Understanding and Creating Compassionate Institutional Cultures and Practices

This chapter identifies and explores the values and assumptions underpinning compassionate institutional cultures and practices. It presents, and further develops, a conceptual framework for creating conditions for compassion outlined in Waddington (2017). Theoretically, the chapter is informed by insights and evidence from psychodynamic psychology, work and organizational psychology. It also draws lightly upon empirical material and findings from a small-scale mixed methods study exploring Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies and academic engagement in six universities in the UK (reported in Lister and Waddington, 2014; Waddington and Lister, 2010; Waddington, 2012; Waddington and Lister, 2013). It offers a new paradigm for universities seeking to create compassionate cultures and practices, and ends with a final note of caution. The commodification of compassion must be avoided at all costs. It may be all too easy for compassion to become the panacea for papering over the cracks in dysfunctional institutional systems and cultures. There is a danger of compassion becoming just another ‘flavour of the month’ buzzword, and a consequent risk that it could lose its power and potential to influence change in organizational values and cultures