Spirituality in the Workplace

Without a doubt, the modern workplace can best be described as a constantly evolving animal. As workers are required to spend more and more time at work, the provisions that the organization makes for the mental, physical, and some will argue spiritual wellbeing of those workers must be enhanced. In this paper, the arguments for and against bringing spirituality into the workplace will be objectively examined in an effort to better understand both sides of this highly emotional and controversial topic.

Reasons for Spirituality in the Workplace

In the introduction to this paper, the assertion was made that organizations have at least some level of responsibility for the wellbeing of their workers, with spirituality being included in that, at least in the minds of some individuals. To give this argument fair consideration, it is important to take a closer look at the reasons why spirituality may have a valid role in the workplace.

There is evidence to suggest, first of all, that spirituality is an essential part of the lives of people; a non-partisan survey of American workers recently revealed that over 60% of those surveyed agreed that spirituality is an integral part of the shaping of one's values, morals and belief systems (Fairholm, 1997). Moreover, the use of a spiritual approach to work would likely lead to employees who are less likely to break the rules of the organization, abuse such benefits as sick time, and generally have a better attitude about the work that they are doing. Likewise, interactions with other workers are usually smoother, which contributes to productivity and strong organizational leadership (Fairholm, 1997). For the worker who is allowed to bring his or her spirituality into the workplace, there is likewise Biblical precedent to indicate that those workers have the mindset that their wages are not taken for granted, but that they must constantly earn them: "Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due" (Cited, 1952, p. 152). However, there are also arguments that go against the presence of spirituality in the workplace.

Reasons Against Spirituality in the Workplace

Employers face what organizational behavior authorities call an ethical dilemma (Judge & Robbins, 2007); namely, whether or not spirituality should exist in the workplace. Although the knee jerk reaction of the employer would be to promote workplace spirituality as a means of improving productivity, morale and ethics, not all workers agree that spirituality in the workplace is a positive thing, for a variety of reasons. Some people purposely keep their work and personal lives separate, and do not feel that they should have to be exposed to anyone else's personal values and beliefs while earning a living. Also, there is the very real fear that an employee could be discriminated against if their spiritual mindset differs from that of superiors or co-workers. A word should also be said about the concept of religious freedom.

While it is true that there is a difference between spirituality and religion (Fairholm, 1997), thereby preventing one religious belief system to be promoted in the workplace over another, the very idea of any type of reference to any supreme being, prayer and the like is offensive to some, and cite the religious freedom provided by The Bill of Rights as protection from exposure to any religious overtones.
Summary

Admittedly, a short paper cannot fully explore all of the pros and cons of spirituality in the workplace, but it is also possible that thousands of pages of painstaking research could either. Whatever the case regarding spirituality in the workplace, in closing, few could argue that this is yet another dynamic issue in organizational behavior that will challenge organizational leaders for many years to come.

References

Cited, N. (1952). The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Revised Standard Version (Rev. ed.). Toronto: Thomas Nelson & Sons.

Fairholm, G. W. (1997). Capturing the Heart of Leadership Spirituality and Community in the New American Workplace. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Judge, T., & Robbins, S. (2007). Organizational Behavior (13th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.