ABSTRACT
Care is a human ability we all need for growing and flourishing. It implies considering the needs and interests of others, and the quality of how we relate to each other is often defined by care. While the value of care in private life is widely recognized, its role in the public sphere is contested and subject to political debates. In work organizations, instrumentality frequently overrides considerations for colleagues’ and co-workers’ well-being, while relationships are often sacrificed in the service of performance and meeting organizational targets.
The questions this volume attempts to address concerns the organizational conditions that make care flourish and how a caring organization functions in practice. Specifically, we examine what it means to care for each other and what enhances caring behaviours in organizations. The volume ultimately focuses on how caring relations can contribute to making organizations better places. In this perspective, care involves the recognition of, and the limitations of, work as a key aspect of personal and social identity. Because care exceeds the sphere of individual intimacy, the book will also centre on the necessity for building caring institutions through a political process that considers the needs, contributions, and prospects of many different actors.
This book aims to contribute to academic discussions on care in organizations, care work, business and organizational ethics, diversity, caring leadership, well-being in organizations, and research ethics. Managers, consultants, policy-makers, and students will find reflections about the goodness of care in organizations, and guidance about the ethical and practical difficulties of pursuing the project of building caring organizations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|21 pages
Overview
part II|63 pages
Philosophical Underpinnings and Theories of Care
chapter 2|15 pages
Making People Grow
chapter 4|15 pages
The Contribution of Simone Weil to the Enrichment of the Ethics of Care
part III|68 pages
Organizations Practising Care
chapter 6|17 pages
‘Being Gentle’ and Being ‘Firm’
chapter 9|17 pages
Unpacking the Discourses of ‘Caring Management’
part IV|62 pages
Caring Pedagogies
chapter 11|15 pages
Research Impact as Care
chapter 12|14 pages
Supporting Caring Teachers in Universities
chapter 13|16 pages
Do They Care for the Newcomers?
part V|63 pages
Politics of Care