Selected Organizational Outcome Correlates of Spirituality in the Workplace

Abstract

This study addressed the feasibility, practicality, and effects of a management style defined as "Management-by-Virtues," a management philosophy and practice based on virtues derived from religious beliefs. The study focused on Management-by-Virtues as practiced in Christian firms and assessed the effect that Management-by-Virtues could have on such organizational outcomes as employees' Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and propensity to go beyond the call of duty in carrying out organizational tasks, i.e., Organizational Citizenship Behavior. The study, based on survey responses from 328 employees of 26 business firms, compared overall scores on Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in 10 businesses, described by owner/managers as being managed according to Christian beliefs and practices, with the same outcomes in 16 "control" firms that did not explicitly espouse such an orientation. The Management-by-Virtues firms were characterized by more committed, more satisfied employees, and employees' reports of higher incidence of Organizational Citizenship Behavior than the comparison firms. However, a measure of this construct based on employees' perceptions did not sharply differentiate the two groups of firms.

Workplace spirituality and organizational commitment: an integrative model

“…Indeed, workplace spirituality may emerge through shared norms -and potentially values -that support spirituality. For example, there has been empirical evidence that perceptions that the organization has a spiritual orientation correlates with organizational identification and commitment (Milliman et al 2003;Nur and Organ 2006;Kolodinsky et al 2008;. Similarly, Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004) argued that workplace spirituality is "a measurable aspect of an organization's culture" (p. 130) which is expressed through 10 core values: benevolence, generativity, humanism, integrity, justice, mutuality, receptivity, respect, responsibility, and trust.…”

“…Indeed, evidence has been reported that some dimensions of workplace spirituality are strongly and positively related to such attitudes as organizational commitment, intrinsic work satisfaction, and job involvement (Milliman et al 2003;Nur and Organ 2006;Rego and Cunha 212 C. Vandenberghe 2008). However, despite this preliminary evidence, our understanding of the role that workplace spirituality plays in work attitudes remains limited.…”

Spiritual Intelligence of Civil Servants of Punjab and Chandigarh in Relation to their Ethical Behavior

“…The research literature to date provides some evidence of this link. For example, spiritual individuals in the workplace are more likely to demonstrate greater fairness and kindness (Baiberman & Whitty, 1997), enhanced teamwork (Mitroff & Denton, 1999;Neck & Milliman, 1994), increased trust and honesty within their organisations (Brown, 2003;Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002), increased awareness of needs of colleagues (Cash & Gray, 2000), higher incidences of organizational citizenship behaviour OCB (Nur & Organ, 2006), and expression of more subordinate supervisor behaviour (Beazley & Gemmill, 2006). The spiritual ones are prone to perceive the ethical nature of business issues more clearly ( Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003b) and are more sensitive to corporate social performance (Giacalone, Paul & Jurkiewicz, 2005).…”

Phronesis and spirituality in the workplace

“…For instance, why do spiritual individuals have greater organisational commitment (Milliman, Czaplewski & Ferguson, 2003), increased job motivation (Jurkiewicz & Giacalone, 2004), increased productivity (Duchon & Plowman, 2005), and greater job satisfaction (Nur & Organ, 2006)? Perhaps, at least partially, it is because they see work as a calling, not just a job; and it is a job in which they want to do the best they can, with humility and while respecting others, for example.…”

“…Indeed, research to date does provide some evidence of this relationship (Beazley & Gemmill, 2006;Biberman & Whitty, 1997;Cash & Gray, 2000;Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003a;Giacalone, Paul, & Jurkiewicz, 2005;Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002;Mitroff & Denton, 1999;Neck & Milliman, 1994;Nur & Organ, 2006). What is unclear, however, in the spirituality in the workplace (from now on, SWP) literature is why and how an individual's spirituality influences their ethical performance within an organisational context.…”