The processes of strategic change, undertaken from time to time by organisations so as to maintain its functional relevance and effectiveness, are often conflict-ridden. This is in large part due to the nature of the human agency. Humans bring not only rationality into the decision-making processes, but also their inherent dispositions: intuitions, biases, emotions, and so on. In order to understand the factors that cause conflict in the processes of strategic change, this paper employs al-Ghazali’s concept of the ‘purification of the heart’, and ‘organisational moral learning’. An analytical framework is constructed using these two concepts to illustrate the interplay between contextual organisational configurations, the wider socio-environmental forces, and the human agents’ potentials and powers. This paper proposes some strategies that may help to drive ‘organisational moral learning’ forward, and conversely, hinder ‘organisational immoral learning’ from taking root. Ultimately, it is human agents – or rather, wise human agents – who are the critical factors for maintaining and/or transforming themselves and their surroundings.
All nations are continuously learning how best to live with the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing organizational moral learning and Islamic spirituality perspectives, this paper proposes a learning framework called the whole-of-nation moral learning by spiritual hearts to understand the dynamics of learning and change in a nation tackling the pandemic. It proposes that to overcome the pandemic or any other crises, governance requires the combination of moral leadership and followership by spiritual hearts as agents for moral learning and change, supported by realigned and reconfigured systems for holistic growth. Brunei’s journey in tackling the pandemic illustrates the framework.
Critical thinking is often misunderstood negatively as the unending pursuit of faults for criticism. Rather, it is a performative practice to develop critical judgements and produce impactful outcomes. It goes beyond higher-order thinking skills to also include strong commitments to one's core belief and purpose. 4 Additionally, critical thinking is not confined to personal achievements, but also the collective drawing upon group criticality to reap abundant societal benefits. Muslim minds require such criticality, but socio-religious taboos surrounding the notion may hinder, as it is often associated with dissent and heresy. As such, the education system may not promote critical thinking and thus leads to backwardness. This is the current situation faced by many Muslim societies. Such misconceptions need to be addressed. Critical thinking has been discussed by Muslim and Western secular scholars for centuries, however, its necessity is arguably more important today than ever before. With the lack of advanced Muslim polymaths, as seen in older generations, and the increasingly sophisticated nature of various fields, Muslims require the knowledge and confidence to undergo such way of thinking, not as an end but a means to achieve the Maqāṣid or objectives of the Sharī'ah. 5 In this paper, we will first argue that the inclusion of critical thinking is a religious obligation. Then, we propose that the foundation of these skills must form within early religious
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