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Workplace spirituality: introduction and existing research
Recent research (e.g. [10] Duchon and Plowman, 2005; [14] Fry, 2003; [15] Fry et al. , 2005; [16] Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003; [29] Milliman et al. , 2003) suggests that workplace spirituality reflects employee experiences such as a sense of meaning, purpose, community, and transcendence at workplace. Workplace spirituality research is in its early stage ([9] Dent et al. , 2005; [10] Duchon and Plowman, 2005; [36] Sheep, 2006). Some research has focused on defining and operationalizing workplace spirituality (e.g. [2] Ashmos and Duchon, 2000; [32] Moore and Casper, 2006), mapping the area of workplace spirituality research and suggesting guidelines for the research in workplace spirituality and outlining methodologies for studying workplace spirituality (e.g. [3] Benefiel, 2003; [16] Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003; [23] Lund Dean et al. , 2003; [38] Tischler et al. , 2007). Research has also focused on describing workplace spirituality manifestations in organizations (e.g. [30] Milliman et al. , 1999). Some research has studied leadership as a mechanism for facilitating workplace spirituality (e.g. [13], [14] Fry, 2003, 2005; [15] Fry et al. , 2005). Research has also examined outcomes of workplace spirituality such as employee work attitudes, (e.g. [21] Kolodinsky et al. , 2008; [29] Milliman et al. , 2003; [35] Rego and Pina e Cunha, 2008), organizational productivity ([15] Fry et al. , 2005), and work unit performance ([10] Duchon and Plowman, 2005).
Workplace spirituality's linkages with leadership and organization development
The relevance of workplace spirituality topic to the Leadership & Organization Development Journal can be noted from the following. In some of the recent research (e.g. [13], [14] Fry, 2003, 2005; [15] Fry et al. , 2005), a specific form of leadership - spiritual leadership - has been linked to the outcomes such as calling and membership, which are similar to the meaning and community aspects of workplace spirituality. This line of inquiry suggests workplace spirituality as an outcome of leadership or spiritual leadership. Further, [12] French and Bell (2001) suggest that spirituality or the aspect of community will have an important place in organization development (OD) efforts. Referring to such works, a recent paper ([33] Pawar, 2008) has outlined extensive linkages of workplace spirituality with the topics of leadership and organization development....