Spirituality - RoundTable

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Are there experiments/studies to show that tapping spirituality at work has resulted in a positive impact on business? Can you cite examples of companies boldly engaging in spiritual dialogues inside and outside the organization? Any specific examples you would like to share...?

Prabhu Guptara

The evidence is solid. Read books such as "Jesus CEO." or "Moses on leadership". Moreover, the evidence is growing greater and spreading wider each week. Read publications such as Faith in Business Quarterly or Sojourners Magazine or Business Ethics. For companies: Your mention ServiceMaster above-is a fine example. Others include, in the US, Herman Miller; Pepsi Cola; FedEx; and so on. In the UK, companies such as Barclays Bank and Shell have had "Christian fellowship" groups for decades.

Wayne Visser

There are numerous books that make this claim. Examples of companies that seem to explicitly embrace a spiritual perspective include-The Body Shop, Brooklyn Union and Medtronic. Some academic studies show a positive correlation between life satisfaction and work satisfaction. And it seems an obvious point to make that if people are able to find more meaning in their workplace, motivation, loyalty, productivity and commitment will improve. However, companies should also be careful not to impose formal spirituality structures or practices on employees, since this can have the opposite (i.e., a negative, demoting) effect.

Alex Pattakos

In recent years, attention to the topic of "spirituality at work" in the academic and business literatures has grown significantly. I recommend that you take a look at the book that I mentioned above, Rediscovering the Soul of Business: A Renaissance of Values (1996), in which I contributed a chapter, as well as my new book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, which include many examples of companies "boldly engaging in spiritual dialogue inside and outside the organization." In addition, I recommend that you refer a book by Ian Mitroff and Elizabeth Denton, entitled A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values (1999).

Linda Sue Grimes

I am not aware of any experiments or studies yet to compare the spiritual with the non-spiritual aspiring business, but there are many groups dedicated to spreading the word to businesses, and a number of books on the subject, as well as websites such as Workplace Spirituality at www.workplacespirituality.info and The Professional Association for People Involved with Spirituality in the Workplace www.spiritatwork.com. Until those studies start to appear, we have testimony from a number of business owners and experts: Ian Mitroff, author of the bestseller A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America says, "Spirituality could be the ultimate competitive advantage." Ben Cohen, cofounder and former CEO of Ben and Jerry's Homemade ice cream company, says: "At Ben and Jerry's, we learned that there's a spiritual life to businesses as there is in the lives of individuals. As you give, you receive. As you help others, you are helped in return. For people, for businesses, for nations it's all the same." Julius Wall, CEO of Greyston Bakery, starts each day with a prayer, and he says that by realizing that God is in control, he eliminates fear from his endeavors and therefore, becomes more creative. Other companies that have added a spiritual element to their equation are Shell Oil Company, Microsoft, The World Bank, Apple, and many others.

Alex Pattakos

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