Workplace Spirituality

10 Key excerpts on "Workplace Spirituality"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  The Routledge Companion to Management and Workplace Spirituality

  • Joan Marques(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  On top of the stressful atmosphere that seems to have become more rule than exception in the fast-paced performance arena called “Corporate America,” it also seems that establishing a spiritual workplace could be seen as practically impossible when one is not a member of top management. During the past decades we conducted several business organizational workshops and higher education courses on the topic of spirit at work, and we discovered that the recurring query was, “how can you establish or promote spirituality at work if you are not a member of top management?” This question is therefore one that requires a deeper look into the phenomenon of spirituality in the workplace and what is needed to make it work. Schutte (2016) rightfully remarks that spirituality in the workplace is a much-disputed inquiry field. Since spirituality in the workplace remains a discussion topic among various theorists—some consider it impossible without the involvement of religion, while others strongly reject the incorporation of the “R” word when talking spirituality—a clear reference to what is meant in this particular chapter seems to be necessary. So far, there are a few decent definitions toward this phenomenon we can refer to. Due to its comprehensiveness, and the fact that it results from the author of this chapter’s own research, we will use the following definition for Workplace Spirituality in this chapter:

  Spirituality in the workplace is an experience of interconnectedness and trust among those involved in a work process, engendered by individual goodwill; leading to the collective creation of a motivational organizational culture, epitomized by reciprocity and solidarity; and resulting in enhanced overall performance, which is ultimately translated in lasting organizational excellence.

  (Marques, 2005, p. 283)

  To the attentive reader it may become clear that, in the above perception, spirituality is kept separate from the realm of religion. It is perceived as the higher awareness that drives human beings to do well. It entails realizations of being interconnected to all other living beings, showing respect to everyone and everything that currently lives and breathes, or once did, and recognizing that there is more to life than our physical state of existing, or that which is visible to us. Spirituality in the workplace is, therefore, as presented in the above definition, the awareness that interconnectedness, respect, and recognition are not limited to ourselves and our private environment, but are also very much applicable to all those with whom we work on a regular or incidental basis, in such a way that these qualities can lead to more than mere enhanced enjoyable workplace circumstances, but to increased return on investments as well. It is therefore essential that the experience of performing our duties should be one that is rewarding to all involved, hence, providing ourselves and those we deal with in the workplace with feelings of trust, belonging, meaning, and fulfillment in all areas that we consider important toward the quality of our lives.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Diversity in the Workforce

  Current Issues and Emerging Trends

  • Marilyn Y. Byrd, Chaunda L. Scott(Authors)
  • 2024(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Spirituality opens a space for bringing one’s heritage and full authentic self to the workplace. This means “being connected to something greater and grander than self and connecting that awareness with culturally and spiritually grounded approaches to [working]”.

  Tisdell & Tolliver, 2000 Spirituality is expressed in various ways at work both for personal support and in making ethical, just decisions. Smith, 2001

  Workplace Spirituality is a framework of organizational values evidenced in the culture that promotes employees’ experience of transcendence through the work process, facilitating their sense of being connected to others in a way that provided feelings of completeness and joy.

  Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003

  Spirituality is the journey to find a sustainable, authentic, meaningful, holistic, and profound understanding of the existential self and its relationship/interconnectedness with the sacred and the transcendent.

  Karakas, 2010

  Although spirituality is not a new topic, it is a relatively unexplored area in the organizational literature. Creating an inclusive workforce environment provides a rationale for framing spirituality as a workforce diversity and inclusion topic. Often, the authentic self is vulnerable and subjected to injustices derived from social identity categorization that produces adverse, disempowering experiences that attack the soul. Therefore, practicing spirituality in the workplace recognizes the “soul” at both a personal and organizational level.

  Spirituality conveys a feeling of empowerment that enables one to transcend the ordinary and envision that which is sacred in everyday life (Gockel, 2004 ). Spirituality is not simply a system of religious beliefs. “Rather, spirituality comprises articles of faith that provide a conceptual framework for living everyday” (Hill-Collins, 1998 , p. 245). It is a source of deep faith and willpower and grants one a sense of calmness and peace. It is that which comes from within, beyond the survival instincts of the mind. Each of us has a spiritual center, which is our connection to this source of inner knowing (Guillory, 2000 ). Spirituality in the workplace centers on a wide range of individual experiences both within and outside formal religion (Tisdell, 2003

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Spirituality, Sustainability, and Success

  Concepts and Cases

  • Christopher G. Beehner(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  2001 ) suggested Workplace Spirituality would be best founded on the principle of individuals “being” spiritual instead of organizations “having” or possessing spirituality.

  Pfeffer (2010 ) identified the four fundamental dimensions of what employees seek in a spiritual workplace as: (1) interesting and meaningful work that inspires learning and development; (2) meaningful work providing a sense of purpose; (3) a sense of connection and positive relationships with coworkers; and (4) the ability to live an integrated life , in which work and non-work roles are in harmony with who the person is as a human being. This overlaps the three dimensions Ashmos and Duchon (2000 ) used to conceptualize Workplace Spirituality: community, meaning at work, and the recognition of an inner life . The following themes (which are related to the topics of this text) emerge from an examination of the various definitions and conceptualizations of Workplace Spirituality: meaningful work that serves a higher purpose, the development of a sense of vocational calling , a focus on global well-being , and an awareness of the need to protect, save, and enhance the planet’s resources and inhabitants (Al-Qutop & Harrim, 2014 ). Three distinct personal aspects of the Workplace Spirituality climate have been identified: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and suprapersonal (Nooralizad, Ghorchian, & Jaafari, 2011 ). Intrapersonal describes an individual having personal spiritual motivations, and seeking involvement in life-enhancing activities. Interpersonal describes individuals collectively seeking connection and community

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Employee Performance and Well-being

  Leadership, Justice, Support, and Workplace Spirituality

  • Badrinarayan Shankar Pawar(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge India

    (Publisher)

  The above description indicates that spiritual need fulfillment involves going beyond one’s material self-interests. One of the ways of going beyond one’s material self-interests is connecting with and contributing to others. This is reflected in one view of spiritual development, which suggests that it is “the process of growing the intrinsic human capacity for self-transcendence, in which the self is embedded in something greater than the self, including the sacred. It is the developmental ‘engine’ that propels the search for connectedness, meaning, purpose, and contribution” (Benson, Roehlkepartain, and Rude, 2003, pp. 205–206). Similarly, Greenberg (2002, p. 144) notes that spirituality involves experiences of transcendental aspects of life and that the transcendent aspects include meaning and connectedness.

  The above discussion suggests that spirituality involves transcendence or going beyond material self-interests. It also suggests that going beyond self-interests can be attained through aspects such as being connected with others and contributing to others (finding meaning). While the above discussion describes spirituality as a human experience in an overall life context, Workplace Spirituality refers to employee experiences of spirituality through work and in their workplace. Various aspects of employee experiences of Workplace Spirituality are described below.

  Workplace Spirituality

  Workplace Spirituality refers to employee experiences in the workplace that reflect the fulfillment of their spiritual needs. In the literature, meaning in work, community at work, compassion, transcendence, and mindfulness (e.g., Ashmos and Duchon, 2000; Petchsawanga and Duchon, 2009) are identified as some of the aspects of Workplace Spirituality experiences of employees. Kinjersky and Skrypnek (2006, p. 7) have identified engaging work, sense of community, mystical transcendence, and spiritual connection as the aspects of Workplace Spirituality.

  Meaning in work or meaningful work refers to work that is meaningful from a cognitive perspective, joy-providing, and connected to the benefits of others and reflecting what is important in one’s life (Duchon and Plowman, 2005, p. 814). Somewhat similar experiences are reflected in some of the items in the engaging work dimension identified by Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2006, p. 7). Community at work refers to the experience that one’s relationships at work provide feelings of having mutual obligations, sharing with others, and having commitment to each other (Duchon and Plowman, 2005, p. 814). Somewhat similar experiences are reflected in the items in the sense of community dimension identified by Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2006, p. 7). Compassion refers to experiencing empathy for others and being sympathetic and helpful to alleviate the suffering of others at the workplace (Petchsawanga and Duchon, 2009). The items in the transcendence dimension of Workplace Spirituality (Petchsawanga and Duchon, 2009, p. 463) suggest that this dimension focuses on employee experiences such as joy, ecstasy, and vitality at work which are somewhat similar to the experiences reflected in the items in the mystical experience dimension identified by Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2006, p. 7). Mindfulness as a dimension of Workplace Spirituality reflects workplace experience of being aware of one’s thoughts and actions at a particular moment and being focused in the present (Petchsawanga and Duchon, 2009). While these several forms of experiences are reflected in Workplace Spirituality, meaning in work and community at work are the main Workplace Spirituality dimensions considered in the literature (e.g., Albuquerque, Cunha, Martins, and Britosa, 2014; Saks, 2011).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Above the Clouds

  A Guide to Trends Changing the Way we Work

  • EFQM(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  11 Spirituality in the workplace

  Josephine Woolley

  Close your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now focus on the last time you didn’t feel stressed at work. Having difficulty? Perhaps you’ve been putting in long hours recently, or maybe you’re worried about job cuts? Not been taking a lunch break? Then perhaps it’s time to put a little spirituality into your work life.

  Spirituality in the workplace is taking off. Terrorist attacks, corporate downsizing and generally living in uncertain times have prompted a resurgent interest in all things spiritual. Spending on self-help books and yoga is booming as men and women look for meaning in every aspect of their lives. And, with people putting in longer hours at the office, employees are realising that, if they are going to spend a good part of their lives there, they’d like it to be spiritually as well as materially rewarding.

  Let’s get spiritual

  Not too sure about the notion of spirituality? A professor at Boston University writes:

  To me, spirituality is simply having a sense of inner calm and a willingness to reflect carefully on yourself and the world around you. Integrating spirituality into the workplace means creating a place where it’s all right for people to bring their whole selves to work, with all their talents and complex emotions; where there’s enough safety for people to speak the truth at meetings, rather than secretly in the hallway afterwards (Rigoglioso 1999).

  Saying what you really feel? Easier said than done, you might think, but, when an employee of a Vermont store told the truth in a widely circulated memo, his CEO chose to praise rather than sack him: morale within the organisation increased and a sense of trust was restored (McLaughlin 2004).

  But why all this soul searching now? Business professor Peter B. Vaill says:

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  The Value Orientations of Buddhist and Christian Entrepreneurs

  A Comparative Perspective on Spirituality and Business Ethics

  • Gábor Kovács(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  As discussed earlier in this chapter, these concepts (e.g., faith at work and business spirituality) are often synonyms. Besides various Christian approaches, the handbook introduces a Jewish perspective on spirituality in the workplace (Lurie 2013), the implications of the Islamic faith for business management (Al Arkoubi 2013), a Bahá’í perspective on the nature and purpose of work (Lips-Wiersma 2013), the influence of Yoga practice on work (Greene 2013), ways of managing and leading from a Maori perspective (Spiller and Stockdale 2013), the influence of Australian indigenous spirituality at work (Miley and Read 2013), and the influence of other Eastern and Western indigenous traditions on business spirituality (Pio et al. 2013). Furthermore, one of the parts of the handbook is devoted to integrating scholarship and the practice of business spirituality. The handbook also has a part in which an assessment of faith and spirituality at work is included and introduces various measures of business spirituality such as “the spirit at work scale,” “the integration box,” and the “faith at work scale.” The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment, edited by Gary E. Roberts and Joanna Elizabeth Crossman (2018), contains papers that deal with the approach to business of particular spiritual traditions. Ashish Pandey and Ajinkya V. Navare (2018) summarize the ideas of the Yoga tradition in their paper “Paths of Yoga: Perspective for Workplace Spirituality.” Anil K. Maheshwari and Rakesh Kumar Gupta (2018) introduce Vedic leadership as a form of values-based leadership in their paper “Vedic Leadership: Theory and Practice of Operating from Natural Law.” Besides introducing specific spiritual traditions, the book devotes space to other subjects related to business spirituality. In a paper entitled “Workplace Spirituality and Creativity” Anthony A. Olalere (2018), for instance, introduces the relationship of spirituality and creativity in the workplace

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business

  • L. Bouckaert, L. Zsolnai, L. Bouckaert, L. Zsolnai(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Voicing Meaningfulness at Work 333 with thought as well as passion, concern for others as well as ourselves, with practical understanding as well as inspiration, with humor and intelligence as well as faith. We offer the Holistic Development Model as a robust and practical means to furthering this end. Literature Biberman, J. and Tischler, L. (eds) 2008. Spirituality in Business, Theory, Practice and Future Directions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Biberman, J. and Whittey, M. 1997. “A Postmodern Spiritual Future for Work.” Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 10, no.2, pp. 130–138. Driscoll, C. and Wiebe, E. 2007. “Technical Spirituality at Work: Jacques Ellul on Workplace Spirituality.” Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 333–348. Frankl, V.E. 1959. Man’s Search for Meaning. New York: Pocket Books. Frankl, V.E. 1969. The Will to Meaning. New York: New American Library. Giacalone, R.A. and Jurkiewicz, C. 2003. “Toward a Science of Workplace Spirituality” in R.A. Giacalone and C. Jurkiewicz (eds), Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance, pp. 3–28. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe. Hicks, D.A. 2002. “Spiritual and Religious Diversity in the Workplace, Implications for Leadership.” Leadership Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 379–396. Lips-Wiersma, M.S. 2003. “Making Conscious Choices in Doing Research on Workplace Spirituality.” Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 406–425. Lips-Wiersma, M.S., Lund Dean, K., and Fornaciari, C.F. 2009. “Theorizing the Dark Side of the Workplace Spirituality Movement.” Journal of Management Inquiry, Online First. Lips-Wiersma, M.S. and Morris, L. 2009. “Discriminating between ‘Meaningful Work’ and ‘the Management of Meaning’.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 88, no. 3, pp. 491–511. Mitroff, I.I. 2003. “Do not Promote Religion under the Guise of Spirituality.” Organization, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 375–382. Neck, C.P., and Milliman, J.F.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Managing in the Twenty-first Century

  Transforming Toward Mutual Growth

  • Joan Marques, Satinder Dhiman, Jerry Biberman(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  One of the key learnings is that interest in integrating spirituality and work is widespread. The interest exists in sole proprietors, small businesses, and at all levels of large corporations. It is in nonprofit, for-profit, governmental, and religious organizations. It also appears to be occurring in individuals in most of the industrialized countries and is not just limited to the United States. In spite of the growing interest, most of the people who are consciously integrating their spirituality and their work feel very alone and have difficulty finding others to talk to about this process. This model addresses (1) what seems to trigger a spiritual transfor- mation in people, (2) the process of integrating the transformation into one’s work, and (3) the effects that this transformation has on Workplace Spirituality 109 their relationship to their work. For example, some of the typical “causal factors” of spiritual transformation are ● a spiritual crisis such as a life-threatening illness, a divorce, losing one’s job ● a profound spiritual experience that is the result of a near- death experience ● a personal epiphany experience related to being in a sacred place ● being alone in silence for an extended time or being in nature. The process of integrating the transformation into one’s work appears to unfold in five major stages. 1. Segmentation: People tend to compartmentalize their spiri- tuality and to keep it separate from the rest of their lives. It has no relevance to work or to any other part of life. During this stage, individuals tend to be motivated by economics and are preoccupied with accumulating material goods and with preparing for the future. 2. Spiritual Crisis: Some major life event occurs that deeply challenges a person’s value system, their perception of the world, their perception of themselves, and their feelings about what’s important.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Hail to the CEO

  The Failure of George W. Bush and the Cult of Moral Leadership

  • James Hoopes(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  Employers do not encourage work- place expression of sexuality even though it is a ‘‘basic aspect’’ of human identity that employees cannot leave at home. Too often, it is 88 Hail to the CEO not an honest desire for human liberation but, rather, a manipulative desire to motivate the workforce that is the fundamental driver of the movement for spirituality at work. Advocates of religious expression at work are right that people carry their faith with them wherever they go. But they are mistaken as to the meaning of that fact. The omnipresence of faith means that a good way for corporations to shut spirituality out of the workplace is to try to import religion into it. Conferences on Workplace Spirituality usually feature well-known business leaders but not, to my knowledge, front-line employees. No doubt some employees are grateful for opportunities for religious expression at work. But many others—possibly the great majority— prefer to reserve religious expression for the home and for worship pla- ces where participants have come freely for that express purpose. It is the spirituality-at-work movement that wrongly treats spiritual- ity as if it had not always been in the workplace. From that mistaken starting point it seems obvious that spirituality should be brought to work from church, temple, or mosque. The result will of course be sectarian division more likely to shrink than enlarge employees’ souls. So the best practice is to manage not by spirituality but for it. Instead of using spirituality to get good work, managers can use good work to join employees into larger spirits. Running the organization honestly and competently so as to enable people to work well together is the best way to help employees find whatever spiritual transcendence is possible in corporate life. The corporate world can learn how to make employees’ spirits soar by studying the example of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance

  • Robert A Giacalone, Carole L. Jurkiewicz(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The purpose of this chapter is to explore the interplay between leadership, organizational politics, and Workplace Spirituality. Specifically, we suggest two emerging areas of leadership as most appropriate to the development of spirit-based organizations while concurrently helpful in reducing the negative effects brought on by organizational politics. Leaders who are politically skilled and servant-oriented tend to inspire trust and confidence in both internal and external stakeholders. Such leadership enables organizations to be not only effective competitors in the marketplace, but also better vehicles for allowing organizational workers to achieve the sense of balance, meaning, and personal fulfillment lacking in many of today’s politically charged workplaces. It is our belief that, when possible, the most effective organizations actively seek to minimize uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity, and other factors that give rise to organizational politics and concurrently try to encourage spiritual practices at work.

  BACKGROUND ISSUES AND LITERATURE

  The growth of interest in organizational politics and Workplace Spirituality has not occurred without cause. Unprecedented and ever-increasing volatility in organizational environments (Mitroff, Mason, and Pearson 1994), caused by a variety of factors, have trickle-down effects that are wide-ranging and deeply felt by nearly all workers (Pfeffer 1998). For example, the monumental change from an industrial to an information society—brought on, in part, by extraordinary technological advances in such areas as computers and telecommunications—has enabled many organizations to decentralize and effectively reach stakeholders virtually anywhere in the world.

  The global reach enabled by such technologies has helped many organizations grow and gain market share, but often results in increased worker travel and a blurring of work-life boundaries, pulling workers away from their established community ties and out of their comfort zones. Furthermore, the increasingly fast pace of change and intensely competitive business environment, along with highly disruptive organizational events, such as downsizing, restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions, have contributed not only to job insecurity and feelings of detachment, but also to an increased cynicism toward management and organizations and a search for meaning at work (Moxley 2000; Noer 1993).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book