness, and stronger interpersonal relationships as well as less depression, reduced moodiness, and less mental illness (Bateman and Organ, 1983).
Trust is not only an expectation that ‘you will not take unfair advantage of me’, but also that a sense of caring and positive regard is present. Trust lives in an atmosphere of integrity at work. Lerner (1993) defines integrity as that which requires thought, timing, tact, and empathy in expressing the truth. In organizations, when integrity is demonstrated in leadership, policies, and culture, a positive association has been found with productive interpersonal relationships, teamwork, effective decision-making, participation, and positive climate (Lerner, 1993). An example of virtuousness and integrity in the corporate world is cited in Cameron, “Just after the announcement of downsizing, the company launched programs aimed at whole-life development of employees, an ‘abundance approach to work’”. (Cameron, 1997, p. 9
Take a risk. Dare to Care. See if you can move your workplace toward higher levels of Virtuousness, Integrity, Compassion, and Trust. Our Book, Dare to Care is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Care-Increases-Engagement-Productivity/dp/1984524720/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Dare+to+Care+Paul&qid=1571375197&sr=8-1 and it tells you how to get started.
The Cameron Group, Inc. 