Guest editorial

Citation

Korac-Kakabadse, N. (2002), "Guest editorial", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 17 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmp.2002.05017caa.001

Guest editorial

Spirituality is one of the latest phenomena to enter the realm of management debate. In recent years, a considerable volume of mostly popular literature on spirituality and religion has become one of the fastest growing segments in adult publishing (Ferguson and Lee, 1997). In the USA, corporate chaplains represent a booming industry and careers related to spirituality and spiritual counselling in the workplace continue to gain in importance (Austin, 1995). Equally, in the academic literature there is a growing interest on spiritual leadership, and the management and the measurement of individual spirituality. There now exist more than 20 psychometric instruments related to spiritual and transpersonal psychology utilised for both personal development as well as research (MacDonald et al., 1999). Despite such an explosion of interest, certain questions still remain, what is the meaning of spirituality, how is spirituality different from religion, should religious expression be separate from spiritual expression in the workplace, is it appropriate to integrate spirituality into the management of organisations, what are the benefits of spirituality in the workplace and why is a spiritual renaissance occurring today?

The concept of spirit has its roots in the Latin word spiritus, meaning breath and in contemporary time has been attributed with a variety of meanings and definitions. From the religiously defined meaning of the soul of a person, spirituality has adopted a moral and emotional identity to even being equated with emotional and intellectual energy. In terms of a general meaning, spirituality refers more to life energy and to the "non physical" or immaterial aspects of life which are deeper and go beyond particular forms of words or scriptures, material objects, places and times and often include emotions, character and identity, as well as vital qualities such as energy, enthusiasm, courage, determination, connectedness with self, others, universe and/or with God. Thus, for some, spirituality is one and the same with religion, whilst for others, spirituality takes on a different meaning, so much that even those who are opposed to religion in the workplace are advocates of adopting spirituality in the workplace (Mitroff and Denton, 1999). Yet, others hold that spirituality looks inward into the individual, generating an awareness of universal values and is concerned with the deeper more mysterious part of our being and identity whilst formal religion looks outward, using formal rites, scriptures and promoting an institutionalization of beliefs and attitudes (Brandt, 1996). Greek philosophers made a distinction between the spirit or the immortal soul, the mind (psyche) and the physical body. In its wider sense, and parallel to ancient Greeks' perspective, spirituality relates to a feeling of being connected within one's complete self, with others, the entire universe and/or with God. The underlying theme is that life is part of the fabric of the universe and requires a connectedness and harmony with the nature, the workplace and the home.

Mitroff and Denton's (1999, p. 84) research concludes that "unless organisations harness the 'whole person' and the immense spiritual energy that is at the core of everything, they will not be able to produce world-class products and services". Powerful sentiments which for many are pertinent as so many individuals' experience of corporations is one of a blind pursuit of shareholder value through costcutting, thus creating tensions between an ever greater reduction of the work force and a need to complete large volumes of work. Such tensions result in a deep mistrust of corporations, generating emotions such as fear, frustration, anger, isolation, alienation and feelings of being an expendable object in the pursuit of profit maximisation (Cohen, 1996). These emotions cannot be vanquished by fancy technology or clever marketing. In fact, such experiences in turn create a hunger for a deeper meaning of life, a need for finding an anchor and a desire for greater integration of the spiritual and work identities (Thompson, 2000). Hence, developing one's own spiritual side offers a source of strength both on the job and off. Equally, helping other employees develop theirs can make the workplace a stronger, safer and much better place to do business (Brandt, 1996, p. 87). Amongst the most commonly quoted spiritual values are love, harmony, unity, compassion, peace, truth, honesty, understanding, tolerance, namely values that are seen as missing in the workplace, and where the values that are perceived at present are greed, cynicism, arrogance, self-doubt and moral decline (Austin, 1995).

Perhaps the reason for the growing need for spirituality in the workplace can be found in John Dewey's (1976) echo of the ancient, conceptual embodiment of community. Dewey (1976) suggested that the primary outcome of organizational life is less the production of goods than the development of people. The Dewey interpretation is that organizations should be a powerful reflection of the beliefs, values, principles, ideas, feelings, efforts and conduct of the people bounded and connected by them. Tapping into this wellspring requires a personal journey, a spiritual quest that will enrich individuals as well as organizations and the wider community.

With such reasoning, this special issue of the Journal of Managerial Psychology through selected papers explores the meaning of spirituality within leadership, work and organizations. Sukumarakurup Krishnakumar and Christopher Neck in their paper "The 'what', 'why' and 'how' of spirituality in the workplace" present different perspectives on meaning of spirituality in the workplace. In the "Spirituality and leadership praxis" paper, Nada Korac-Kakabadse, Andrew Kakabadse and Alexander Kouzmin explore the influence of spirituality on leadership praxis. Marjolein Lips-Wiersma and Colleen Mills, "Coming out of the closet: negotiating spiritual expression in the workplace", presents findings from their exploratory study into spiritual expression in the workplace. Len Tischler, Jerry Biberman and Robert McKeage in their "Linking emotional intelligence, spirituality and workplace performance: Definitions, models and ideas for research" paper propose an agenda for future research. Dermot Tredget in "'The Rule of Benedict' and its relevance to the world of work" examines the relevance of the rule of Benedict to the contemporary workplace. Finally, Sue Howard in her paper, "A spiritual perspective on learning in the workplace" examines the spiritual position to learning in the workplace.

Whether spirituality at work is a movement to make corporations a friendlier, more creative environment by entering into the employee's spiritual side, or an attempt to harness the last untapped resource from employees, is still not well understood. In order to fully appreciate the current spiritual renaissance and assess its impact and consequences within the workplace, further contemplation is needed regarding the individual, their place in the organization and the purpose which organizations should fulfil in society.

Nada Korac-KakabadseGuest Editor

ReferencesAustin, N.K. (1995), "Does spirituality at work work?", Working Woman, March, pp. 26-8.Brandt, E. (1996), "Corporate pioneers explore spirituality", HR Magazine, April, pp. 82-7.Cohen, G. (1996), "Towards a spirituality based on justice and ecology", Social Policy, Spring, pp.’6-18.Dewey, J. (1976), Society: Educational Theory, Standard Press, New Brunswick, NJ.Ferguson, T. and Lee, J. (1997), "Spiritual reality", Forbes, 27 January, pp. 70-76.MacDonald, D.A., Friedman, H.L. and Kuentzel, J.G. (1999), "A survey of measures of spiritual and transpersonal constructs: Part one – Research update", The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 137-53.Mitroff, I.I. and Denton, E. (1999), "A study of spirituality in the workplace", Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp. 83-92.Thompson, C.M. (2000), The Congruent Life: Following the Inward Path to Fulfilling Work and Insider Leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.