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Journal of Business Ethics (2010) 94:89106 Springer 2009 DOI 10.1007/s10551-009-0251-5
Spirituality and Performancein Organizations: A Literature Review Fahri Karakas
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this article is to review spirituality at work literature and to explore how spirituality improves employees performances and organizational effectiveness. The article reviews about 140 articles on workplace spirituality to review their findings on how spirituality supports organizational performance. Three different perspectives are introduced on how spirituality benefits employees and supports organizational performance based on the extant literature: (a) Spirituality enhances employee well-being and quality of life; (b) Spirituality provides employees a sense of purpose and meaning at work; (c) Spirituality provides employees a sense of interconnectedness and community. The article introduces potential benefits and caveats of bringing spirituality into the workplace; providing recommendations and suggestions for practitioners to incorporate spirituality positively in organizations.
KEY WORDS: spirituality at work, performance, organizations, human resources, well-being, benets, caveats, review
A new paradigm in organizations: spirituality movement
The purpose of this article is to review spirituality at work literature and to explore how spirituality improves employees performances and organizational effectiveness. The article reviews about 140 articles on workplace spirituality to review their ndings on how spirituality supports organizational performance. Three different perspectives are introduced on how spirituality benets employees and supports organizational performance based on the extant literature. The article also introduces four potential caveats of bringing spirituality into the workplace and provides recommendations for practitioners to incorporate spirituality positively in organizations.
A number of scholars mention a paradigm shift in organizational sciences, management theory, and practice in the last two decades (Capra, 1996; Giacalone and Dafna, 2000; Harman and Hormann, 1990; Ray et al., 1993; Wheatley, 1992). It seems this paradigm shift is complex, which includes multiple dimensions such as moving from a predictable outlook to chaos (Gleick, 1987), from command and control or fear-based approaches to trust and empowerment (Conger and Kanungo, 1988), from simplicity to complexity (Lewin, 1992), from transactional leadership to transformational leadership (House and Shamir, 1993), and from closed systems to complex adaptive systems (Dooley, 1997). These changes in management include a shift from an economic focus to a balance of prots, quality of life, spirituality, and social responsibility concerns (DeFoore and Renesch, 1995; Walsh et al., 2003), a shift...