Invoking spirits in the material world: Spiritualism, surrealism, and spirituality at work

Abstract

This paper considers the recent upsurge of interest in workplace spirituality through an analysis of three cultural movements -late nineteenth century spiritualism, early twentieth century surrealism, and late twentieth/early twenty-first century 'spirituality at work'. These movements share a common interest in harnessing the power of the human spirit in the transformation and 'betterment' of social life. It is argued that these movements have successively adopted and de-radicalised invocations of the spirit world such that the proto-feminism and utopianism of spiritualism and the revolutionary pretensions of surrealism have been usurped by a strongly managerialist discourse of workplace spirituality. The paper ends with a consideration of the implications of these developments for the critical study of spirituality, management and organisation.--

The role of spiritual intelligence in employees’ withdrawal behaviors in physical education organization

“…It gives the managers and employees a broader perspective and ability to create, convert, and transform organizational values. Spirituality in workplace leads to improved organizational performance and is addressed by lasting organizational excellence (Case & Gosling, 2010;Corbett, 2009). Having ability to enhance spiritual intelligence components such as the ability to engage in virtuous behavior and invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred can help employees overcome withdrawal behaviors.…”

Charisma, Magic, and Spirituality as Socially Engaged Processes: Lucian’s (circa 120-200) “Alexander the False Prophet” and People’s Accounts of the Supernatural

“…Although some authors (Swatos 1990;Sharp 1999;Corbett 2009;Nartonis 2010) As a further indication of contemporary interest in spiritualism, the 20 th and 21 st century literature also suggests noteworthy popular intrigues with astrology, palmistry, numerology, Tarot cards, and Ouija boards, as well as the more dramatic variants of spiritualism signified by witchcraft and Satanism. Although public interest in spirituality and the supernatural seems to have waned somewhat in the first half of the 20 th century, one might acknowledge a (media intensified) resurgence of interest in the occult in the latter half of 20 th century and in the 21 st century.…”

“…43 Sharp's (1999) analysis of "the struggle for adherents among Spiritualists, Catholics, and Popular Religion in 19 th Century France" provides a particularly instructive account of some of the issues and challenges that spiritualism represents for more established Christian churches. As Swatos (1990), Corbett (2009), and Chirila (2014) also indicate, spiritualism lends itself to considerable conceptual adaptation. Still, it should be appreciated (as history teaches us) that even highly articulated religions can be incorporated into, as well as modified within, wide arrays of cultural contexts.…”

Spirituality in organizations?

“…1 Introduction T he corporate world, based on the changes which take place in society are restructuring a "spiritual awakening" in the workplace, which has been observed in recent years (KHASAWNEH, 2011;GARCIA-ZAMOR, 2003;CORBETT, 2009). A trend in the business world is establishing spirituality as one of the points to seek better organizational results, among other factors (KHASAWNEH 2011;PAWAR, 2009a;FRY et al, 2011).…”

“…These reactions will be translated and show the presence of this dimension in the workplace and determine its level (higher or lower intensity). The authors use the Likert scale for this of 5 (five) (DUCHON, PLOWMAN, 2005;PETCHSAWANGA, DUCHON, 2009;PAWAR;2009;KHASAWNEH, 2011;GONÇALVES, 2011) or 7 (seven) points (ASHMOS, DUCHON, 2000;HARRINGTON, PREZIOSI, GOODEN, 2001;SILVA, 2012).…”