The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the role spirituality plays in the workplace. The focus of this literature review is on research as well as on organizational practice. There are five major sections of this chapter: (1) historical background and trends, (2) research methodologies, (3) organizational exemplars of workplace spirituality, (4) spiritual practices in the corporate sector, (5) outcomes research, and (6) recommendations for future research in the workplace spirituality domain.

Today’s organizations have become increasingly focused on matters of doing things more effectively and having good financial results. An intention to focus on deep purpose and being in tune with one’s highest Self are generally absent. This has tended to result in dysfunctional behavior and lack of a sense of deeper inner purpose at both the individual and organizational levels. Some of the major causes of this are repetitive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that narrowly focus on the personal self with its selfish desires. Essentially without inner presence and purpose, efforts at all levels in the workplace become sources of dissipation of energy and fulfilment. The key objectives of this chapter are:1.To portray how a non-dual Eastern approach can serve as a basis of morality and spirituality in the workplace and increase overall organizational well-being2.To indicate how the Eastern wisdom approaches (of Taoism, Buddhism, and the Vedanta) point the way to more fulfilling work lives and more effective organizations in the long term3.To demonstrate the lessons that Vedic, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophy and psychology have for the development of effective leadership4.To create an understanding of how the Eastern non-dual approaches to Self-knowledge and Self-awareness contribute to effective leadership, authenticity, and work-life integration.Levels of being and leadershipThe purpose of this chapter is to create guidance for leaders, based on the values and wisdom from the worldviews of humankind’s great Eastern spiritual traditions. These sources will include Vedānta-Hinduism, Buddhism (Zen and Theravada), and the Taoism of Lao Tzu. The chapter aims to provide readers implicit leadership models which are embedded in these traditions. Through the medium of teaching stories, metaphorical poems, and illustrative vignettes, this chapter provides clear pointers to cognize our true nature as the unchanging, timeless awareness which it is.

Yoga is a generic name for a broad set of spiritual practices aimed at a total transformation through Self-realization. Indian traditional wisdom and literature on Yoga include paths oriented towards intellectual discernment (Jñāna Yoga), devotion (Bhakti Yoga), service (Karma Yoga), and Samādhi (Aṣṭāṃga Yoga). Each offers practices to mitigate suffering and aims at total personal transformation and spiritual fulfillment. Different paths of Yoga are based on the world view that is centered on a shared vision of spirituality in various branches and sub-branches of Hindu traditional wisdom. This chapter has two major objectives. The first objective is to elucidate some of the basic tenets of Hindu worldview about the notion of self, aim of human life, role of human being in larger social and natural environment for putting up different paths of Yoga in appropriate context followed by the explanation of the features of the four primary paths of Yoga. The second objective is to illustrate the relevance of the four paths of Yoga in business organizations and their implication on management practices and scholarship.

The intent of this chapter is to create the foundations for a Buddhist theory of organizational leadership. The objectives are threefold: (1) to identify the principles of leadership embedded in Buddhist psychology and philosophy; (2) to understand how representative Western-based theories of organizational leadership, including authentic, value-based and servant leadership, have been predated by a Buddhist theory of leadership that has existed for 2600 years; and (3) to identify the implications of a Buddhist leadership theory for organizations in the twenty-first century. We find that a Buddhist theory of organizational leadership offers significant insights into how individuals and organizations can effectively adapt to change not only at the individual level, but also at the group and organizational levels. To illustrate the theory, we present two founder-leaders of profit-making firms who have espoused and strived to lead by Buddhist principles.Buddhism is not only a religion, but also a way of life, as welll as a scientific approach to understanding the nature of the mind via meditative inquiry. As a religion, it proposes a way to reconnect human beings and society to the nature of reality through the role model of the Buddha and the Way (Dharma) that he taught. As a way of life, it states that there are ethical norms and values for living with wisdom in harmony with oneself and others. As a science of mind, Buddhism lays out an integrative theory of consciousness that practitioners can use to investigate their lives and the causes of suffering. It counsels the individual to discard any aspect of Buddhist theory if direct experience does not concur with theory. In summary, the objectives of Buddhism are: (1) to create enduring happiness, cessation of suffering and abiding balance in all areas of self and society, and (2) to create a harmonious society based on equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and reciprocal joy for oneself and others. These objectives have major implications for engaged spirituality in the workplace.

There are several ways to look at what constitutes and brings us fulfillment. In this chapter, we argue that emotional intelligence may be one of its major prerequisites. Self-actualization is the realization of the potential of the self, becoming the most one can be. This may be an ultimate goal, but remains elusive even if lower levels of need are met, and are typically only achieved when previous levels are “mastered.” Being skilled at understanding and handling emotions in others and in oneself, channeling them into productive outcomes, and the ability and willingness to connect all play an essential role in success, even over technical skills and capabilities. Possessing emotional intelligence helps us recognize how sensitive events can help or hinder other processes. In examining what contributes to happiness, research has found support for the impact of both wisdom and emotional intelligence on levels of happiness.

Mindfulness has come to be recognized as one of the most enduring buzz words in the recent times. Research has shown that mindfulness improves markers of health (Creswell 2016), reduces physiological markers of stress (Pascoe 2017), and can literally change our brain (Congleton 2015). The research on mindfulness also suggests that meditation sharpens skills like attention, memory, resilience, and emotional intelligence and competencies critical to leadership effectiveness and productivity (Seppala 2015). After reviewing the research on the myriad applications of mindfulness in the “wider context” of psychological well-being, this chapter will focus on the role and application of mindfulness in the workplace, both from the leadership and employees’ perspective.After defining the construct of mindfulness from multiple perspectives, the first part of this chapter will explore how Theravada Buddhism understands mindfulness. The Theravada tradition based on Pali Canon will be utilized to survey Buddhist approach to mindfulness since it represents, according to most Buddhist scholars, the most “oldest,” and the most “genuine” form of Buddhist teachings. (Bodhi, In the Buddha’s words: an anthology of discourses from the Pali Canon (edited and introduced). Wisdom, Boston, 2005; Bodhi, The numerical discourses of the Buddha: a complete translation of the Anguttara Nikaya (the teachings of the Buddha). Wisdom, Boston, 2012; Bodhi, The Buddha’s teachings on social and communal harmony: an anthology of discourses from the Pali Canon (the teachings of the Buddha). Wisdom, Boston, 2016; Bodhi, The Suttanipata: an ancient collection of the Buddha’s discourses together with its commentaries (the teachings of the Buddha). Wisdom, Boston, 2017; Carrithers, The Buddha. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1988; Nanamoli, The life of the Buddha: according to the Pali Canon. BPS Pariyatti Editions, Seattle, 1992, 2001; Rahula, What the Buddha taught (revised and expanded ed). Grove Press, New York, 1974). The second section will present a critical review of the existing mindfulness literature in healthcare and in cognitive and clinical psychology to create a pathway to the exploration of mindfulness in the workplace. Finally, this chapter incorporates views from 12 in-depth, structured interviews conducted by the author with mindfulness scholars, business leaders, and management consultants who have had firsthand knowledge of the application of mindfulness in the workplace.

Mindfulness has gained increasing relevance as a field of academic interest and research, definitively intercepting organizational studies and practices near the beginning of the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, in spite of this “mindful” movement, society continues to witness a growing and conflictious triad of individualism, materialism, and isolationism, not surprisingly, dependent upon the triumvirate of rationality, scientific research, and technology to overcome all dysfunctional situations our society may be trapped in. The aim of this chapter is to reassess the spiritual foundations of Mindfulness and deepen its concepts and purposes within the context of an evolutionary integrative approach to knowledge, giving a more robust and profound direction to its insertion into today’s complex environment of accelerated changes in organizational management. After recontextualizing Mindfulness in the actual context of a predominant secularization, this work seeks to reconcile and strengthen the bond between the spiritual and rational dimensions of knowledge, while emphasizing the urgency to separate Science from the Hype and, conversely, bringing together these indispensable forces for humankind: Science and Spirituality. The chapter concludes by highlighting the bright and evolutionary path that may be opening ahead in the field of organizational management thus preventing two powerful vectors of knowledge, two age-old pillars of humanity history, from being lost amid the Hype temptation of naively simplifying or dismantling what took centuries to hardly build, stone by stone, in a slow though steadfast pace, so that a happier, healthier, and more just society will be a definitive and lasting parameter for human evolution.

We present an overview of the current state of research on mindfulness and its application to reducing stress in the workplace. From its Buddhist origin to its secular evolution, we consider the meditation component of mindfulness practice. We describe some proposed mechanisms of mindfulness practice that translate the operations of the mind into the physiology and affect thus enabling the practitioner decouple perception from reality. We briefly consider some theories of stress, consequences of workplace stress, the stressor-strain pathway, and potential entry points for mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace. This chapter also considers the different types of workplace mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions in terms of content, delivery, and duration. We conclude with some concerns about mindfulness and recommendations for future work.

Servant leadership is a rapidly growing and influential research and practice domain (Roberts, Christian scripture and human resource management: building a path to servant leadership through faith. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015). The contemporary focus on servant leadership was given impetus by the work of Robert Greenleaf (Servant leadership: a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press, New York, 1977). As the research on servant leadership expands globally, this chapter explores the generalizability of servant leadership across cultures. The first section reviews the conceptual definitions of servant leadership followed by how those attributes are reflected in four of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism – a reinforcement of their universality. The second section of the chapter reviews the empirical data by summarizing the results of 104 US and international studies that generated 213 dependent variable measures. The breadth of the favorable influence of servant leadership practices on outcomes is consistent and impressive with 209 of the 213 (98.1%) of the dependent variable effects of servant leadership in the positive direction. Only 1.9% were nonsignificant. Even allowing for publication bias, these are very impressive results. The results are equally impressive when the US and global studies are compared. All 100% of the United Sates and 96.2% of the international studies manifested positive outcomes. Interestingly, all four of the nonsignificant studies were international. There are 25 nations represented with the preponderance of the studies from the United States (41.3%) followed by China (16.5%), Turkey (6.4%), the Netherlands (3.7%), Canada (2.8%), and Iran (2.8). The data clearly reinforces an increasing global scope of research interest in servant leadership and its degree of influence.

Servant Leadership is a perspective, approach, and theory of leadership that has been recognized with merit, as addressed in this chapter. Our discussion begins with an overview, background, and a review of some relatively well-known foundational theories and concepts of leadership. The chapter then provides the origins, character, and purpose of Servant Leadership, and describes how Servant Leadership is intended to work. The chapter also evaluates how Servant Leadership may be adapted for use in today’s organizations, along with anticipated advantages and unexpected disadvantages. Finally, the chapter examines whether managers should attempt to be Servant Leaders and what putting Servant Leadership to practice in the workplace may mean and require.

Christians have long held that Jesus was the perfect leader. Yet, the scriptures record that Jesus said, “I have come to do the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38). Thus, by His own admission, Jesus explains His role on earth as that of the perfect follower. This perspective of Jesus as follower empowers the Christian in the workplace to conscientiously perform responsibilities with integrity, credibility, and competence knowing that practicing a Christ-centered followership in the workplace is consistent with Jesus’ own role as a follower. By following the model of Jesus, established follower responsibilities of assuming responsibility, serving, challenging, participating in transformation, and taking moral action (Chaleff (2014) The courageous follower: standing up to & for our leaders, 3rd edn. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco) become a natural response to the challenges within the workplace. In addition, Robert Kelley’s ((1992) The power of followership, Doubleday Currency, New York) perspective on the follower’s self-management, commitment, competence and focus, and courage all dovetail with the follower of Christ’s instruction to “do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23). As a follower of Christ, when given the role and responsibility to lead others, this following-leader (Ricketson (2014) Followerfirst: rethinking leading in the church, 2nd edn. Heartworks Publications, Cumming) will act with an ethic based upon the life and teachings of Jesus while respecting those with whom she/he works while accomplishing the purpose of the organization. By following the perfect follower, Jesus, in the workplace, workers can experience a tremendous sense of fulfillment as they perform whatever duties they are given. The lure of having to be the leader will have no effect because following is their fulfillment, as it was Christ’s.

This chapter is an interdisciplinary exploration of the practice of organizational spirituality as a means to mindfully engage with internal, systemic, and environmental chaos in organizations. The premise of the study is that in organizations (a) chaos is bounded, (b) chaos can be subdued, and (c) organizational spirituality’s operant vocation is to bring organizational chaos into equilibrium by identifying the boundaries and patterns that lie within it, creating core meaning, and cultivating beauty within the organizational environment. After a description of the nature of chaos as described in chaos theory studies, the chapter introduces the construct of the gardener-priest, an ancient understanding of the original human vocation based on the biblical account in Genesis 1–3. The gardener-priest figure is proposed as an archetypal image of organizational spirituality’s vocation: transformational engagement with chaos through multidimensional meaning-making. These concepts are then triangulated with the perspectives of organizational leadership studies in theory and praxis. Cases are then examined in which leaders who operationally embody this proposed vocation have successfully subdued chaos within their contexts by creating a sense of orientation and cultivating meaning, purpose, congruence, and harmony where it did not exist before. Study concludes by discussing analytical questions leaders can ask when attempting to create meaning in the midst of chaos. The aim of this interdisciplinary discussion of organizational spirituality is to initiate and suggest a prismatic conceptualization of the original, restorative nature of organizational spirituality as the human vocation, in relationship to chaos.

The authentic implementation of servant leadership within the workplace is a foundational challenge. Proponents must establish both its theoretical and applied efficacy and the adherent’s personal leadership credibility. One of the great challenges with servant leadership research and practice is the absence of consensus on its conceptual and operational definitions. The chapter begins with an analysis of 29 representative studies that conceptually and operationally define servant leadership. The analysis grouped the attributes into five dimensions (servanthood, stewardship, character, reasoning, and spirituality). No studies adopted all five dimensions, with most utilizing three or less, hence an indication of criterion validity. The combined studies generated 57 distinct servant leader attributes and 168 total attributes for all 29 studies, an average of 5.8 per study. The largest number of attributes related to servanthood, with seven or less addressing stewardship and spirituality. The lack of consensus on the conceptual and operational definitions is reinforced by an analysis of the common attributes. No single attribute is shared by more than 13 of the 29 studies. Twenty-five of the 57 (43.9%) attributes are utilized by a single study. Eighty-eight percent (50) of the 57 attributes appear in 5 or fewer studies. The second part of the chapter provided practical examples of character and spirituality attributes using a sample of 101 interviews of Christian workplace professionals in a varied set of occupations (law, law enforcement, education, and chaplains). The interview accounts reinforced the attributes and explored character and emotional barriers to the authentic practice of servant leadership.

This chapter describes the leadership process of the founder (Wim Leereveld) of the Access to Medicine Foundation, developing the Access to Medicine Index (ATMI) and its impact in the pharmaceutical industry. It portrays leadership traits of Leereveld that will influence and inspire other people in a complex stakeholder field. Finally, it states that two actions “giving responsibility/a role” and “stakeholder dialogue” contributed to CSR development and implementation. These actions are facilitated by an “environment of mutual trust & respect” and “leader-follower relationship of commitment and loyalty,” mostly supported by Servant-Leadership characteristics of “empowerment” and “standing back.” The sum of the above Servant-Leadership actions and characteristics has led to Corporate Social Responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry impacting both the individual and organizational level in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond.

Christian workplace spiritual intelligence (CWSI) is the integration and application of Christian principles in the decision-making process. This chapter illustrates key elements of CWSI (identifying and managing character strengths and weaknesses, overcoming negative emotions, servant leadership, managing difficult people, and overcoming temptation, among others) through a content analysis of 100-plus interviews of Christians in the workplace supported by quotes and critical incident application examples from the respondents. The interview process generated strong affective responses illustrating the importance of spirituality in the lives of the respondents. Those with high-level CWSI demonstrated a high degree of intentionality in applying and committing to biblical principles in the workplace. Most interviewees seem to be at a stable stage of Practice/Behavor. A few were mature to practice more heart-integrated CWSI and possess the ability to use wisdom at a higher-level order of thinking.In conclusion, one of the key recommendations is to develop a systematic education and training program in the area of CWSI. This would include a range of training and education methods that incorporate a variety of learning styles and methods. For workplace believers, this will entail a combination of critically reflective learning processes including the completion of a CWSI self-diagnostic inventory, journaling, 360-degree peer assessments, mentor programs, and group accountability/support programs. The more effective integration of spiritual intelligence will generate a host of benefits including higher levels of workplace effectiveness and elevated mental and physical health outcomes.

To truly understand spiritual followership, a broad appreciation of prerequisite theories of leadership and followership is necessary. Layer upon layer, spiritual followership emerges from the conceptual and empirical work that preceded it. Spiritual followership is not simply the “flip side” of spiritual leadership, but lays claim to its own unique assumptions. The authors construct a definition of spiritual followership and suggest why doing so has proven so challenging, hitherto. Spiritual followership functions as a process, most notably operating in its teaching and learning relationship with leadership. The spiritual follower is emancipated, empowered, and courageous. Despite espousing a number of positive and spiritual values, the spiritual follower is not romanticized as a perfect example of humanity, but one who struggles, as others do, in juggling loyalty with maintaining a work-life balance or resisting unethical and unwise leader decisions. He or she is nevertheless armed with certain approaches and beliefs, and a critical disposition to question, regardless of any imbalance of power in the leader-follower relationship. The chapter concludes that educational providers and workplaces would benefit from developing the skills, values, and perspectives of followership and, specifically, spiritual followership.

There is an established and significant corpus of literature exploring the connections between spirituality and ethics. Within this literature, there has been some focus on the virtues and their relationship to spiritual practice. Of late, organizational scholars have sought to apply these ideas (virtue ethics and spirituality) to the workplace. This chapter provides a review of current thought in this area, along with empirical research and best practice. It focuses on both individual and organizational levels.

Vedic leadership is an inclusive and holistic approach that engages the wholeness of Being and totality of knowledge for mistake-free action. Ideally, Vedic leadership leads to a more sustainable and joyful world. This can be achieved by complete and total self-knowledge, through development of one’s own consciousness, and making wise decisions naturally and effortlessly in accordance with the laws of nature. Ultimately, Vedic leadership flows from the totality of all the laws of nature. These laws of nature, which can be accessed in the consciousness of every being, provide an unchanging framework for a stress-free and sustainable path to perfect leadership. Leading from Natural Law enhances a leader’s capacity for integrating diverse stakeholders, perspectives, knowledge, and skills, to achieve a holistic and inclusive vision and effortless success. This chapter presents several key natural law principles along with associated Vedic principles. Vedic principle of Vasudha-eva-kutumbakam means whole world is a one big single family; hence we should live with harmony, caring and sharing. We then present a rich real-life case study of Vedic leadership, where a values-driven transformative leader employed creative strategies and holistic techniques to boost performance and accomplish internal change while maintaining respect and dignity of all the people involved in the organization. Practicing Vedic leadership helped him build from scratch an award-winning sustainable and growing organization, under extraordinary challenges. The implications for leadership research and practice are presented.

This exploratory chapter presents an overview of the doctrine of Karma, as enunciated in Hindu spiritual texts. The doctrine of Karma is far more complex than its popular characterization: “What goes around comes around.” After discussing various types of Karma, it reviews various related concepts such as Karma and heredity, Karma and rebirth, Karma and fatalism, Karma and morality, and Karma and atonement. As a central piece, the chapter broaches the subject of Karma Yoga, the doctrine of selfless actions. This path of enlightened action is explored in great depth as an alchemy of sagehood, the realization of one’s highest self. It draws heavily on Bhagavad Gītā and Upaniṣads, the Hindu scriptures par excellence, and supports its position through copious quotations from these sources which perhaps more than any other works distill the finest wisdom of Vedas, the earliest books of knowledge. The words – Karma and Yoga – have become a regular part of everyday discourse in the West, and this chapter humbly proposes to contribute to the understanding of these ubiquitous terms.The understanding of Karma and Karma Yoga (the path of selfless action) has tremendous implications regarding how we perform actions in the workplace and the moral underpinnings of the work we do. The chapter primarily focuses on the path of detached action (Karma Yoga) as a framework for performing selfless service. Perhaps, Karma Yoga furnishes the best set of guidelines to put service before self and to perform actions for the well-being of all beings. Everyone performs actions and Indian philosophy offers a way to convert actions (Karmas) into Karma Yoga, a way of “yoking” to the divine within, leading to sagehood without. The link between performing actions selflessly and servant leadership is also explored briefly.

This chapter examines the Buddhist perspectives on personal fulfillment and workplace harmony. Buddhism is an art of living based on the science of mind (Yeshe 2008). First, the chapter will present an overview of the Buddha’s life and his essential teachings based on the Pāli canon, which preeminent scholars such as Carrithers (1988), Bodhi (2005, 2012, 2016, 2017); Rahula (1974), Nanamoli (1992/2001), Narada (2008), Nhat Hanh and Vriezen (2008), Nyanaponika (1962/1996), Nyanatiloka (2000), and Thanissaro (2004) consider the foundation for all existing streams of Buddhist teaching and practice through the centuries. It will provide an overview of the central teachings of Theravada Buddhism (the doctrine of the elders) on such key topics as the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Three Empirical Marks of Existence (suffering, impermanence, and not-self), and the principle of Dependent Origination.After presenting its origin and essential teachings, the chapter will briefly review Buddhist philosophy and psychology and its contribution in the quest for happiness and fulfillment at the individual and organizational level. The chapter will conclude with essential pointers and practices based on Buddhist psychology that contribute to individual and organizational well-being and fulfillment, incorporating views from nine in-depth, structured interviews conducted by the author.

This chapter introduces the disempowering leader and the undesirable effects of working under toxic leaders and poor operation management; further, it emphasizes personal fulfillment through the perspective of organizational well-being. It describes the facets of intolerant leaders who disempower those around them and how this affects the collective harmony and personal well-being of individuals in the workplace. Consequently, an undermining leader, poor operations, and a misaligned team cause a disruption in one’s personal fulfillment and the overall well-being of the organization.In such an environment, an empowered employee rapidly becomes invalidated by the disempowering leader; this type of leader discredits employees’ hard work, appropriates their ideas to present them as one’s own, and does not provide due recognition to followers. Distinctive traits of the disempowering leader include arrogance, intolerance, and ultimately, narcissism. In contrast, an empowering leader fosters trust and enhances employees’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and creativity. Given today’s highly volatile environment, classic approaches to leadership that focus on command and control have become woefully inadequate and the emphasis has now shifted to leadership as a source of motivation and employee development (Yukl (2006) Leadership in organizations, 6th edn. Pearson–Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River).This chapter will address critical issues that disrupt the culture of the workplace, and offer solutions to promote spiritual connectedness and well-being at the personal, team, and organizational level. Finally, to address the malaise of disenfranchising leaders, this chapter will present the twin virtues of humility (to overcome intolerance and impatience) and gratitude (to live a fulfilling life).

The evangelists of the New Testament tell us a story of Jesus who makes profound impressions on people and how he relates to them in unique ways. In his relational approach to people, Jesus orients people to the Kingdom of God, which embraces the meaning of life in all dimensions of human existence and certainly includes one’s vocation and workplace. He engages with people in their workplaces and unique spheres of influence and positions them to understand and experience the Kingdom of God, which means the dynamic and redemptive rule of God that has come in his person, words, and works, which also looks to a future consummation. God’s dream for humans is holistic in nature and embraces every sphere of human life, including vocation and the workplace; it is also to be infused with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus affirms the inestimable worth of each person that centers on the dual-love commandment, upon which everything else depends. This includes love for demanding bosses, gossipers, dishonest workers, and impatient customers and flies in the face of the all too common thrust upon careerism that prioritizes recognition, power, and position, without thought of others. Work is a joyous opportunity, worship, and not a curse and embraces trust, humility, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion, balance, and a responsible work ethic. These virtues are expressed through the numerous stories that Jesus tells, which are drawn from vocational life and human relationships.

This chapter gives an overview of the research on calling with regard to its definitions and conceptualizations based on its different sources. We describe the scales that have been utilized to measure the source of a calling, perceived presence of a calling, the act of living a calling, and the act of developing a calling. We highlight processes through which a sense of calling relates to its predictors as well as to career-related, work, and wellbeing outcomes. We describe the potential dark sides of calling with regard to its negative outcomes for individuals. Lastly, we propose future directions for researchers and practitioners on possible ways employees may move from success to significance by transforming their jobs to callings.

The need for a personal journey of transformation is fundamental to multiple religious and philosophical traditions, both western and eastern traditions. Each of the traditions expresses “the way,” or “the path” to authenticity and self realization. Personal transformation and spirituality can serve as an important and effective foundation for workplace leadership, applying spirituality principles in management and engendering a culture of interconnection. A spiritually grounded workplace is ideally led by servant leaders and expresses in action authenticity, reciprocity, personal goodwill, a sense of meaning, internal motivation, and organizational excellence. The “the way we do things around here” embodies organizational culture, so that a spiritually grounded workplace could be expected to reap the benefits of high employee job satisfaction and high employee engagement and motivation, and would result in high organizational effectiveness. A spiritually grounded workplace would not necessarily be isolated from such challenges and social movements as the #metoo and #timehascome movements that call for leaders to engage employees and stakeholders, including customers and suppliers, to critically examine the current situation and if necessary to close the gap between reality and aspiration. One could argue that a spiritually grounded workplace would be one where the benefits of such movements could be safely and soberly evaluated and adopted, because the foundations of both the organization and its employees provide stability and truth. Such a critical examination requires active, nondefensive listening by management and courageous speaking by employees without fear of reprisal or retaliation, and the development of “close the loop” action items to remediate problem areas leads the organization through its own darkness into light. Like life itself, both personal and organizational transformations are ongoing projects, not “finished products.”

Spirituality is often considered as an important driver of the overall well-being of an individual. Given the significance of spirituality in one’s life, organizations are increasingly making efforts to ensure that employees use spirituality to engage themselves physically, emotionally, and cognitively in their work. The intent of this chapter is to understand the relationship between spirituality and engagement at work and to reflect on its importance to management. It reviews the theoretical foundations of engagement and workplace spirituality over the years. It then lists, describes, and compares different measurement scales for both engagement and spirituality at work. It also examines the “role of spirituality in engaging employees” in the context of existing research conducted in different countries. Based on these reflections, the chapter also provides some implications of this relationship for management practice.

This chapter reviews the concept of awakened leadership (AL), a flexible, human-oriented leadership style, based on ancient principles yet geared toward needs of today’s working community. A set of requirements toward wakefulness is presented for those who are interested in becoming awakened leaders. Awakened leadership is critical today, because workplaces have become more complicated in structure and substance. No longer can we apply mere situational approaches that only focus on tasks and people. There are new dimensions required in the leadership equation, varying from increased diversity to dispersed work locations, and from soft skill nurturing to optimal stakeholder focus. The twenty-first-century demands, derived from increased awareness and immense exposure to global societies, cultures, habits, and lifestyles, have changed the type of leaders we need today. Awakened leaders are shaped from many moments of awakening, through challenges and crucibles, changes, and confrontations with unexpected twists. Once we start evaluating today’s leaders on the basis of the criteria laid out in this chapter, we find that awakened leadership, while still not frequently manifested, does exist in a number of exceptional leaders. Most importantly, becoming an awakened leader is possible for everyone who has the will. The chapter ends with an overview and some guidelines toward becoming an awakened leader.Awakened leadership (AL)

This chapter considers the potential that positive leadership offers for addressing the challenges of leading in complex organizations and explores the practical applications of developing leaders through identity-focused approaches. The role of self-awareness and spiritual engagement are discussed as powerful, identity-shaping, and resilience-strengthening forces. The importance of authenticity, the relationship of identity to authenticity, self-awareness, leadership development disappointments, and spiritual engagement as a development force are examined in a quest for more effective approaches to shaping the leader’s inner self. The importance of a resilient identity that can stand against the pressures of culture and complexity is discussed. Literature from identity, spiritual engagement, authentic leadership, and related social sciences provide support in arguing that the complex forces that influence the leader and inhibit leading authentically can best be understand as outflows of identity, so intentionally addressing identity can provide the foundation for effective leadership. The importance of identity development in providing socially desirable leadership, humility, wisdom, and clarity is discussed. Finally, an example from research is provided and a brief proposal of an identity-grounded, positive leadership-based development program is presented. Methods for measuring the impact on leaders of such an identity-based development program are offered.

This chapter proposes a conceptual relationship between workplace spirituality and inclusive leadership. More specifically, in this chapter, the author posits that this relationship is moderated by the presence and type of Ubuntu that manifests in the organization’s culture. The chapter melds research on two types of spirituality – dwelling and seeking orientations – and links them to a novel conceptualization of two types of Ubuntu (Parochial and Cosmopolitan). The chapter extends the model of Ubuntic Inclusion (Smith and Lindsay, Beyond inclusion: Worklife interconnectedness, energy, and resilience in organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2014) to consider Parochial and Cosmopolitan Ubuntu. The chapter ends with comparing and contrasting Ubuntic Inclusive Leadership with other complementary models of leadership.

The emerging paradigms of workplace spirituality and spiritual leadership are in an early stage of development (Meng, Biomedical Reports 5:408–412, 2016) and ripe for further scholarly exploration (Hill et al., From concept to science: continuing steps in workplace spirituality research. In: Paloutzian RF, Park CL, Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality, 2nd. Guilford Press, New York, 617–631, 2013). Integrating the work of others who have advanced an Ignatian approach to leadership (Lowney, Heroic leadership: best practices from a 450-year-old company that changed the world. Loyola Press, Chicago, 2003; Byron, Next-generation leadership: a toolkit for those in their teens, twenties, & thirties, who want to be successful leaders. University of Scranton Press, Scranton, 2010; Dufresne et al., J Jesuit Bus Educ 6:1–19, 2015; Rothausen, J Bus Ethics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3241-4, 2016), this chapter explores the nearly 500-year-old spiritual philosophy of Ignatius of Loyola, “a sixteenth-century soldier-turned-mystic” (Martin, The Jesuit guide to (almost) everything: a spirituality for real life. HarperOne, New York, p. 1, 2010), who is regarded as a “towering figure in the history of spirituality” (Sparough et al., What’s your decision?: how to make choices with confidence and clarity. Loyola Press, Chicago, p. ix, 2010). Loyola’s insights into the spiritual dimension of discernment, his psychology of choosing, and method for transformation are “conceptually sound, robust, and well-developed” (Dufresne et al., J Jesuit Bus Educ 6:1–19, p. 2, 2015) and can be adapted to respect everyone’s individual needs, circumstances, and concerns.We advance a distinctive approach to workplace spirituality and spiritual leadership based on Ignatius of Loyola’s insights on decision-making and spiritual growth. This inquiry unfolds across the following three questions: (1) What is (Ignatian) spirituality? (2) What is (Ignatian) leadership? and (3) How can Ignatian leadership enhance our practice of workplace spirituality and spiritual leadership?

This chapter explores the interface between different types of leadership and an organization’s ability to provide meaningful work for its workers. It argues that authentic dialogic spaces are needed to ensure that innovative managerial approaches that empower workers to exercise more agency at work, like “liberation management” (Peters, Liberation management. Fawcett Columbin, New York, 1992; Peters and Bogner, Tom Peters on the real world of business. The Academy of Management Executive (1993–2005):40–44, 2002; Terry, Adm Soc 37(4):426–444, 2005), can create conditions that foster meaningful work and support workplace spirituality. Two illustrative “liberation” projects are used to draw attention to the way the prevailing communication climate and workers’ expectations about legitimate workplace interaction shape the process of implementing post-bureaucratic management systems designed to enhance workers’ engagement, agency, and spiritual expression at work.

This chapter considers the emergence of positive leadership theories which have been developed recently in scholarship to act as a corrective to the historically persistent issue within established leadership theories of pseudotransformational or, alternatively, utility leadership. Common theoretical themes which frame positive leadership theories are discussed and placed within a positive leadership rubric developed by (MacKie, Positive approaches to leadership development. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Positivity and Strengths-Based Approaches at Work, pp 297–316, 2017). Finally, ethical normative theories are discussed as a way to bring classical ethical theories into alignment with emerging positive leadership theories and, in doing so, prevent self-deception (Price, Leadersh Q 14(1), 67–81, 2003). Self-deception can be a weakness of positive leadership theories which depend on the self-reflective moral capacity of leaders to instigate ethical action. Moreover, the aligning of leadership theories with classical ethical categories will enhance a moral discourse which can broaden ethical perspectives of these leadership theories and the leaders who exemplify them (Veatch, Hippocratic, religious, and secular medical ethics: the points of conflict. Georgetown University Press, 2012).

This chapter is an integrative attempt to delve deeper into inclusive leadership theory and the state of workplace spirituality. The theoretical parameters are set as bookends between a post-Maslow and post-Hollander analysis applied to the pragmatic realities of workplace spirituality and fulfillment. This study is an attempt to fill the empirical void in measuring workplace spirituality and inclusive leadership from an organization perspective, specifically applied to faith-based private religious institutions of higher education. The results of the author’s benchmark qualitative research study identified a new phenomenon in the working environment not previously contextualized in the field of inclusive leadership: workplace hyper-spirituality and a sense of meaningfulness/transcendence.

The aim of this chapter is to argue that it is possible to identify and audit spiritual (and nonspiritual) signifiers in organizations, and that this process has the potential to reveal an organizational spiritual identity (OSI). A rationale for undertaking the process is developed by highlighting scholarly literature and empirical findings suggesting benefits in applying spiritual principles to workplace practices, that may, in turn, help to offset the potential for costly and painful consequences, such as employee conflict, dismissal, or resignations (Crossman 2016). The implications of spiritual “fit,” in terms of recruitment and retention, as well as creating spiritually safe organizations, are also discussed. The author acknowledges that the relationship between organizational identity and spirituality, as a line of enquiry, is still in its infancy and calls for further empirical work, perhaps in the form of case studies, exploring the process and outcomes of conducting audits of OSI in organizations. Some suggestions on conducting an OSI audit are also submitted.

The author of this chapter takes a heuristic and narrative approach to report the findings of an extracted study from her qualitative, transcendental phenomenological dissertation. The topic of spirituality was an unexpected, emerging theme that was disconfirming in the data, where two of the six participants made consistent reference to their spirituality in the workplace.This disconfirming data was uncovered in this study without any prompting, but its evident emergent presence seemed to merit further investigation. Studies reveal that more and more clients are acknowledging some type of spiritual or religious affiliation. However, social workers as professionals are not necessarily recognized or acknowledged for their beliefs about spirituality and how those beliefs may transcend into the workplace. This chapter provides an in-depth visit to the data related to these two participants who are self-identified as spiritual beings. The major themes and sub-themes are revealed through the lens of self-reflexivity to find meaning from their perceptions of spirituality in the urban-based communities where they live and work.

We live in turbulent times: war, refugees, hate groups, and increasing disconnection between the rich and poor, healthy and sick, and self-interest and the common good. Disorder, angst, and malaise often describe the twenty-first century.Disorder, angst, and malaise may also describe the sixth century in Europe as the Roman Empire fell apart. In those turbulent times, Benedict of Nursia entered a tradition of Christian monasticism that was then over 200 years old and eventually led a group of monks who sought to grow in spiritual maturity through their experience of authentic relationships in a life lived together.Benedict developed a written Rule that set up the conditions by which the individual could grow and become an instrument of God’s will in the world. This chapter examines the background and contents of the Rule of Benedict and proposes four key dynamics that may allow twenty-first-century people to learn from the wisdom of the sixth-century monks: community, hospitality, humility, and charity.

Within the last two decades, organizational scholars and practitioners have paid increasing attention to the concept of workplace spirituality, which draws on the notion that people seek to find a sense of meaning and fulfillment in their performance of work. However, its emergence as a field of interest might also suggest a contemporary approach to an age-old quest of connecting work to a higher purpose, reflecting a trend dating back to antiquity. As a result, this chapter places the development of workplace spirituality within a historical context, tracing the antecedents of the recent emergence of workplace spirituality as a field of interest. The chapter also highlights current conceptualizations and key empirical findings in the field and concludes with a discussion of possible directions for future research.

This article reviews the literature on workplace spirituality, pointing out emergent theories and examining the links between this phenomenon and organizational dynamics. It also examines workplace spirituality in a historical context and compares it to religious beliefs and to established ethical theories and moral principles. The article also looks at organizations in which an emphasis on spiritual values has had an impact on work productivity. While some corporations have institutionalized spirituality, public agencies are reluctant to follow suit for fear of violating the principle of church–state separation. Finally, the article suggests ways that managers and administrators in both the public and the private sectors can use workplace spirituality to increase performance and develop ethical organizations.

This chapter addresses three related premises. The first premise is that organizational change is only mildly effective unless individuals within the organization receive and accept the need to change. The second premise is that the Biblical narrative promotes transformational change that has the potential to be real and lasting. It is a change of the heart, similar to the patriarch Jacob’s Peniel experience. The final premise seeks to link both of the former concepts by comparing conversion methodologies and the research on transformational change, and suggesting ways that each methodology can inform the other. Finally, a new model for change management based on the research from these divergent methodologies will be introduced, along with recommendations for helping individuals navigate the change process.

This chapter defines the nature of spirituality and uses a structural understanding of natural design to define who we are and who we can be as spiritual beings. As living examples, we offer a particularly unique set of experiences to establish a basis for spiritual understanding and define the nature of people who walk in either spiritual darkness or spiritual light.Because an abundance of theological research is grounded in the “salt and light” of spirituality, we offer perspectives from both academic and practical sources to better understand how spirituality can be re-identified and in turn reinforce “dark” behavior within an individual or organization. We construct a pattern of behavior through real-life examples to explain how the use of spiritual language masks true identifiers of inner spirituality and to understand how this practice conflicts with our understanding of how spirituality shapes and influences the lives of people. This research provides specific insight within the context of the business environment because of its impact on workplace efficiency and overall productivity. In this chapter, we discuss approaches to identifying the dark and light of spirituality as manifested in various forms and scenarios. Through examples and discussion, we will propose approaches to assist managers in properly defining spirituality at the individual and firm level and how this information can be incorporated into policies and practices that add value to an organization.The key objectives of this study are to:Define the concepts of dark spirituality and spiritual identity and provide comparative examples to encourage theoretical studies to support management research.Promote academic rigor and credibility through storytelling within disciplines to study forms of spirituality as a foundation to achieve positive, sustainable improvements in management outcomes.Discuss opportunities to introduce evidence-based research methods around themes of spirituality in cross-disciplinary research.

Recent developments like globalization, women empowerment, workplace diversity, and workplace flexibility have helped to engender the conversations on the impact of workplace spirituality on organizational performance. This has increased the curiosity on the role of workplace spirituality to organizational output and performance. Despite the many benefits of workplace spirituality, organizations are face with the challenge of the need to develop a business model that will improve workers inner life and social responsibility without decimating on core goals like financial growth, profitability and organizational performance. This chapter examines the impact workplace spirituality has on employee creativity and how this fosters employee productivity and output. With very little literature connecting workplace spirituality to creativity, this study identifies certain workplace spirituality constructs like wholeness, inner life, freedom, actualization and intrinsic motivation. Using the Structural Equation Model of Partial Least Square, it employs the construct of intrinsic motivation to examine how it fosters creativity in a higher education organization. The result showed a positive influence with implications on practice, research and policy implementation.

Interconnectedness is presented as a paradigm, useful for decision and vision making in increasingly highly internationalized university environments. The chapter explores the concept of interconnectedness from a spiritual perspective, rooted in a number of traditions and with relevance to workplace spirituality. The potential of a paradigmatic approach to interconnectedness in higher education is illustrated by focusing on a number of contexts. Success in education, capitalizes, for example, upon the interconnectedness of stakeholders, preparing students for existing and future realities and the cultural, spiritual, and anagogical implications of internationalized learning environments. Interconnectedness can inform teaching as a vocation, gathering up personal and professional elements in that undertaking. As a spiritually inspired concept, it has nevertheless, practical applications, capable of generating insights and the enrichment of learning relationships. As a paradigm, it has the potential for transformative outcomes for individuals and communities, locally and globally.

Six years ago I retired from teaching at the University of Scranton, after teaching management courses there for over 30 years – many of those courses incorporating elements of management, spirituality, and religion in them. This chapter presents and discusses realizations as to what my career to date has meant or accomplished, my thoughts about where MSR has been to date, and my concerns about where MSR might be heading. These reflections are organized around the three general areas by which we as academics are traditionally evaluated for tenure and promotion – namely, service, scholarship, and teaching.

This chapter discusses the importance placed on work by evangelical Christians because of the Bible, and then discusses the importance of personal evangelism again because of biblical teaching. This chapter then discusses a case study focusing on evangelism through daily electronic devotionals, and why such method was entirely legal despite protestations to the contrary by certain recipients.

The growing interest in workplace spirituality (WS hereafter) is both beneficial and disquieting from a Christian perspective. It is beneficial because it counters the naturalistic self-interested worldview that often governs organizations. Additionally, it provides a bulwark against much of the meaninglessness that is prevalent in modern workplaces. It is also troubling because “spirituality” has become such an amorphous word that practically anything goes. Unfortunately, much of what is written and practiced in this area may have limited association with Christian truth. Accordingly, this chapter provides a critical review of contemporary understandings of WS, both secular and Christian, and offers a constructive advancement from a Christian pneumatikos (i.e., “spiritual”) perspective.

This chapter introduces the reader to the topic of workplace spirituality in contemporary South Africa. It provides insights into Western and African concepts of (workplace) spirituality and thereby refers to the very specific socio-cultural contexts within South Africa, while referring to historic and present influences. Finally, spirituality is described within the context of mental health, mindfulness, and well-being research. Conclusions are drawn and implications for future theory and practice are discussed.

An increased focus on spirituality and mindfulness in the management education literature has resulted in calls for greater empirical work of a nontraditional nature. Therefore, this research looks to contribute to this growing body of literature by looking at the deployment of a specific aspect of spirituality, mindfulness, in a higher education context in the teaching of a Master of Business Administration (MBA) supply chain management (SCM) module. This research shows that the use of meditation techniques by SCM students can engender mindfulness and increase their attention, awareness, and acceptance. In this case study, students completed a learning journal reflecting their experiences of meditation over a 6-week period. Grounded theory techniques articulated a model of the meditation exercise in this context. The research found a number of expected and unexpected benefits, including students’ ability to focus for longer periods of time. The costs of the exercise, cited only by self-identified skeptical students, included an increase in stress and frustration with the exercise. The subsequent analysis and model show how to improve the techniques and prevent negative outcomes.

This chapter focuses on two separate organizational issues namely workplace spirituality and workplace bullying. First, the workplace spirituality and spiritual relations will be investigated. Second, the possible role that workplace spirituality and spiritual traditions can play for the prevention of workplace bullying will be introduced with an emphasis on forgiveness which is one of the positive elements of workplace spirituality. Finally, the effect of forgiveness on the reduction of the impact of workplace bullying will be discussed.

This chapter focuses on describing my ongoing efforts at integrating spirituality into my ethics and leadership course for undergraduates. The course is an introductory-level class for business majors and can be taken by nonbusiness majors as well. It is the only stand-alone ethics course that students take in the business curriculum, with the expectation that all courses incorporate ethics content therein to apply and reinforce what is introduced in this 200-level course. When I was hired, I was invited to revise the course to include the themes of spirituality/faith at work. The themes include personal values, character development, role of spirituality in leadership, global religions contributions to ethics and social responsibility, and managing religious diversity. I use autoethnography – a first-person qualitative research approach, to reflect upon my experiences in the classroom.

As the American workforce has shifted in the twenty-first century, employers have faced numerous challenges regarding how to integrate various types of diversity in their workplaces. Increasingly, though, there has been less attention paid to the interactions between co-workers of different generations. At present, the American workforce consists mainly of Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials. While much has been made informally about the impact of generational clashes within the workplace, less formal research has been conducted on the potential problems or benefits this dynamic could create. This chapter will address three important questions: What are the definition, role, and impact of spirituality (and to a lesser extent religious values) in the modern workplace? What are the differences of employee attitudes toward the role and impact of spirituality in the workplace, specifically between generational cohorts? What conclusions and implications regarding the twenty-first-century workplace can we make? Although there is a paucity of empirical research that clearly describes the influence of intergenerational differences in the workplace, the chapter presents several areas for consideration and potential avenues for increased study.