Workplace Spirituality
The “workplace spirituality” movement has had a recent revival: Richmond (1999), Marques (2009), and: Biberman, (2000). The basic idea is to bring together what drives workers most deeply with the work companies need to have done. This gives the employees the satisfaction of doing something they want to do – contributing to a cause they believe in – while giving the organization the productivity that comes from a truly motivated workforce.
This area of study builds on the work done by Maslow (1971) who discussed some of the factors leading to peak performance in humans, Csikzentmihalyi (1990 and 2003) who developed the idea of “Flow” and then applied it to business performance, and the Positive Psychology movement.
Research into the spiritual aspects of the workplace faces some of the same hurdles that research into safety culture did – terms need to be defined and instruments (usually questionnaires) need to be designed to measure attitudes. Terms like spirituality have many traditional, pre-existing meanings, so researchers have to carefully define exactly what they are looking into. There are many definitions of “spiritual” and “spirituality” but they tend to center around the movement of an individual away from ego-centered concerns to concern with, and sometimes identification with, larger groups of people, society, and the universe as a whole. “Religion” is typically a tradition-based approach to enhancing an individual’s spirituality. Surveys can be effective tools in areas like attitudes, but large numbers of participants are typically needed to detect results. Nevertheless, some research has been conducted into the effects of workplace spirituality on performance.
Mitroff and Denton (1999) describe five groups of spiritual organization:
1. Religion-based organizations operated in accordance with the principles of a specific religion,
2. Evolutionary organizations which may have started as religion-based organizations, but are willing to grow and adapt as times change,
3. A recovery-based organization using the principles of recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous,
4. Socially responsible organizations which focus on one or more social causes outside of the organization,
5. Values based organizations where specific values are placed on a par with, or above simple profit.
What these five types have in common is a dedication to values above and beyond the concerns of the organization itself. Mitroff and Denton also include the results of surveys performed on a small sample of organizations. They then compared the survey results from a traditionally-run West Coast Utility company with those from a more spiritual East Coast Manufacturer. They found that characteristics like “Warm Caring”, “Spiritual” and “Ethical” were grouped together and expressed more strongly by the spiritual organization than the non-spiritual organization. They also show that when asked about how much of various aspects of yourself can you bring to work (aspects including Creativity, feelings, Soul, Intelligence and Humor), the more spiritual organization outperformed the traditional one on all measures.
Duchon and Plowman (2005) found that, even with a very small sample (n=6) of hospital workplaces, there was a “relationship between spiritual climate of a work unit and its overall performance”. The research looked at workers’ views of the overall workplace atmosphere and management leadership.
Other research has looked at more specific aspects of workplace spirituality. Petchsawanga and Duchon (2012) looked at the effects of meditation on workplace performance. While their work was done in Thailand, where meditation is more common than in western countries, they did find a relationship between the amount of mediation, spiritual condition, and workplace performance:
Specifically, the regular practice of meditation partially mediates the positive relationship between workplace spirituality and work performance. In other words, practicing meditation strengthens the positive relationship between workplace spirituality and work performance. The more spiritual people are, the more they practice meditation and the more they practice meditation, the better they perform their work.
This area of study builds on the work done by Maslow (1971) who discussed some of the factors leading to peak performance in humans, Csikzentmihalyi (1990 and 2003) who developed the idea of “Flow” and then applied it to business performance, and the Positive Psychology movement.
Research into the spiritual aspects of the workplace faces some of the same hurdles that research into safety culture did – terms need to be defined and instruments (usually questionnaires) need to be designed to measure attitudes. Terms like spirituality have many traditional, pre-existing meanings, so researchers have to carefully define exactly what they are looking into. There are many definitions of “spiritual” and “spirituality” but they tend to center around the movement of an individual away from ego-centered concerns to concern with, and sometimes identification with, larger groups of people, society, and the universe as a whole. “Religion” is typically a tradition-based approach to enhancing an individual’s spirituality. Surveys can be effective tools in areas like attitudes, but large numbers of participants are typically needed to detect results. Nevertheless, some research has been conducted into the effects of workplace spirituality on performance.
Mitroff and Denton (1999) describe five groups of spiritual organization:
1. Religion-based organizations operated in accordance with the principles of a specific religion,
2. Evolutionary organizations which may have started as religion-based organizations, but are willing to grow and adapt as times change,
3. A recovery-based organization using the principles of recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous,
4. Socially responsible organizations which focus on one or more social causes outside of the organization,
5. Values based organizations where specific values are placed on a par with, or above simple profit.
What these five types have in common is a dedication to values above and beyond the concerns of the organization itself. Mitroff and Denton also include the results of surveys performed on a small sample of organizations. They then compared the survey results from a traditionally-run West Coast Utility company with those from a more spiritual East Coast Manufacturer. They found that characteristics like “Warm Caring”, “Spiritual” and “Ethical” were grouped together and expressed more strongly by the spiritual organization than the non-spiritual organization. They also show that when asked about how much of various aspects of yourself can you bring to work (aspects including Creativity, feelings, Soul, Intelligence and Humor), the more spiritual organization outperformed the traditional one on all measures.
Duchon and Plowman (2005) found that, even with a very small sample (n=6) of hospital workplaces, there was a “relationship between spiritual climate of a work unit and its overall performance”. The research looked at workers’ views of the overall workplace atmosphere and management leadership.
Other research has looked at more specific aspects of workplace spirituality. Petchsawanga and Duchon (2012) looked at the effects of meditation on workplace performance. While their work was done in Thailand, where meditation is more common than in western countries, they did find a relationship between the amount of mediation, spiritual condition, and workplace performance:
Specifically, the regular practice of meditation partially mediates the positive relationship between workplace spirituality and work performance. In other words, practicing meditation strengthens the positive relationship between workplace spirituality and work performance. The more spiritual people are, the more they practice meditation and the more they practice meditation, the better they perform their work.
References
Richmond, L. (1999). Work as a Spiritual Practice. New York: Broadway Books.
Marques, J., and Dhiman S. (2009) The Workplace and Spirituality: New Perspectives on Research and Practice. Woodstock, Vt. Skylight Paths Publishing a Division of Songhill Partners, Inc.
Biberman, J. and Whitty, M. (2000). Work and Spirit: A Reader of New Spiritual Paradigms for Organizations. Scranton: The University of Scranton Press.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–96. On-line at: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Collins.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2003). Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. New York: Viking.
Mitroff, I., Denton, E. (1999) A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Petchsawanga, P. and Duchon, D. (2012) Workplace Spirituality, Meditation, and Work Performance. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion 9:2, pp 189-208.
Marques, J., and Dhiman S. (2009) The Workplace and Spirituality: New Perspectives on Research and Practice. Woodstock, Vt. Skylight Paths Publishing a Division of Songhill Partners, Inc.
Biberman, J. and Whitty, M. (2000). Work and Spirit: A Reader of New Spiritual Paradigms for Organizations. Scranton: The University of Scranton Press.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–96. On-line at: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Collins.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2003). Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. New York: Viking.
Mitroff, I., Denton, E. (1999) A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Petchsawanga, P. and Duchon, D. (2012) Workplace Spirituality, Meditation, and Work Performance. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion 9:2, pp 189-208.
