Search results

Empirical research in spirituality and religion in work (SRW) offers special challenges in construct conceptualization, operationalization, and data analysis. For this special research methods issue, accomplished researcher and SRW champion Ian I. Mitroff shares his thoughts, criticisms, and models for current research as well as his hopes for SRW's empirical future. Mitroff, co‐author of the most prominent empirical SRW study to date (Mitroff, I.I. and Denton, E.A., A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Workplace, Jossey‐Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1999), holds trans‐disciplinarily grounded views of how SRW researchers need to overcome methodological impasses to stay interesting and relevant. This article contains excerpts from three recent interviews with Mitroff about the current and future states of SRW research, and how such research can move forward with integrity and respect for SRW's special subject matter.

Mitroff's proposal that we exercise all our wits and not just half of them, i.e. the portion presumed to reside in the left hemisphere of the brain, is indisputable. One would like to conclude from the scenario that he has drawn that (a) management information systems are not necessarily synonymous with managerial knowhow; (b) there is no magic in macro‐models; and (c) the computer, despite having achieved Man‐of‐the‐Year status on the cover of Time, cannot father a daughter (to whom marriage at one time would have assured swift ascent in a business career). But I am not sure that this is Mitroff's message nor am I clear as to what it really is, for although he starts out by agreeing with me, that society may be getting the short end of a Faustian bargain with respect to information technology, his line of argument veers off in a direction that would logically lead to a very different conclusion. If I read him correctly, he looks more to the machine than to the man in the man/machine relationship. He wants us to build better men via machine so that electronic games, Disneylands, and other such contrivances will provide us with more salubrious feedback in the way of improved information about everything from the workings of our private psyche to the running of our business.

The central statement of Mitroff's article is that “… a Faustian bargain is indeed involved in obtaining the positive benefits of office technology.” Mitroff says that “… the Faustian tradoff may be far deeper and onerous than has been envisioned so far.”

In their well‐known classic article, Mason and Mitroff proposed that individual psychological type be recognized as an information system (IS) variable of fundamental importance. The authors also speculated that because designers tend to be “thinking‐sensation” types, that this psychological type may frequently be falsely projected onto managers who are in fact other types by nature. In subsequent work, a story‐telling IS was thus proposed to appeal to the “feeling side” of management, in particular.

Having been trained in both engineering and philosophy, I am extremely sensitive to the use of words. I choose words as a result very carefully. One of the key words in my article was clearly “speculation.” No one was more aware than I that I was offering a bold speculation. Given this recognition, I was well aware of the “evidential support base” of my speculation.

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).

Crisis management (CM) has gained prominence in the last decades, as the complex global business environment has forced executives to pay attention to practices that may safeguard organizations against potential crises. However, despite the fact that various scholars point to the need for autonomy and delegation of authority when responding to crises, it appears that the overarching rationale in the crisis literature is geared toward a centralized approach. This suggests that preventive actions and response to crises lie mainly with the leader of the organization and with designated crises teams. It is also apparent that this literature places too much weight on contingency plans and classification schemes. Although behavioral factors have been discussed by some authors as a fundamental element in dealing with crises, it is not clear how to develop these traits. It is our contention then that these conventional perspectives, although valuable to CM, are insufficient to deal with the uncertainty that characterizes global business today where firms must be prepared for the unexpected. We discuss the limitations of this traditional approach and argue for a combination of central control with decentralized execution when responding to unexpected crises situations. This enables management to better comprehend the complexity embedded in any crisis and allows adaptive practices to emerge throughout the organization. An analysis of two cases paired with empirical field studies support our proposition.

I was most interested in reading the article on “Creating the Managers' Plan Book” by Messrs. Mason, Mitroff and Barabba, in the July 1980 issue of the Planning Review.

Following September 11, 2001, spirituality has become an even more important issue. Research projects have been done to address the need of spirituality in the corporate workplace. The issue of spirituality in the academic workplace is even more vital since it is from within the higher academic institutions that the leaders of tomorrow emerge. Yet, little has been done. This research is an attempt to fulfill this need. This project examined the spirituality of professors and the spiritual culture found in a private secular college, a private Christian college and a state university, all located in southern California. The design of the research was based on the work of Ian Mitroff and Parker Palmer. The results showed that there was a difference in the spiritual culture between these three campuses and that the spirituality of the professors was a reflection of the spiritual culture found on the campuses.

Even highly competitive, successful organizations face crisis, defined as “a low‐probability, high‐impact event that threatens the viability of the organization and is characterized by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of resolution, as well as by a belief that decisions must be made swiftly” (Pearson & Clair, 1998; p. 60.). This paper describes the challenges facing leaders and managers attempting to prepare their organizations to engage in effective crisis management. The paper contends that when behavioral readiness is absent, crisis management effectiveness is a matter of chance. The behavioral model draws salient contributions from role theory, learning theory, and multilevel theory and applies them to the body of crisis management theory developed over the past two decades by Mitroff and his associates as well as the recent work of Pearson and Carr (1998). Five propositions are developed and implications for research and practice are presented.