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does religion have an effect in the workplace? essay
does religion have an effect in the workplace? essay
does religion have an effect in the workplace? essay
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Workplace spirituality is a sophisticated concept (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2004). Generally speaking, it involves the sense of well-being, the feeling of the whole self involved in the work, the feeling of connection to others and something larger than oneself, and a sense of transcendence (Ashmos & Duchon, 2000; Ingersoll, 2010; Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2004; Kinjerski, V. M., & Skrypnek, 2008; Rego & Pina e Cunha, 2008; Sheep, 2004). Individuals view their work as sacred (Ingersoll, 2010), while workplace spirituality is not necessary related to religion (Ashmos & Duchon, 2000; Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002; Milliman et al., 2003; Rego & Pina e Cunha, 2008). It can be regard to personal value or philosophy. This concept can be referred to self-actualization proposed by Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs. Besides pursuing satisfaction of the basic levels in the hierarchy, individuals have desire to satisfy the higher level of need. Although earning money is the basic goal, individuals eager to find out the meaning in work, to make contribution to the society, to reach their full potential, to become connecting with colleagues, to work in an organization which they identify its goal and value (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2004).
Although a consistent definition in workplace spirituality has not been reached, mutuality in its definition delineated in literatures can be easily found. Sheep (2004) has been summed up into four themes. The first theme is self-workplace integration, that is the immersion of whole self into work. The second theme is meaning of work. People tend to find out meaning in their work. The meaning may be related to personal value, such as contributing to society and others, and go beyond monetary benefits. The third one is transcendence of self, connecting to something larger than self. This theme includes the connectedness to others, community, and the organization. The final theme is “personal growth and development of one’s inner life at work”. Organization can provide conditions for the growth and development of employees.
Despite various perspectives about workplace spirituality, three dimensions were focused in the present study. The model proposed by Milliman et al. (2003) was adopted. In this model, workplace spirituality includes three levels, namely individual, community and organization. This model embraces two above mentioned theme such as meaning of work and transcendence of self.
In the individual level of workplace spirituality, meaningfulness in work is involved in this level. People are motivated to actively search for and give meaning to their lives (Ashmos & Duchon, 2000; Frankl, 1992; Lips-Wiersma & Morris, 2009).
Managers know the importance of having positive relationships with their employees. It boosts the company’s goals while the lack of any relationship with the workers may lead to losses in the business. Most managers rarely know that they are looked up to by many employees and, as such, should be careful with the actions they take. Lee b. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal, the authors of the book The Reframing Organizations, point out that the kind of measures taken in the business influences the employees acts and thoughts. In particular, this book gives insight to managers on how to relate to their subordinates. The discussion is carried out on the three parts of the book that highlight the missteps taken by managers as they try to improve their businesses.
devotion that they put into their work day, after day, after day. If I worked at something
Is there a strong relationship between the nature of the job the employee is performing and the religious rituals or tenets of the religious organization or matters of church administration?
“Religion in the American workplace is among the most contentious and difficult areas for employe...
Spiritual life makes us feel prosperous although we may lack of any material possesions and opportunites.
Many people would not believe that worldview would be involved in the topic of work, but it certainly is. Worldview stretches throughout almost every facet of our lives and is even an intricate part of work. Christian and secular viewpoints differ immensely when it comes to work. Many Christians believe that work is an intricate part of God’s plan for mankind while the secular viewpoint sees it as more of a personal, everyday activity the serves no more of a purpose that that of personal success. The secular worldview has distorted the context of work and only the Christian worldview can redeem it to its original context.
Snodgrass, J., & Sorajjakool, S. (2011). Spirituality in older adulthood: Existential meaning,productivity, and life events. Pastoral Psychology, 60, 85-94. doi: 10.1007/s11089-010-0282-y
Eileen P. Kelly was a tenured professor in Ithaca College’s School of Business and specialized in management, business ethics, and employment law. She was noted for her scholarly work and publications concerning business ethics, employment rights, religion and employee workplace rights, privacy rights, labor and management history. In this article, Kelly (2008) discusses the degree of religious diversity in the United States, the factors influencing religious expression in the workplace, the most common types of religious expression in the workplace and the extent of the legal obligations an employer has to accommodate them. “Clearly, religion and spirituality are key concerns of the American population. It should come as no surprise therefore that Americans would bring those beliefs into the workplace” (Kelly, 2008, p. 46).
Maslow’s theory cultivated as a “general theory of human motivation,” but this theory is “extensively” applied to organizational behavior (Miller, 2012: 40). In this theory, Maslow proposes that five types of basic needs motivate people: physiological, safety, affiliation, esteem, and self-actualization. These needs are arranged in a “hierarchy of prepotency,” where lower-level needs must be satisfied before achieving higher-level needs (Miller, 2012; 42). The lower-level needs are the first three basic needs in the hierarchy: physiological, safety, and affiliation. The first need is physiological. It refers to the needs of the human body, such as food, water, sleep and sensory pleasure. An organization fulfills these needs by providing a “living wage” that allows individuals to acquire these necessities and creating “physical work conditions that do not violate the physical requirements of the human body” (Miller, 2012: 41). From the physiological needs, humans move to the second basic need—safety. These needs include “the desire to be free from danger and environmental threats” (Miller, 2012: 41). Once again, an organization fulfills these needs by providing wages which allow employees the ability to acquire the necessary tools to ensure safety. In addition, the provision of physically adequate work conditions within an organization fulfills these safety needs. After physiological and safety needs are attained, humans aspire for belonging and love. This third basic need is affiliation. Affiliation needs refer to “the necessity of giving and receiving human affection and regard” (Miller, 2012: 41). This need highlights one of the key findings of the Hawthorne studies-the importance of social factors within an organization. The social relationships between coworkers and managers within an organization satisfies this need for
Satisfaction, feeling of accomplishment and happiness, which are reached in work-life, affect the daily life of a person. In contrast to this condition, dissatisfaction, failure and unhappiness in the work-life may cause some psychological issues. One of th...
Howard, B. S., & Howard, J. R. (1997). Occupation as spiritual activity. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 181-185.
The dynamic holistic view of the human individual as a biological, psychological, social, and spiritual being is the foundation of most nursing theories (Puchalski, 2006). Integral in these models of care is the recognition that the client is more than their physical being (Puchalski, 2006). To ensure the patient and family receive the most compassionate, comprehensive care, the consideration of spirituality is essential (Puchalski, 2006). According to Govier (2000), spirituality affects and embraces all that we are and do. Addressing spirituality is necessary to provide the experience of holistic care (Noto, 2006). It is imperative to attend to the spiritual dimension of the client in order to deliver nursing care that is compassionate and
My article that is titled: The Neglected Ethical and Spiritual Motivations in the Workplace overall is about the understanding of what motivates employees in the workplace and the importance of how it affects the level of work production.
Conte, J., Landy, F. (2010). Work in the 21 Century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (3rd ed). USA: Wiley and Blackwell Publishings
...s in the corporate world by setting new standards to promote and better satisfy their employees. We chose four leading companies in four different industries. The above analysis definitely reveals that perhaps one of the reasons why these companies are the leaders in their industry is because they are well aware of the importance of the work force. They mention in their mission statements as well that yes in deed customers are important but in order to make the customer happy they first need to motivate and satisfy the employee as well. According to Citibank, the general belief is that a happy worker is a motivated and loyal one. So keeping employees' spirits high is a sure-fire way of maintaining a productive workforce. A productive work force would ultimately lead to a healthy organization which would not only promote the society its working for but also itself.