Organizational spiritual leadership of worlds “made” and “found” : An experiential learning model for “feel”
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
ISSN: 0143-7739
Article publication date: 25 February 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and define the concepts of “energy” and “feel” into understanding organizational spiritual leadership. It does so through the following. First, it offers a view of workplace spirituality by defining the role of organizational spiritual leadership. Second, it introduces the metaphors of “made” as well as “found” organizational worlds, reflecting a constructivist and positivist perspective, respectively, and highlight their relevance to organizational spirituality. Third, it adapts David Kolb's experiential learning model to articulate an experiential learning model for navigating feel in both “made” and “found” worlds. Finally, it derives implications for leadership and organizational development research and practice in the context of workplace spirituality moving forward.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper. It explores the ideas of “feel,” “energy,” and “inspiration” in the context of organizational spirituality. It also articulates an experiential learning model for navigating feel by taking into considering the constructivist and positivistic ontological perspectives embodied in the metaphors “made” and “found.”
Research limitations/implications
This conceptual paper invites a re-consideration of commonly understood concepts such as motivation, and performance in the context of organizational spirituality.
Practical implications
This paper includes telling implications for leaders seeking to understand the increasingly important concept of workplace spirituality. It invites them to seek to better understand why and how organizational spirituality matters to themselves and the people they lead. It prompts them to reconsider the value of important organizational constructs and their continued relevance in a rapidly changing workplace.
Originality/value
To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper introduces an original conceptual experiential learning model for navigating “feel” in both “made” and “found” organizational worlds in the study of organizational spirituality.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This essay is dedicated to Professors Gilbert Tan and James G. Clawson for introducing to me the field of organizational spirituality and for inspiring me to continue working on these ideas, respectively. The author would like to thank the editor, Professor Paul Humphreys, and the two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions. The author would also like to thank and acknowledge Reviewer 2 for suggesting Figure 4, which was adopted in this essay.
Citation
Z. Geh, E. (2014), "Organizational spiritual leadership of worlds “made” and “found” : An experiential learning model for “feel”", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 137-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-04-2012-0052
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited