Kanov Philosophy

Organizations as Sites of Healing and Happiness

Organizations are frequently portrayed as sites of misery and agony, but Kanov, et al. (808) point out that they may also be places of healing and happiness where compassion, caring, and mindfulness are both received and delivered. Because of this, it is crucial for leaders to demonstrate greater compassion and to encourage their subordinates to do the same. In three main areas—recognizing pain in others, empathizing with others, and acting appropriately in certain situations—compassion is characterized as the innate or inherent component of human response to pain and suffering (Gilbert 12). For example, when one of the staff of an organization loses a close family member, a leader can offer financial support to help in funeral arrangements, and rally other staff members to support him during that difficult moment.

The Importance of Self-Compassion and Mindfulness for Leaders

In order for leaders to become more compassionate, it is important that they first create time of becoming more self-compassionate and mindful. Self-compassion refers to the act of extending care and support to one’s self during period of perceived or real suffering, failures, and insufficiency. It entails being kind to oneself during times of personal difficulties, instead of hurting oneself with blame and criticism (Mead and Charles 65). It also comprises acknowledging that personal failure, pain and suffering are part of human life. Related to the concept of self-compassion is mindfulness which means the fundamental human ability of being completely aware and present of the situation one is in and what they are doing or are going to do, and striving not to be overwhelmed or reactive by the happenings around them at the time (Boyatzis and Annie 22). For instance, when a staff engages in a malpractice, a leader should first seek to establish the circumstances around it and what could possibly have led to that, instead of first being reactive and accusing him.

Leadership and Responding Appropriately to Pain and Suffering

Ability of a leader to respond appropriately to the pain and suffering of other people, and particularly his followers requires that he have a high-level of self-compassion and mindfulness. This is critical considering that he has a key responsibility of motivating those who he leads, in addition to the duty of making sure that the place of work and general environments of his follower are sites of care, healing and happiness (Boyatzis and Annie 44). Rather than being sites of suffering and pain. By being self-compassion, a leader will be more compassionate as he will seek to extend warmness and kindness towards those who are encountering difficulties, personal shortcomings and suffering. Self-compassion will enable him not to ignore the plight of those who are hurting or to unnecessarily or overly criticizing them. However, in an organizational setting, practicing self-compassionate can present a challenge where employees may not be keen to exercise due diligence and integrity because they know personal failures may be tolerated (Mead and Charles 131).

Mindfulness in Leadership and Building Sustainable Relationships

Additionally, when a leader is more mindful, he will be more compassionate as he will seek to take a balanced approach to the negative emotions or situations of others, and as such his reaction will not be exaggerated or suppressed (Gilbert 18). He will take a receptive, non-judgmental approach while dealing with pain and suffering of his followers and this will likely result to rational and balanced outcomes, essential to alleviating the difficulties and building long-term and sustainable relationships contributing to achievement of organizational goals and objectives. However, practicing mindfulness in organizational life can sometimes be challenging as it may lead to compromising of set organizational rules and policies of responding to situations such as malpractices (Boyatzis and Annie 70).

Question 2

As a senior manager of Virgin Trains traveling with a less senior female colleague and I notice a passenger opposite me watching a pornography on his laptop, I will respond by asking one of the attendants to tell him to turn off the video. Every human being has a role to being moral, especially on issues that the conventional principles in the society have made a clear distinction of whether they are right or wrong (Holmes 9). In this case, viewing pornography in public is considered by state and federal laws, as well as by organizations like Virgin Trains as immoral and should be prohibited. While any passenger has a moral duty as humans to confront this passenger, my position in the organization as the senior manager mean that I have a duty of care for my colleague, as well as to other passengers in the train to confront this passenger.

Moral Responsibility and Society Norms

As other passengers in the train, I have a right of not being subjected to visual materials including pornography against my consent. Society morals demand that each individual should conform to the recognized standard of proper behavior, good taste and decency (Timmons 43). Also, society morals demand that each individual has a right to decency. In this case, the passenger watching pornography in his laptop violated this basic moral principle, and therefore I had a right to confront him. Besides, as a manager, I owed duty of care to my colleague, in addition to owing duty of care to other passengers. This duty of care entails taking all necessary but reasonable steps in ensuring the wellbeing, safety and respect of their rights while on board the train (O’Hear 81).

Gender Equality and Ethical Decision-Making

The gender of the passengers or colleague should not make a difference on how I react. While it is important to acknowledge that we are living in a free world where people are free to do whatever they deem right, there are limits to what they can do or cannot do (Pojman and Tramel 7). These limits largely apply when an individual is in a public place or is likely to violate the rights and freedom of others. To a significant extent, these limits are governed by morals and laws (Holmes 15). In this particular case, the moral and legal principles related to decency limited the passenger from watching a pornography video in public as it violated the acknowledged proper behavior standards.

Feminist Ethics and Moral Decision-Making

The importance of feminist ethics in this particular case is important in informing the approach that one should employ in making the decision on how to deal with it. Feminist ethics holds that society should not under-estimate or under-appreciate the moral experience of women; instead it should reimagine ethics under a wholesome feminist approach (O’Hear 129). This form of ethics is consistent with the ethics of care that stipulates that interpersonal care and relationships as a virtue are important while taking moral actions. It was thus proper for me to have taken the decision of confronting the passenger without taking into consideration of the gender of my colleague. Failure to do so would have implied that I was under-appreciating the moral experience of the female colleague, in addition to violating ethics of care which requires that interpersonal relationships, regardless of gender, is important in guiding moral action (Timmons 106). A student agrees with statement for a number of reasons: the recognition of the moral principles that demands proper conduct by everyone; and the need to avoid possible punitive implications of not adhering to appropriate moral conduct.

Works Cited

Boyatzis, Richard E, and Annie McKee. Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and

Connecting with Others through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005. Internet resource.

Gilbert, Paul. Mindful Compassion: How the Science of Compassion Can Help You Understand

Your Emotions, Live in the Present, and Connect Deeply with Others. , 2014. Internet resource.

Holmes, Robert L. Basic Moral Philosophy. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. Print.

Kanov, Jason et al. Compassion in Organizational Life. American Behavioral Scientist, 47(6);

2004, 808-827

Mead, George H, and Charles W. Morris. Mind, Self & Society from the Standpoint of a Social

Behaviorist. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Internet resource.

O’Hear, Anthony. Modern Moral Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Print.

Pojman, Louis and Tramel, Peter. Moral Philosophy: A Reader. Hackett Publishing, 2009. Print.

Timmons, Mark. Moral Theory: An Introduction. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers, 2012. Print.