Reframing Workplace Spirituality to Reduce Career and Social Costs to Women

Abstract

Women tend to sacrifice career, family life, or both in ways men do not. Studies have shown repeatedly that these career and social costs are higher for women than men. This article argues that career and social costs only exist because workplace policies and practices are based on values that are grounded in beliefs derived from scientific, religious, and spiritual sources. The authors employ three ontological ideal-types to examine workplace policies that affect men and women differently. The analysis considers how different ontological assumptions might lead to more socially equitable policies and outcomes. Characteristics associated with one type in particular may lead to more desirable workplace policies than the others. Therefore, when scholars generically promote "workplace spirituality" in an effort to generate more desirable individual and workplace outcomes, it is important to be specific about which particular beliefs are being promoted and which are being left out.Workplace spirituality is a broad umbrella that includes the role of spirituality in the workplace, particularly with regard to the legal implications for public expression of beliefs, organizational performance, ethical behavior patterns, decision-making, and the personal health and fulfillment of employees (King, 2007). These relationships suggest the possibility of spiritual drivers for employment policies. In short, beliefs shape choices. These beliefs may stem from a variety of spiritual, religious, philosophical, or scientific ontological grounds. Because this is an issue of the inequitable distribution of career and social benefits and costs, it is an appropriate subject for ethical critique. If one does not like the outcomes of the policies that have been chosen, one must be able to challenge the grounds on which the choices of these policies were made, regardless of the source. Therefore, this article will utilize an ontological ideal-type model to analyze the potential relationship between workplace policies that affect men and women differently and the belief systems with which these policies may be associated. Only through such understanding can we consider the broader implications of promoting workplace spirituality.Employment policies stem from both external regulatory and internal organizational levels of analysis. To illustrate how spirituality is related to workplace policies, whether derived from government mandates or voluntarily offered, this article explores how belief systems may prefigure employment policies that affect women differently than men. For example, at Correspondence should be sent to

The what, why, and how of spirituality in the workplace revisited: a 14-year update and extension

“…Stout, Tower, and Alkadry (2015) suggest that workplace spirituality, depending on the type of spirituality, has potential for reducing career and social costs for women by changing traditional norms of work-oriented men and family-oriented women. In support of this proposition, Hall et al (2012) found that greater levels of sanctification of work demonstrated incremental validity over religious commitment and intrinsic religiosity in predicting lower inter-role conflict, higher positive affect, and higher job satisfaction for working mothers.…”

Workplace spirituality: empirical evidence revisited

“…Taken as a whole, the outcomes have been promising given that people start to understand that the spiritual issue is strongly intertwined with their work life (Harris, 2010; Malik et al , 2010; Dhiman and Marques, 2011; Marques et al , 2011; Altaf and Awan, 2011; Vasconcelos, 2013; Gupta et al , 2014). As rightly noted by Stout et al (2015, p. 155), “It is easy to see why people increasingly look to spiritual and humanist rationales for changing workplace policies.” Similarly, it appears that organizations have envisioned the benefits of adopting a spiritually based orientation (Karakas, 2008, 2010; Pavlovich and Corner, 2009; Poole, 2009; Vasconcelos, 2011, 2015). Furthermore, it is posited that spirituality may be the cornerstone of organizations, whereby one may build a world of peace, democracy, human rights, ethics, multiculturalism and dialogue (Karakas, 2008).…”