The complexity and embeddedness of grief at work: A social-ecological model

Abstract

Grief – a physical, emotional, and psychological reaction to loss – reflects a fundamental human experience with significant implications for organizations. Although there is a voluminous research literature reflecting the complexity of grief, I argue more could be done to integrate existing work into organizational theory and practice. Grief is not a unidimensional construct and yet research suggests the ways in which organizations support grieving employees often fail to recognize the varieties of their experiences. Effective grief support therefore requires a better understanding of the complex interplay between the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal factors that shape the experience of loss. This paper embeds the multi-level forces that influence grief into a social-ecological framework and subsequently applies it to advance the idea that flexibility within social systems is needed to optimize support for grieving employees.