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Mullins (1996) makes the important point that: We live in an organisational world. Organisations of one form or another are a necessary part of our society and serve many important needs … Organisations play a major and continuing role in the lives of us all, especially with the growth of large-scale business organisations and the divorce of ownership from management. It is important, therefore, to understand how organisations function and the pervasive influences which they exercise over the behaviour of people. (p. 4)

This chapter explores the subject of child development from an existentialist point of view. Central to existentialist thought is the critique of "essentialism", the tendency to adopt a view of individuals as relatively fixed entities. Existentialism therefore rejects the idea of child development as the description of a process of maturation that produces a relatively fixed "personality". The chapter reviews the dominant approaches to child development and highlights their often essentialist assumptions. Many approaches to child development have placed considerable emphasis on psychological factors, albeit not without retaining a strong biological focus. A further example of traditional theoretical approaches to child development is attachment theory. A wide range of professional groups work with children and young people and need to have at least a basic understanding of child development. Ageism can be seen to apply to children and young people in relation to loss and grief through the medium of disenfranchised grief.

There is no part of human existence that loss and grief do not reach, and the workplace is no exception to this. This article is therefore concerned with some of the implications of loss and grief in work settings in general and for workplace leaders in particular. By way of example, it explores in particular the needs of bereaved caregivers returning to work and the potential for stigma to emerge in relation to employment and bereavement. Central to the article is an argument in favor of the need for change within the workplace, specifically within the structures and systems that support bereaved caregivers returning to work. This article critically reflects on the leadership management challenge of supporting bereaved caregivers returning to, or seeking, work and addressing the problem of stigma in relation to employment and bereavement. Some structural and policy changes are highlighted to assist employers and bereaved caregivers faced with this situation.