MIT Sloan Management Review

What do managers and executives believe and feel about workplace spirituality or assessments of its purported benefits? In this article, the authors present the results of a two-year empirical study based on face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. Participants differentiated strongly between religion and spirituality, viewing religion as a highly inappropriate form of expression and spirituality as a highly appropriate subject for the workplace. Most believed strongly that organizations must harness the immense spiritual energy within each person in order to produce world-class products and services.

Meaning and purpose on the job are imparted by (ranked from highest to lowest in importance): (1) “the ability to realize my full potential as a person”; (2) being associated with a good organization or an ethical organization; (3) interesting work; (4) making money; (5) having good colleagues and serving humankind; (6) service to future generations; and (7) “service to my immediate community.” Beyond a certain threshold, the authors point out, pay ceases to be the most important factor in work life, and higher needs prevail; the desire for “self-actualization” becomes paramount.

The authors observed five basic designs or models in which organizations are religious or spiritual:

– The religious-based organization may be positive toward religion and spirituality or positive toward religion and negative toward spirituality.

– The evolutionary organization begins as strongly associated or identified with a particular religion and moves toward a more ecumenical position.

– The recovering organization adopts the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous as a way to foster spirituality.

– The socially responsible organization is led by someone guided by strong spiritual principles or values that are applied directly to the business for the betterment of society.

– The values-based organization is guided by general philosophical principles or values that are not aligned or associated with a particular religion or even with spirituality.

– Characterized by the underlying principle of hope, the models appear to have been precipitated by a critical event that caused intense difficulties for the company founders, heads, or the entire organization. All incorporate a principle or mechanism for limiting greed — both the unlimited accumulation of money and the unrestrained pursuit of power.

With a few notable exceptions, people who consider their organizations as being spiritual also see them as better than their less spiritual counterparts.