Flotman Aden-Paul
Industrial and Oranisational Psychology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 16;12:650060. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.650060. eCollection 2021.
Self-transcendence has become and remains an important research theme. Little is known about the role of self-transcendence in cultivating meaningful work and its impact on the wellbeing of middle managers in the face of adversity, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the meaning middle managers attach to their work by investigating the role of self-transcendence in cultivating meaning and wellbeing in a cohort of seven South African middle managers employed in cross-boundary service industry settings. Data were collected through unstructured narratives. Findings confirm that self-transcendence serves as a coping mechanism during adversity and that it facilitates the re-negotiation of meaning, resulting in three potential shifts: the shift from a blame orientation to a work orientation, the shift from reflection to reflexivity and the shift from self-consciousness to other-consciousness. The findings also highlight how self-transcendence enables the exploration of the adaptive benefits of anxiety. The findings contribute new insights into the construct of self-transcendence and extend research on existential positive psychology. It is suggested that organizations invest in reflexive practices as a tool to promote deep learning and connectivity by exploring dialectical processes through reflexive work.
自我超越已然成为并依旧是一个重要的研究主题。在面对诸如新冠疫情这样的逆境时，关于自我超越在培养有意义的工作中的作用及其对中层管理人员幸福感的影响，我们所知甚少。这项质性诠释现象学研究的目的是，通过调查自我超越在一群受雇于跨境服务业的南非中层管理人员中培养意义和幸福感方面的作用，来探究新冠疫情对中层管理人员赋予其工作的意义所产生的影响。数据通过非结构化叙述收集。研究结果证实，自我超越在逆境中充当一种应对机制，并且它有助于重新协商意义，从而产生三种潜在转变：从责备导向转变为工作导向、从反思转变为自反性以及从自我意识转变为他者意识。研究结果还凸显了自我超越如何能够探索焦虑的适应性益处。这些发现为自我超越这一概念带来了新的见解，并扩展了对存在主义积极心理学的研究。建议组织将自反性实践作为一种工具进行投入，通过反思性工作探索辩证过程，以促进深度学习和联系。
