Empathy in the Corporate Jungle – An oxymoron to be normalized.

Wohooo! So, I bagged the congratulatory appellation of ‘Blogger of the Month’ at my college, Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB) Pune, again! This time, the competition I won was that of September-October 2020, and the topic was – Empathy in the Corporate Jungle. Winning the title for the second time means a lot to me, I’m glad and humbled because the organizers found me worthy enough for it yet again. And just like the previous time, I was super-excited to share the concerned blog with you, my WordPress family here! You can read the blog on the SIIB blog portal here: Empathy in the Corporate Jungle .

You can also read the blog which brought me the ‘Blogger of the Month’ title for the first time, over here: India- The Newest Participant in the much awed ‘Space Race’

PS: Just in case you think that this is quite a small write-up compared to what I usually write, well, to make the competition difficult the organizers had set a word limit of 300 words, and thus, I had to fit in all my thoughts within the word limit, which was challenging yet fun!

Image Courtesy: Hr Daily Advisor

Corporate- when we think about it, we immediately think of masking our emotions, as we feel that the corporate sector, or the ‘corporate jungle’ has no room for emotions. And we, quite foolishly, kill our emotional quotient (EQ) that emanates empathy. Modern-day corporate world has started accepting that corporate is not limited to profits, targets and cut-throat competitions anymore. For a healthy and thriving work environment, empathy is necessary.

The senior management takes various decisions for the organization which are implemented only after every employee agrees to them. And employees unaccepting such decisions is a common problem, owing to psychological inertia. And though various quality experts have charted out ways to overcome this, the root lies in empathy. The management has to step onto the shoes of the employees to understand what is hurting the employees’ interests to take better decisions.

The HRM of an organization takes care of an organization’s workforce. And to take the best decisions, they should be empathetic – both towards the organization’s spirit and also the employees’ expectations. The decisions should be such that, they uphold the organizational benefits and employee interests.

It is about how supportive, mindful, and healthily competitive the peers are, that determine healthy peer relationships at workplaces, and empathy is the root of all these values. That way, they can also build long-lasting work relationships which are mutually benefitting for them as they can learn and grow together.

Thus, today, empathy is undoubtedly a crucial element for the proper survival of the corporate jungle. Empathy and corporate jungle juxtaposed in a sentence seems an oxymoron. However, as we learn more about efficient corporate functionalities, empathy is gaining increasing importance every day, and this oxymoron is getting accepted too. Thus, empathy is a strongly emphasized ingredient for the corporate world.

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