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Abstract
Introduction
Religion
Spirituality
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 100
The common factors that emerge from these three
definitions are:
1. Connectedness (listed as “community” by Duchon
and Ashmos Plowman),
2. A sense of meaning (listed as “completeness and
joy” by Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, and as “reciproc-
ity, solidarity, and performance” by Marques),
3. The organization, although each definition high-
lights a different aspect of this entity. While
Duchon and Ashmos Plowman emphasize “recogni-
tion” and “community”, Giacalone and Jurkiewicz
mention “organizational values”, and Marques fo-
cuses on “organizational excellence.”
From the above definitions it can be derived
that the application of workplace spirituality will lead
to organizational as well as personal growth for all
stakeholders. Stakeholders are all internal and external
parties that have an immediate or long-term stake in
the actions of an organization. The next section of this
paper presents an elaboration of this perspective.
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 101
immense spiritual energy within each person in order to
produce world-class products and services,” (e.g., Mi-
troff and Denton, 1999, p. 83), it is also important to
emphasize that the encouragement of spirituality and
other human conditions in the workplace should be
treated as ends onto themselves and not as “means to
an end [thus] another tool for more productivity”
(Krahnke, Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003, p. 401). In
this regard, Krahnke, Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003)
warn for the tempting fact that “Spirituality in the
workplace can [become] just another set of tools to
make the workplace ‘worker friendly’ and therefore
more productive” (p. 401).
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 102
Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004) cite Lloyd,
who asserted as early as 1990 that “organizations high
in workplace spirituality outperform those without it by
86%” (p. 131). Jurkiewicz and Giacalone point out a
dual advantage to workplace spirituality: organizational
and personal. Regarding organizations, these authors
affirm, “[they] reportedly grow faster, increase effi-
ciencies, and produce higher returns on investments”
(p. 131). Regarding the personal advantage, Jurkiewicz
and Giacalone claim, “generalized benefits of a spiri-
tual culture include increased physical and mental
health of employees, […] advanced personal growth by
contributing to something larger than oneself […], and
an enhanced sense of self worth” (p. 131).
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 103
Research from various sides has also proven in
hard numbers that spirituality in the workplace results
in better organizational performance. Garcia Zamor
(2003) mentions a Harvard Business School study, which
examined 10 companies with strong corporate cultures
(spirited workplaces) and 10 with weak corporate cul-
tures over an 11-year period. The researchers of this
study found “a dramatic correlation between the
strength of an organization's corporate culture and its
profitability. In some cases, the more spirited compa-
nies outperformed the others by 400 percent-500 per-
cent in terms of net earnings, return on investment,
and shareholder value” (Garcia Zamor, 2003, p. 363).
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 104
sible to produce a list of requirements to the applica-
tion of this phenomenon:
• Acknowledging that people come to work with
more than their bodies and minds (Garcia Zamor,
2003)
• Recognizing and accepting individual responsibility
(Garcia Zamor, 2003, Marques, 2005)
• Understanding the interconnectedness of all life
(Garcia Zamor, 2003)
• Openness to change in the organizational culture
(Garcia Zamor, 2003)
• Empowerment (Elmes and Smith, 2001)
• Intuition, creativity, honesty, trust, personal ful-
fillment and commitment (Krishnakumar and Neck,
2002)
• Authenticity, accessibility, productive connec-
tivity, reciprocity, and accountability (Marques,
2005)
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 105
Thinking Outside the Box:
Definitions and Perspectives
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 106
a worn-out cliché that belongs in the marketing de-
partment, increasing numbers of employers are sending
staff on training courses designed to change their per-
ceptions” (p. 1). Calnan (2005) lists five strategies for
managers to encourage thinking outside the box. These
strategies, which are very much in line with the mind-
set of workplace spirituality, are,“1. Learn how you,
the manager, [are] seen to contribute to problems. 2.
Let go of One right way' thinking. 3. Use outside spe-
cialists to improve communication. 4. Change profes-
sional titles to be fun, friendly and functional. 5. Be
quiet when employees or colleagues are asked for
ideas” (p. 12).
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 107
that enhances one’s insight, not only in the advantages
of acceptance toward members of other groups, but
also in the moral correctness of accepting these others.
The more an individual gets exposed to other ways of
thinking, perceiving, and living, the broader his or her
mindset becomes, hence, the easier he or she will be
able to “think outside the box.” Another aspect that
should not be underestimated in this regard is the en-
couragement factor: if management and co-workers do
not support different thinking, even the most creative
minds will either close, or exit the environment. On the
other hand, if management and co-workers do support
different thinking, even the most conventional minds
may get challenged to start reviewing matters from a
less conventional perspective.
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 108
ward sharing in the resulting climate of trust, and
get to greater outcomes if they know that their in-
puts will be valued, regardless of how unconven-
tional they sometimes may seem.
• When workers realize that their inputs are valued,
they will get encouraged to share even more. Thus,
a sense of meaning gets established among work-
ers.
• An organization that nurtures diversity, flexibility,
creativity, and a free flow of communicating, will
find its operations improving, and may even grow
out to become a trendsetter in its industry.
Figure 1 below presents the relationship among the
factors mentioned above.
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 109
Mutual Advantages of Workplace Spirituality and
Thinking Outside the Box
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 110
The factors listed in table 2 are drivers as well
as outcomes for both spirituality in the workplace and
thinking outside the box. One important aspect that
has thus far not been mentioned, but that definitely
should, is learning. Through the receptive climate de-
scribed above for both phenomena, stakeholders can-
not help but learn from one another and the outcomes
of their mutuality-based practices. The result of apply-
ing a spiritual mindset as well as a support system for
thinking outside the box will enhance learning at the
personal and organizational level, and consequently,
growth. Figure 2 (next page) depicts the common fac-
tors in the practices of workplace spirituality and think-
ing outside the box.
Conclusion
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 111
tuality in the work place comes from changing work
conditions” (p. 50).
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 112
Figure 3: The interdependency between spirituality in the
workplace and thinking outside the box
The Business Renaissance Quarterly: Enhancing the Quality of Life at Work 113
From the above may be concluded that, while
heterogeneity may require a longer incubation stage,
the outcomes will be much more rewarding for all
stakeholders. Workplace spirituality requires thinking
outside the box, and thinking outside the box is what
we need to turn the continuous flow of challenges that
the current unstoppable trend of global interdepen-
dency instigates, into the most advantageous process
for individuals, organizations, and ultimately, the en-
tire world.
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