Spirituality Management in the Workplace

Today, changing business systems, especially the COVID-19 epidemic, and the rapid development of technology have brought the phenomenon of spirituality to a new point. Cyber spirituality and dataism are also starting to become the focus of attention in this field. This situation also affects the issue of spirituality in the workplace. While the subject of spirituality in the workplace keeps up with innovations and expands in the literature, the relationship between religion and spirituality continues to be discussed and examined. For this reason, this study aims primarily to explain the relationship between the concept of religion and spirituality. In light of current developments, it is to mention the place of spirituality in the workplace between these two concepts.

The scientific research aims to examine the scientific-theoretical approaches of spiritual and personality formation in the workplace in sacred sources and world leaders in this field. The main research methodology of the scientific research work is to systematically and comprehensively examine the approaches of the worldly and sacred sources in the formation of spirituality and personality in the workplace. The main application importance of the scientific research work is to apply the obtained results in the formation of morale and personality in the workplace. All this will lead to the innovative approach of spirituality and personality in the workplace, the systematic development of this field, and sustainable and sustainable activity. The main results of the scientific research work – improvement of morale and personality formation in the workplace – reflect conceptual and theoretical innovations in this field. The results of the research serve the application of spirituality and personality formation in the workplace, the improvement and development of that field. The originality and scientific novelty of the scientific research are that the main scientific-theoretical directions of the scientific approaches shown in the works of sacred sources and world leaders in the formation of spirituality and personality at the workplace were studied, and the theoretical-practical approaches of the formation of this field as a scientific-practical direction were investigated. From this point of view, the scientific research work can be considered admirable from the point of view of the study of scientific approaches in the formation of spirituality and personality in the workplace.

In a world teeming with concurrent processes and associated chaos, organizational working procedures have adapted to new trends; employees must keep up with everything while maintaining their mental health. Spirituality lends a person's life significance. Spirituality in the workplace can both physically and psychologically engage employees. Spirituality in the workplace is reflected in the organizational culture, which is founded on fundamental values such as trust, honesty, appreciation, innovation, care, respect, and loyalty. Workplace spirituality encompasses the pursuit of one's ultimate purpose in life, the development of a solid connection to colleagues and other people associated with work, and the consistency or alignment between one's fundamental beliefs and the organization's values. To have a competitive advantage and attract the best personnel, an organization's working environment must be based on strong ethical and spiritual values such as compassion, integrity, respect, harmony, trust, teamwork, and forgiveness, among others.

Spirituality in the workplace is a concept that has been emphasized a lot in recent years. However, the relationship of this concept with gender and discrimination has not been adequately addressed. Individual and organizational positive outcomes of spirituality in the workplace cannot be obtained when discrimination is in question. This is because the concepts of spirituality and discrimination in the workplace are completely opposite to each other. In order to prevent discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, age, religion, disability and to establish spirituality in the workplace, organizations should follow awareness and training programs to eliminate prejudices of their management and employees, give importance to differences, develop an understanding of democracy and justice within the organization and development egalitarian and anti-discrimination policies and application. In this direction, while the differences are managed correctly, spirituality will be established in the workplace.

This chapter aims to consider workplace spirituality from a cross-cultural perspective. The terms workplace spirituality and culture are so intangible, and both start with the attitude and behavior of humans but are meaningful in a community. Because of the constraint of understanding these abstract settings, it is necessary to define and specify the dimensions of both concepts to achieve the aim of this chapter. In this regard, the section starts with the conceptuality of workplace spirituality and the dimensions of the term, which cumulate at individual, group, and organizational levels. It goes with the part of cultural dimensions in the light of Hofstede's (2001) direction, Chhokar, Brodbeck, and House's (2007) extension, and Sharma's (2010) derivation of cultural dimensions for national, organizational, and individual levels, respectively. After joining the dots, the chapter focuses on one of the most sacred research areas for academic literature, cross-cultural differences, and workplace spirituality. The last part of the chapter is the conclusion to point to final notes about the concepts and help guide future studies.

Spirituality has long played an important role in conflict and crisis management at both individual and organizational levels, and the interest in spirituality is increasing day by day. Spirituality gives meaning or purpose to one's life and minimizes the potential for conflict, so spirituality has a mitigating role in conflict and crisis processes. In addition, spirituality is thought to foster values such as equality, honesty, compassion, avoidance of harm, respect, peace, justice, forgiveness, sense of duty, reliability, good citizenship, gratitude, optimism, gratitude, love, dedication, and empathy. Therefore, it can be said that employees who have internalized such moral values will definitely reflect them in their actions and discourses in conflict and crisis situations and will achieve successful results. In fact, spirituality drives the behaviors of employees in both crisis management and coping with crisis management. In this context, it can be said that employees with a high level of spirituality can choose the integrative conflict style in conflict situations and can manage conflict positively and thus prevent a crisis from occurring. It is also foreseen that religious spirituality will play a positive role in conflicts and create a peaceful environment in organizations.

Spirituality is a concept that explains the spiritual dimension of human beings. Meaning of life, being together, and the bigger one's existence are the components of spirituality. In that manner, workplace spirituality is an area that endeavors to find the meaning of the work together with the community. Research reveals that workplace spirituality has several dimensions, and inner life, sense of community, and meaning at work are validly used. Though developing in the research area, misunderstandings and misuses of the phenomenon causes several dark sides. In this context, this chapter aims to reveal these in five aspects to contribute to enhancing the literature. The ambiguity in defining spirituality and religion is the first dark point in understanding workplace spirituality. Accepting spiritual executions at work as a tool for profitability is the second. The scarcity of awareness of executive leaders about workplace spirituality is the other. Considering the studies on workplace spirituality as a fad and the expected difficulties in developments about the area is the fourth. Finally, workplace spirituality-based misbehaviors at work are the last dark side, addressed in this study. In addition to the explanations in its content, the authors present a bibliometric analysis conducted by R. The chapter concludes with general evaluations and suggestions for future studies.

The Waorani are an Amazonian indigenous nationality with a population of 4,000. They inhabit three provinces of Ecuador: Pastaza, Napo and Orellana, and their ancestral lands contain a wealth of natural resources, which attracts the onslaught of the processes of extractivism. Significant social and economic asymmetries have also arisen in the decades since first contact. It is in this context that the Waorani Women's Association was created in 2005. Its main purpose is to end deforestation and illegal hunting of species in Waorani territory by promoting initiatives such as the cultivation of organic cocoa and handicrafts to improve the economy of families and to diminish the reliance on the preponderant economic system of use and abuse of non-renewable resources. This chapter analyzes how the spirituality of the Waorani nationality, manifested by the women who work in cocoa farms and chambira palm crafts, combine syncretism and ancestral knowledge in their daily work. It also analyzes the change of spiritual identity from the first contact with the Summer Language Institute missionaries, and subsequent evangelical, Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Latter-day Saints missions to their lands.

Leaders can guide and direct their subordinates and even be a source of inspiration for their subordinates in order to carry out the work in an organization effectively and efficiently. In the light of current approaches, many different definitions of leadership, including paradoxical leadership and digital leadership, have been made. In the literature, no research has been found on the types of leadership for current approaches and the subject of spirituality in the workplace. Moreover, although some individuals have leadership qualities, they may not prefer to be leaders. In this chapter, it will be examined how the subject of spirituality contributes to encouraging individuals to lead and activate the power within them, and what kind of leadership (spiritual, authentic, servant, destructive, etc.) has a relationship with the subject of spirituality in the workplace.

This chapter introduces the specifics of spirituality-centric management practices in service and operation focused industries. Strategic management practices are often challenged by the human factor of businesses. Consequently, businesses often waver with the fulfillment of their strategic goals and face harmful repercussions. Subsequently, strategic leadership plays a crucial role in the advancement of incorporating spirituality in the workplace and cultivating a perception of the spiritual domain at the individual, team, and organizational levels. To succeed, organizations need to overcome the challenges pertaining their members' retainment and wellness. This is because members often act on their emotional, moral, and ethical concerns that are pillared by their spirituality-centric views on colleagues and management. As the overarching term, workplace spirituality has been linked with organizational learning, togetherness, sense of nurturement, and interpersonal fulfillment with tasks and often coincidences with managerial application of strategic approaches. For the synthesis of service focused businesses, authors exemplify studies within tourism and hospitality industries.

Spirituality refers to the relationship that individuals have with something greater than themselves. It is an inner experience that includes a sense of transcendence, a connection to a higher power, or a sense of purpose or meaning. Nonprofit organizations can be defined as a unique category of organizations whose primary goal is not to make a profit. They represent a wide range of collective action and have long been collaborators with public governance systems in both developed and developing economies.

In the current socioeconomic structure, nonprofit organizations have become prominent policy actors, responsible for producing and distributing goods and services. To fulfill their responsibilities, these organizations rely on spirituality as a means of obtaining resources.

While contemporary nonprofit organizations have evolved from religious charities of the past, it would be incorrect to suggest that religious influences have disappeared completely. In fact, today's nonprofit organizations and charity sector exist on a spectrum that can be defined along a religious – secular axis, under the influence at different levels.

As modern nonprofit organizations are directly affected by contemporary organizational processes and principles, it is essential to examine spirituality in such organizations, regardless of whether they are religiously affiliated or not. This chapter examines the relationship between spirituality and nonprofit organizations, while also assessing their organizational effectiveness, career opportunities, leadership approaches, teamwork, job satisfaction and job dedication, in terms of spirituality and spiritual intelligence not only from a religious and cultural perspective, but also from an organizational one.

This chapter introduces and discusses spirituality in the workplace from the lens of corporate culture. Organizational members represent the core embodiment of businesses, while their performance signifies vitalization of strategic goals that heavily depends on their sense of wellbeing and belonging to their organizations. In that sense, organizations must indulge on positive cycles to comprehend, tune, and affix on members' well-being for sustainable longevity and profitability. For this chapter, strategic management capsulates implementation of premeditated objectives via systematic establishment of agendas and deployment of assets. In the same vein, spirituality is centered around the self-induced nature of organizational member behaviors. Elaboratively, authors provide a condensed corpus of research to identify and touch base with the multidisciplinary nature of spirituality in differentiating business types. Accordingly, select constructs are exemplified within the general and sub-fields of management to characterize the linkages of spirituality spanning across service and production focused industries. Based on their expertise, authors exemplify tourism and hospitality literature for the representation of service-focused businesses and provide mini-review of the housed organizational spirituality literature. As a secondary focus, authors discuss the employee, management, and organizational level similarities of spirituality by largely focusing on organizational member perceptions. Distinctively, this work exemplifies the prolific studies to help distinguish longstanding “belief-centric” devotions from organizational spirituality of exemplified industries. The chapter finishes with suggestions for future studies.

The concept of “Workplace Spirituality (WPS)” in the field of management has gained great interest in the last decade, especially due to its connection with profitability. There has been a rapid increase in research related to the topic. It is assumed that employees who spend a significant part of their time at work are willing to satisfy their spiritual needs at the workplace. Such unprecedented challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic have posed many difficulties for organizations to remain agile, develop and grow, and innovate to survive. At this very moment, the importance and meaning of WPS for managers appear to have increased even more. Workplace spirituality is related to motivation, belongingness, and loyalty, and the pandemic seems to have created significant issues concerning these topics with employees. Employees have been forced to work from home due to prolonged restrictions and have faced difficulties in returning to work post-pandemic. Workplace spirituality has the potential to help employees stay motivated in their work, increase their job performance, enhance job satisfaction, and improve their mental health during this difficult period. Organizations can support their employees by implementing different practices to develop workplace spirituality. In this article, approaches to satisfy the spiritual needs of employees post-pandemic, and the efforts of workplaces to meet these needs, are examined with insights from theoretical and practical life.

In this study, workplace spirituality is discussed in the context of remote work and the COVID-19 pandemic. First, the focus is on the changes in the meaning and function of employees in the organization during the evolutionary process of industrialization and management paradigms. Afterward, conceptual frameworks for spirituality and workplace spirituality are presented, and in the last section, academic studies that deal with workplace spirituality with distance or hybrid work arrangements are included. Early studies offer insights and recommendations on conceptualizing, developing, and managing workplace spirituality. They all emphasize that spirituality is necessary for remote work as a tool to overcome stress and mental health problems and increase employee well-being. Unfortunately, the remote work and workplace spirituality literature is relatively narrow and needs to be expanded.

The relationship between robots and spirituality in the workplace is an interesting and evolving area of research that could provide important insights into the role of technology in promoting human well-being and personal growth. Robots are becoming increasingly common in the workplace and their functions in the business world are increasing. The use of robots in the workplace can affect people's spiritual values. Spiritual values such as being successful in their work, providing a sense of purpose and satisfaction, and feeling valued and important are important. The use of robots in the workplace may cause some people to take over many of the tasks that their jobs once did. In this case, employees may feel that their work no longer makes sense and may experience a loss of motivation. The fact that robots don't need the skills and experience of humans can make people feel inadequate in their jobs. However, the use of robots in the workplace can also support people's spiritual values. When robots work with humans, they have responsibilities such as interacting with them, showing empathy, respecting coworkers, and treating humans appropriately. This is important for people's mental and emotional health in the workplace. This approach will help people in the workplace work successfully and happily with robots. The use of robots in the workplace raises moral and ethical questions. In this section, research on the production of artificial intelligence-equipped robots and other intelligent technological machines and their use in organizations is evaluated within the framework of spirituality.

The concept of cyber-spirituality and digital security has recently emerged due to the increasing dependence on technology. Using technology in spiritual contexts presents opportunities for enhanced spiritual experiences and risks that can compromise one's digital security. It emphasizes how the intersection of spirituality and technology can potentially result in a more fulfilling spiritual practice while adding to the existing concerns about data security.

In contemporary times, the impact of technology on mental health has emerged as a critical concern that demands ethical conduct in cyberspace. People are increasingly invested in fostering interfaith dialogues, achieving social equity, and promoting fair play within online communities. This chapter highlights the imperative need to approach technology with mindfulness while prioritizing digital safety in the fast-paced world.

In today's interconnected world, internet users are constantly exposed to a host of risks, including cyberattacks, cyberbullying, cyber-victimizations, and privacy violations. This chapter critically examines these severe threats to personal safety as well as overall societal well-being caused by increasing digitization. Focusing on critical factors such as digital literacy, digital citizenship, cybersecurity practices, and the legal framework concerning data protection, it stresses responsible conduct in the virtual space through informed decision-making by individuals.

Overall, this chapter aims to investigate how cyber-spirituality intersects with digital security in the context of the workplace. Accordingly, it advocates for an introspective attitude toward technology usage that underscores responsible behavior while helping us strike a balanced relationship with digital tools. Through this approach, we can not only safeguard against potential threats but also enhance our emotional well-being.