Dignity-Infused and Trauma-Informed, Contemplative Pedagogy for Preventing Moral Injury and Promoting Wellbeing

Although there is growing recognition that trauma can negatively impact students in business and management, discussions have focused primarily upon medically recognized conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involving serious forms of violence or harm. Notwithstanding the criticality of this focus, there has been limited consideration of moral injury (MI), which occurs when deeply held moral values are violated, resulting in profound relational, spiritual, and psychological suffering. To address the latter, this article focuses on four areas. First, the nature of teaching-related MI is clarified through its elaboration and distinction from PTSD. Second, the violations of moral values associated with MI are problematized within humanistic management education, in which the protection and promotion of dignity and its associated values are seen as foundational for wellbeing. Third, trauma-informed (TI) teaching and a prospective alternative, that of contemplative pedagogy (CP), are evaluated for their potential in the teaching-related prevention of MI and promotion of wellbeing. Despite its potential benefits, TI teaching is insufficient for these purposes. CP offers substantial advantages; however, is best implemented within the context of dignity-infused, TI teaching principles. Fourth, a holistic constellation comprising a dignity-infused, TI-CP for supporting humanistic assumptions in management education as well as a paradigmatic shift from economistic to humanistic management is described. Based on this constellation, and in contrast to an economistic metaphor of education as banking (Freire in Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin Books, London, 1970/1993), a humanistic metaphor of gardening for ecological (i.e., relational) vitalization, as well as co-creative humanistic innovation in the management classroom (and beyond) is offered.