Understanding and Supporting Grief in the Professional Environment
Résumé
This symposium contributes to the Academy of Management’s conference theme “Innovating for the Future: Policy, Purpose, and Organizations,” showcasing five papers that highlight the impact of personal and professional grief on work and personal well-being. Loss and grief are inevitable parts of personal and professional life. Despite how common, yet critical grief-related experiences may be in workers’ lives, management scholarship on the topic remains limited in its understanding of (1) the personal beliefs and understandings people within organizations hold about grief and the influence these beliefs may have on the experience of grief at work, (2) the nuanced varieties in grieving employees’ experiences with personal and professional loss contributing to how workers communicate, make sense of, and move forward with their grief and (3) how colleagues, leaders, and organizations can best support grieving employees. This symposium includes mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative research perspectives that enrich the current understanding of grieving workers’ beliefs and experiences and provides research-based recommendations for organizations in managing and supporting grieving individuals. Together, with discussion led by Professor Olivia “Mandy” O’Neill, these papers aim to provide insights into the processes and outcomes of grief and mourning for employees, their colleagues, and organizations, engage an emerging community of scholars focused on issues related to grief, well-being, and the work-life interface, and generate a strong program of future academic research.