Espirituality In The Workplace Margaret B

The Leadership Quarterly 16 (2005) 723 – 747

The second half of the journey: Spiritual leadership for organizational transformation
Margaret Benefiel T
Andover Newton Theological School, MA 02459, United States

Abstract This article proposes a conceptual framework for spiritual leadership of organizational transformation. It begins by pointing out two challenges unaddressed in the currenttheories of spiritual leadership: 1) the growing epistemological critique of the existing empirical studies of organizational spirituality and 2) the need for a more robust and sophisticated understanding of the bspiritualQ aspect of bspiritual leadership.Q It addresses the challenges by drawing on Burrell and Morgan’s organizational paradigms, Bernard Lonergan’s philosophy, Daniel Helminiak’sextension of Lonergan’s work, and understandings of spiritual transformation from the field of spirituality. It illustrates spiritual leadership for organizational transformation by examining the case of Reell Precision Manufacturing. D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Spiritual leadership; Workplace spirituality; Organizational transformation; Lonergan

We have worked in andaround organizations most of our adult lives. We have also studied them extensively. Over the years we have tried all of the conventional techniques known to organizational science to help organizations change for the better and, we hope, to become more ethical. After years of study and practice, we have been forced to a painful conclusion: by themselves, all of the conventional techniques in theworld will not produce fundamental and longlasting changes. . . . We believe that today’s organizations are impoverished spiritually and that many of their most important problems are due to this impoverishment. . . . The fact that spirituality

T Tel.: +1 617 436 8341. E-mail address: mbenefiel@ants.edu. 1048-9843/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.07.005

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M. Benefiel / The Leadership Quarterly 16 (2005) 723–747

has been avoided for so long in the field of organizational science as a serious topic for empirical and systematic study is damning evidence of the spiritual impoverishment of academia as well. We believe that organizational science can no longer avoid analyzing, understanding, and treating organizations asspiritual entities. We not only believe that organizations must become more spiritual if they are to serve the ethical needs of their stakeholders, but we also have important evidence to support our beliefs (Mitroff & Denton, 1999a, pp. Xiii–xiv). A major change is taking place in the personal and professional lives of leaders as many of them more deeply integrate their spirituality and their work. Mostwould agree that this integration is leading to very positive changes in their relationships and their effectiveness. There is also evidence that workplace spirituality programs not only lead to beneficial personal outcomes such as increased joy, peace, serenity, job satisfaction and commitment but that they also deliver improved productivity and reduce absenteeism and turnover (Fry, 2003, p.703).

1. Introduction A growing chorus of scholarly voices is arguing that spirituality is necessary in organizations — for ethical behavior, for job satisfaction and employee commitment, and for productivity and competitive advantage. Increasingly, this point is being demonstrated and empirical studies designed to test this hypothesis further are being conceived and implemented even as thisarticle is being written. Along with the spirituality in organizations theme in the chorus runs the spiritual leadership variation on the theme. Moxley (1999), Fairholm (1997, 1998, 2001), Judge (1999), Kouzes & Posner (1988, 1993, 2003), Ferguson (2000), Fry (2003, 2004), and the team of Sanders, Hopkins, & Geroy (2002), to name but a few (see also Barrett, 1998; Batstone, 2003; Boldt, 1992; Bolman &...