About

Ram Mahalingam is a cultural psychologist, award-winning researcher, teacher, mentor, artist, and filmmaker.  His current research concerns nurturing a caring and compassionate workplace that treats its workers with dignity. Ram is committed to developing leaders who are passionate about dignity with a mindful commitment to promoting workplace well-being. Ram’s research examines dignity in three organizational contexts: (a) Janitors and cleaning; (b) Dignity in Healthcare settings; and (c) Dignity, Gender, and Technology.

• In a cross-national study, Ram examined the lived experiences of janitors in the U.S., South Korea, India, Japan, and France. In a quantitative study, he is investigating the relationship between workplace dignity and well-being.
  
  
• In his hospital research, he investigated how patients’ sense of control during their hospital visit improve their post-operative recovery, medical adherence, and well-being. His research shows that treating patients with dignity is vital for enhancing their agency.
  
  
• Women engineers are underrepresented, and the workplace culture often does not treat women engineers with dignity. They endure several dignity injuries at work. In a comparative study, Ram examined the impact of dignity injuries on career aspirations, well-being, and personal growth of women engineers in India and the U.S.

He has researched in a variety of cultural contexts for more than two decades. He has published more than 50 journal articles and co-edited/edited two books – Multicultural Curriculum: New Directions for Social Theory, Practice and Policy (Routledge), and Cultural Psychology of Immigrants (Psychology Press). Ram has won several awards for his research, teaching, and mentoring. He is the Director of the Barger Leadership Institute and the Barger Leadership Institute Professor at the Psychology Department at the University of Michigan. Ram is also an award-winning filmmaker. He practices Sumie-a and has collaborated on a significant multimedia art installation — Being Brown in Michigan: Narratives of South Asians — at the University of Michigan.

Listen here to A Conversation on Mindfulness, Bias and Racial Justice, a special edition of “The Point of View” podcast featuring Mindful magazine and mindful.org founding editor Barry Boyce in conversation with Rhonda Magee, Ram Mahalingam, and Mirabai Bush.