Manager Perspectives on Embedding Workplace Spirituality into the Business Curriculum: Bridging the Gap

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to share findings from an Australian qualitative study (n = 40) about the perspectives of managers and professionals around embedding workplace spirituality into the business curriculum. Academics are now publishing work that addresses workplace spirituality in the business curriculum, but few studies exist that focus on the perspectives of managers and professionals in the field. This article seeks to bridge that gap. Analysis revealed that managers as participants constructed rationales focusing on why workplace spirituality should or should not be addressed in the business curriculum and issues about how it might occur. Some of the perceived complexities of embedding workplace spirituality into public university programs were also identified. The findings of the paper would be particularly relevant to business schools considering the inclusion of workplace spirituality into their curriculum and structuring discussions to incorporate stakeholder perspectives from the business community. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Workplace spirituality and job satisfaction among teachers: influence of well-being and spiritual leadership

“…Shankar Pawar (2009) already outlines physical, emotional, social and intellectual well-being in addition to psychological and spiritual well-being. In the leadership context, SL drives individuals to find meaning in their work, which demands solutions for physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual problems resulting from demands of modern society and workplace (Crossman, 2015). These studies suggest spiritual domain as a significant component of leadership and propose WS as one variable of this integrated leadership model (Sanders et al, 2003).…”

“…Though new methods are analyzed and novel theories are being built, it still needs multidimensional conceptualizations linking spirituality to constructs like well-being and leadership, which would contribute greatly to positive psychology and POS as discussed in our paper. We summarize the discussion of our conceptual framework by proclaiming that overall well-being of teachers from multiple dimensions depends on WS (Crossman, 2015).…”

The Christian Body at Work

“…Zolnai & Flanagan 2019), such as physicians (Miller and Dorjee 2013), lawyers, judges, law professors and legal staff (Sullivan 2013), accounting and reporting work (Rodgers & Gago 2006), or engineering (Sikkema & Van der Werff 2015). 7 For example, Arab Middle East (Tlaiss 2015), Australia (Crossman 2015a(Crossman , 2015b, Brazil (Vasconcelos 2010), China (Cao 2007, Zhang 2020, France (Bell 2008), Germany (Moll 2020), Ireland (Cullen 2011), India (Hicks 2003), Indonesia (Neubert et al 2015), Kenya (Neubert et al 2015), New Zealand (Singh, Corner, and Pavlovich 2016), The Netherlands (Mazereeuw, Graafland, Kaptein 2014), Nigeria (Nakpodia, Shrives & Sorour 2018), North America/US (Hicks 2003, Mitroff & Denton 1999a, Lambert 2009, Neubert and Dougherty 2013, Sikkema & Van der Werff 2015, Puerto Rico (Escobar 2011), Singapore (Hicks 2003), South Korea (Jeon et al 2013), Sri Lanka (Fernando & Jackson 1.1 The study of Christians at work: Research question and objectives engaged empirically, I try to sketch a broader account of Christian living 8 at work contextualized 9 for present-day Western contexts. I leave it to others to assess the validity of my analysis for contexts other than 'contemporary Western' ones.…”

“…38 Fourth, a number of publications address the integration of spirituality into management education (e.g. Ackers & Preston 1997, Boozer 1998, Cavanagh 1999, Crossman 2015b, Cullen 2011, Daniels, Franz & Wong 2000, Epstein 2002, Lenssen 2010, Marcic 2000, Neal 1997) and higher education (e.g. Bugenhagen 2009).…”

“…Arguments presented for the integration of spirituality into management education include an increase in interest in spirituality in the workplace shown by business people (Crossman 2015b) and the business faculty (Cavanagh 1999). Practitioners indicate that the integration of spirituality into the business curriculum may help them find a balance between tangible outcomes and immaterial concerns (Crossman 2015b). For the sake of a coherent life, Epstein (2002) argues it is important to integrate teachings drawn from religious traditions into management education (see also 4.1).…”