Is our culture the hurdle toward the broad establishment of Spirituality in the Workplace? “Interconnectedness” is what authors such as Ian Mitroff, Elizabeth Denton, and Margaret Wheatley (to name a few) refer to when they explain spirituality in the workplace. A broad cluster of management theorists claim that “a fundamental tension between rational goals and spiritual fulfillment now haunts workplaces around the world.” Survey after management survey affirms that a majority want to find “meaning’ in their work (Schrage, 2000, p.306). Something has been stirring in people’s souls—a longing for deeper meaning, deeper connection, greater simplicity, a connection to something higher (Oldenburg, 1997). Bruce Jentner, president of Jentner Financial Group in Bath, Ohio underscores this by saying, “I have a deep conviction that everybody has a need for something bigger in life than just making money and going to work” (Goforth, 2001). Kahnweiler & Otte (1997) affirm that work is a spiritual journey for many of us, although we talk about it in different ways (p.171). Ashmos & Duchon (2000) claim, “there is increasing evidence that a major transformation is occurring in many organizations”. Stewart (2002) stresses this by exclaiming, “a survey conducted last spring by the Torrance, California-based human resource strategists Act-1 found that 55 percent of the 1,000 workers polled consider spirituality to play a significant role in the workplace. And more than a third of that number-34 percent-said that the role had increased since 911” (p. 92). Stewart cites Judi Neal, president of the monthly publication Spirit at Work, who posted the following statement in 2002, "This year, with 911, the market crash, the fall of Enron, the lack of integrity in organizations, people are hungering for human connection...a deeper sense of meaning that their work is something that contributes in a good way" (p. 92). Yet, the awareness around spirituality in the workplace had been awakened long before the shocking events of 911. Ashmos & Duchon (2000), for instance, have introduced the term “spirituality movement,” whereby they argued that “organizations that have long been viewed as rational systems are considering making room for the spiritual dimension, a dimension that has less to do with rules and order and more to do with meaning, purpose, and a sense of community.” According to all these authors a spiritual workplace is, thus, one where people bring in their whole self, not just a part, and are appreciated for who and what they are: Totally; Without distinction. Yet, as Mitroff and Denton also mention in their book “A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America,” our Western way of thinking may very well be the major hurdle toward establishing the holistic approach that a spiritual workplace calls for. And that, in my opinion, can be traced back to our culture of individualism. Even when family feuds occur we find that the people we grew up with and are linked to by blood, have very diverse viewpoints about issues, seen from their own unique, selfish perspectives: What one considers to be perfectly right and well-intended, is seen by another as immoral, wrongful, and mean-spirited. Most of us see our motives toward performing our actions as acceptable to ourselves, yet oftentimes find that these very actions are not well received by family members, let alone friends, or colleagues. Thus raises that the question: Is it possible to establish a spiritual workplace where people bring their entire “being” in, are valued for all of their input and all they represent, and feel content with the “meaning” they find in that environment? Workplace politics is the most obvious bottleneck that comes to mind here: our culture has trained us to be competitive and ambitious. Very few of us shall ever discard an opportunity to get a promotion, even if we know that one of our colleagues deserves it better. Strategies to make progress in today’s aggressive work environment sometimes involve “elbowing” the softer-hearted ones around us, and becoming close buddies with the ones we perceive as potential gateways to the top, even if we don’t really like them. How much more insincere can it get! Nevertheless, our culture has thought us that this is justified. Only the strong survive. So how, then, would this mindset coincide with a spiritual one? It is, after all, this very phenomenon called workplace politics that makes it unattractive for the well-intended ones among us to bring our entire “being” into work, since that would mean: providing openness about ourselves; exposing our most vulnerable sides, and, hence, allowing the sharks that oftentimes swim in the corporate ocean to take a huge bite in our souls. Therefore: if a spiritual workplace is one where we should be able to be our entire selves, we should consider whether we should not have to change our cultural mindset first. And on the risk of sounding gloomy: that will take at least a few generations to fully effectuate if we would start now… And in the meantime we should realize that it’s a beautiful thing to bring our entire soul into work, yet we should be cautious doing so, because we have to be aware of the fact that everyone has a different personal agenda, probably even one that consistently opposes ours…. So, ending on a slippery note: maybe our age-old capitalistic mindset, which gave us a certain understanding of “rational goals,” has finally become obsolete, since it may ultimately turn out to be the great discourager of a spiritual workplace? And maybe, then, we are in need of a new perspective here? Not capitalism, socialism, communism or marxism, but “commonism,” which could perhaps be defined as “the establishment of a common perspective about the values for each and everyone of us in life”? I wonder…. References: · Ashmos, D., P. , & Duchon, D. (2000). Spirituality at Work: A conceptualization and measure. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 134-145. · Goforth, C. (2001, 10/7/01). Spirituality enters the office: A growing number of business executives are acting on the conviction that faith has a purpose in the workplace. The Ottawa Citizen. · Kahnweiler, W., & Otte, F. (1997). In search of the soul of HRD. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 8(2), 171-181. · Mitroff, I., & Denton, E. (1999). A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Workplace ( First ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. · Oldenburg, D., & Bandsuch, M. (1997, Wednesday, May 7, 1997). The spirit at work: Companies should nurture the soul if they want more from employees. The Detroit News. · Schrage, M. (2000, 10/5/01). Sorry about the profit, boss. My feng shui is off. Fortune, 142, 306. · Stewart, C. S. (2002). Soul time. Potentials, 35(9), 92. Burbank, California; January 15, 2003; Joan Marques, MBA, Doctoral Candidate (URL: http://www.joanmarques.com) visit my webpage: http://www.joanmarques.com ######################################################## Looking For Quality Content? The Syndicator provides free, quality syndicated articles for your website that are automatically updated each week. 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