This paper identifies the seminal works of key theorists in the field of spirituality and traces the development of the key ideas of spirituality at the workplace in relation to their relevance in today's organizational context. We examine how having a healthy orientation towards spirituality
at work can lead to desirable individual and organizational outcomes. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the rapidly changing workplace and its future directions by first uncovering the rationale behind the evolution of management thought since the introduction of Taylor's scientific
management and then, by examining the various stages of economic development and as well as the assumptions of man at each identified stage. By relating both the evolution of management thoughts with their respective work designs as well as the general economic environment at various stages
of development, the stage is set for the introduction of spirituality at the workplace. The benefits and costs of spirituality at work will be discussed and we will derive insightful suggestions on how to manage spirituality at work across culturally diverse and fast changing environments
from existing research findings and anecdotal evidences reported by experienced practitioners. Finally, this paper will also discuss implications for research on spirituality at work.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to introduce and define the concepts of “energy” and “feel” into understanding organizational spiritual leadership. It does so through the following. First, it offers a view of workplace spirituality by defining the role of organizational spiritual leadership. Second, it introduces the metaphors of “made” as well as “found” organizational worlds, reflecting a constructivist and positivist perspective, respectively, and highlight their relevance to organizational spirituality. Third, it adapts David Kolb's experiential learning model to articulate an experiential learning model for navigating feel in both “made” and “found” worlds. Finally, it derives implications for leadership and organizational development research and practice in the context of workplace spirituality moving forward.
Design/methodology/approach
– This is a conceptual paper. It explores the ideas of “feel,” “energy,” and “inspiration” in the context of organizational spirituality. It also articulates an experiential learning model for navigating feel by taking into considering the constructivist and positivistic ontological perspectives embodied in the metaphors “made” and “found.”
Research limitations/implications
– This conceptual paper invites a re-consideration of commonly understood concepts such as motivation, and performance in the context of organizational spirituality.
Practical implications
– This paper includes telling implications for leaders seeking to understand the increasingly important concept of workplace spirituality. It invites them to seek to better understand why and how organizational spirituality matters to themselves and the people they lead. It prompts them to reconsider the value of important organizational constructs and their continued relevance in a rapidly changing workplace.
Originality/value
– To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper introduces an original conceptual experiential learning model for navigating “feel” in both “made” and “found” organizational worlds in the study of organizational spirituality.
y includes several passages (about 16 %) that duplicated passages published earlier by Sandy Edward Green as ''A rhetorical theory of diffusion'' in the Academy of Management Review (2004), 29(4):653-669. This is a violation of publication ethics which according to the Springer Policy on Publishing Integrity warrants a retraction of the article and a notice to this effect to be published in the journal.
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