Management control in a spiritually-charged organisation

Abstract

Recent research suggests that there is considerable interest among scholars to integrate spirituality into the workplace. One gap in the literature pertains to management control in organisations with a collection of spiritually-oriented employees (a spiritually-charged organisation); our paper fills this gap. This conceptual paper employs a hermeneutic methodology by reviewing and interpreting spiritual literature, applying selected concepts to the modern workplace and designing a management control system to align with the values of such organisations. It conceptualises spirituality from the perspectives of the important concepts of Dharma and Nishkama Karma. This paper offers the position that the management control process would be different in a spiritually-charged organisation where employees are likely to be intrinsically motivated and the firm's values and goals would appeal to the moral values of its employees. We argue that workplace spirituality should be considered an important contingency factor for organisational management, in particular related to managing with the concept of Dharma in mind. Finally, we discuss transformational leadership practices, such as inspiring a shared vision, which are consistent with the nature of such organisations.

Definition schema for redefining leadership: an integrative approach

“…In GFR, one has to focus on a rich and thick description. This included the background and challenges to be partially or fully addressed as part of this preparation, with an initial stage of 'reverse social engineering' and self-decolonisation (Smith, 1999;Joshi and Gupta, 2017;Kalagnanam and Venne, 2014). Subsequently, attempts were made to develop an integrative perspective through philosophical reconciliation, dissolving interdisciplinary boundaries, and, most importantly, shift away from binary reductive or schismatic views of categorisation.…”

Revitalizing the Spirit of Management Training

“…However, direction has a top-down, even coercive at times, undertone. Spiritual managers concerned with the whole person of their workers share the tasks of direction with members of their work community (who traditionally have only received direction) thereby minimizing this negative component (Kalagnanam & Venne 2015).…”

“…But it is a relationship that often cannot be buttressed by tangible system or procedure. Helping individual managers come to that realization and becoming comfortable in managing in terms of emotions, human need and accommodating the inevitable biases of an increasingly diverse work force will require training most management development programs have not included in their curricula (Kalagnanam & Venne 2015). The focus on training should be in getting managers to step out of their office and engage with the worker routinely.…”

“…Research suggests management is more than it has been made out to be and that it involves the intimate and personal as much as or more than the technical and routine (see for example, Fairholm and Gronau 2015;Kalagnanam & Venne 2015;Pietersen 2014;Naidoo 2014;Fairholm 2013;Fairholm and Fairholm 2009;Gibbons 1999;Herzberg 1984;Hofstede 1993;Korac-Kakabadse, et. al.…”