Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research and Application - Böcker

This book, the first of a groundbreaking series, provides a solid theoretical and empirical grounding from the psychology of religion and spirituality to the emerging field of workplace spirituality. Leading researchers in the psychology of religion have contributed up-to-date reviews within their areas of expertise to help guide the emergence of this exciting new discipline.Each chapter is written with the workplace researcher in mind. Not only is the relevant literature from the psychology of religion reviewed, but it is also made relevant to the workplace setting. The religious and spiritual aspects of such topics as meaning making, emotional resilience, sense of calling, coping with stress, occupational health and well-being, and leadership, among others are discussed within the context of work life. Surely researchers interested in workplace spirituality will keep this book, as well as others in the series, within arm’s reach for years to come.

This book, the first of a groundbreaking series, provides a solid theoretical and empirical grounding from the psychology of religion and spirituality to the emerging field of workplace spirituality. Leading researchers in the psychology of religion have contributed up-to-date reviews within their areas of expertise to help guide the emergence of this exciting new discipline.Each chapter is written with the workplace researcher in mind. Not only is the relevant literature from the psychology of religion reviewed, but it is also made relevant to the workplace setting. The religious and spiritual aspects of such topics as meaning making, emotional resilience, sense of calling, coping with stress, occupational health and well-being, and leadership, among others are discussed within the context of work life. Surely researchers interested in workplace spirituality will keep this book, as well as others in the series, within arm’s reach for years to come.

INNER PEACE—GLOBAL IMPACT describes underlying principles of Tibetan wisdom traditions relevant for successful leadership in the 21st century as well as Tibetan teachers whose entrepreneurial actions were critical to the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. With first-person narratives, personal stories, scholarly research, and commentaries by noted social scientists, this book is written for everyone who wants ideas to revitalize leadership.It is rich with vivid pictures of deep personal experience. Long-time Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners describe how their practice has influenced them in fields as diverse as scientific research, social work, art, dance, and university teaching. The Dalai Lama is seen through the eyes of his long-time friend, eminent author Huston Smith, as well as through the experiences of Thupten Jinpa, his 25-year English translator. Sogyal Rinpoche shares his vision for transforming traditional ways of studying, while Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, a 10th generation Tibetan yogi, reflects on the challenges of teaching in a Western culture where perspectives differ so vastly from those of Tibet.With insights from Tibetan lamas and Western thought leaders including Peter Senge, Bill George, and Margaret Wheatley, this book creates new visions for leadership and the workplace.

INNER PEACE—GLOBAL IMPACT describes underlying principles of Tibetan wisdom traditions relevant for successful leadership in the 21st century as well as Tibetan teachers whose entrepreneurial actions were critical to the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. With first-person narratives, personal stories, scholarly research, and commentaries by noted social scientists, this book is written for everyone who wants ideas to revitalize leadership.It is rich with vivid pictures of deep personal experience. Long-time Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners describe how their practice has influenced them in fields as diverse as scientific research, social work, art, dance, and university teaching. The Dalai Lama is seen through the eyes of his long-time friend, eminent author Huston Smith, as well as through the experiences of Thupten Jinpa, his 25-year English translator. Sogyal Rinpoche shares his vision for transforming traditional ways of studying, while Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, a 10th generation Tibetan yogi, reflects on the challenges of teaching in a Western culture where perspectives differ so vastly from those of Tibet.With insights from Tibetan lamas and Western thought leaders including Peter Senge, Bill George, and Margaret Wheatley, this book creates new visions for leadership and the workplace.

Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story is designed for thoughtful leaders working in the complexity and messiness of their daily organizational lives. It is a book first and foremost about people, about the ways they find purpose, creativity and meaning in their professional work; how they thrive in community and fulfill their deep desire to be of service to others against seemingly impossible odds and limitations. A study of how full human potential and creativity is released, how the spirit within, and without, can be experienced and manifested. It is also story of ordinary people achieving extraordinary results, individually and collectively; of people becoming more than they thought was possible; and having fun along the way.This is a practical book with reflections, legacy and “lessons learnt” to support and guide busy leaders who are looking for wisdom and to learn from the experiences and mistakes of others. Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story is the result of serious and rigorous academic research. It is a case study containing features, dilemmas and opportunities facing all leaders today. A leadership narrative of a professional community who learned to live and work together with respect and harmony. It is also the story of a CEO leader and the integration of her spiritual yearning and fulfillment manifested through her professional vocation and calling.In particular it explores how:• To create effective collaborative partnerships• To deliver outstanding value for money on limited resources in complex contexts• To develop excellent commercial practices within a public sector organization• To nurture the spirit, high energy and performance of everyone involved to ensure outstanding success on the triple bottom lineThis book challenges the reader to be bold, creative, reflective, trusting, even more allowing of their own spirit and leadership path, and to rise to even greater achievements; but most of all to fulfill their own deepest yearnings and potential and to become the very best of what they are meant to be, both as a leader and as a human being.An important feature in this book is that spirituality and religion are distinct, and that organizational spiritual leadership can be inclusive or exclusive of religious theory and practice. The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) serves as a role model for maximizing the triple bottom line through both personal and organizational spiritual leadership. CEL is a stellar example of an organization that embraced organizational spiritual leadership, the values of altruistic love, employee well-being, and sustainability while maintaining high levels of financial performance. Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story chronicles how, as CEO, Lynne Sedgmore led CEL through its spiritual journey, including several “Dark Nights of the Soul,” to a place of pre-eminence in the United Kingdom’s Learning and Skills sector.

Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story is designed for thoughtful leaders working in the complexity and messiness of their daily organizational lives. It is a book first and foremost about people, about the ways they find purpose, creativity and meaning in their professional work; how they thrive in community and fulfill their deep desire to be of service to others against seemingly impossible odds and limitations. A study of how full human potential and creativity is released, how the spirit within, and without, can be experienced and manifested. It is also story of ordinary people achieving extraordinary results, individually and collectively; of people becoming more than they thought was possible; and having fun along the way.This is a practical book with reflections, legacy and “lessons learnt” to support and guide busy leaders who are looking for wisdom and to learn from the experiences and mistakes of others. Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story is the result of serious and rigorous academic research. It is a case study containing features, dilemmas and opportunities facing all leaders today. A leadership narrative of a professional community who learned to live and work together with respect and harmony. It is also the story of a CEO leader and the integration of her spiritual yearning and fulfillment manifested through her professional vocation and calling.In particular it explores how:• To create effective collaborative partnerships• To deliver outstanding value for money on limited resources in complex contexts• To develop excellent commercial practices within a public sector organization• To nurture the spirit, high energy and performance of everyone involved to ensure outstanding success on the triple bottom lineThis book challenges the reader to be bold, creative, reflective, trusting, even more allowing of their own spirit and leadership path, and to rise to even greater achievements; but most of all to fulfill their own deepest yearnings and potential and to become the very best of what they are meant to be, both as a leader and as a human being.An important feature in this book is that spirituality and religion are distinct, and that organizational spiritual leadership can be inclusive or exclusive of religious theory and practice. The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) serves as a role model for maximizing the triple bottom line through both personal and organizational spiritual leadership. CEL is a stellar example of an organization that embraced organizational spiritual leadership, the values of altruistic love, employee well-being, and sustainability while maintaining high levels of financial performance. Spiritual Leadership in Action: The CEL Story chronicles how, as CEO, Lynne Sedgmore led CEL through its spiritual journey, including several “Dark Nights of the Soul,” to a place of pre-eminence in the United Kingdom’s Learning and Skills sector.

Those who adhere to a faith tradition are longing for theories and insights into how they can be true to their faith within the workplace and yet be sensitive and respectful to others of varying faith commitments and beliefs. Yet for Christians, respect of other faith traditions is especially difficult since Christianity as the dominate religion has become secularized and institutionalized within the workplace as represented in holidays and days off.Within the multiple theoretical and research dimensions of management, religion and spirituality, this book explores theoretical, conceptual and strategic theories and research which consider how individuals and organizations integrate their Christian faith in the workplace, and how these groups attempt to change society as a whole. This historical movement is characterized by a desire for people to live a holistic life which integrates their Christian faith into the workplace, also deemed “faith at work”.Historically, Christian’s faith integration is manifested individually or collectively and is demonstrated in the ways it shapes and informs the values systems, ethics, character and attitudes towards work. This edited volume draws themes out of the three historical epochs of the faith and work movement traced by Miller (2007) in the book, God at work: The history and promise of the faith at work movement. These organizing themes, while not congruent to the historical epochs, do capture the ways in which people of faith have historically attempted to integrate their faith into the workplace. These themes include: Individual integration, organizational strategies for integration and societal integration.

Those who adhere to a faith tradition are longing for theories and insights into how they can be true to their faith within the workplace and yet be sensitive and respectful to others of varying faith commitments and beliefs. Yet for Christians, respect of other faith traditions is especially difficult since Christianity as the dominate religion has become secularized and institutionalized within the workplace as represented in holidays and days off.Within the multiple theoretical and research dimensions of management, religion and spirituality, this book explores theoretical, conceptual and strategic theories and research which consider how individuals and organizations integrate their Christian faith in the workplace, and how these groups attempt to change society as a whole. This historical movement is characterized by a desire for people to live a holistic life which integrates their Christian faith into the workplace, also deemed “faith at work”.Historically, Christian’s faith integration is manifested individually or collectively and is demonstrated in the ways it shapes and informs the values systems, ethics, character and attitudes towards work. This edited volume draws themes out of the three historical epochs of the faith and work movement traced by Miller (2007) in the book, God at work: The history and promise of the faith at work movement. These organizing themes, while not congruent to the historical epochs, do capture the ways in which people of faith have historically attempted to integrate their faith into the workplace. These themes include: Individual integration, organizational strategies for integration and societal integration.

The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research and Institutional Life for the Twenty-first Century contributes to an understanding of the importance and implications of a contemplative grounding for higher education. It is the sixth in a series entitled Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research and Application, which is intended to be an authoritative and comprehensive series in the field.This volume consists of chapters written by noted scholars from both Eastern and Western traditions that shed light on the following questions:• What is an appropriate epistemological grounding for contemplative higher education? How dues the current dominant epistemology in higher education mitigate against contemplative teaching, learning, and research? What alternatives can be offered?• How can a contemplative culture be nurtured in the classroom? What difference does that culture make in teaching and learning? What is the role of individual and institutional leadership in creating and sustaining this culture?• What is contemplative research? How can the emerging field of contemplative studies fit into the twenty-first-century university?• What can faculty and students learn from contemplative practices about how to find peace of mind in a world of higher education characterized by increasing complexity, financial pressures, and conflicts?• What does a contemplative organizational structure look like in higher education? How can committees, faculty meetings, and administrative teams use contemplative practices to work more effectively together?• How can contemplative decision-making processes be used in higher education? Given hierarchies, turf wars, and academics’ propensity for using argument as a weapon, is it possible to introduce contemplative practices into decision-making situations in appropriate ways?

The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research and Institutional Life for the Twenty-first Century contributes to an understanding of the importance and implications of a contemplative grounding for higher education. It is the sixth in a series entitled Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research and Application, which is intended to be an authoritative and comprehensive series in the field.This volume consists of chapters written by noted scholars from both Eastern and Western traditions that shed light on the following questions:• What is an appropriate epistemological grounding for contemplative higher education? How dues the current dominant epistemology in higher education mitigate against contemplative teaching, learning, and research? What alternatives can be offered?• How can a contemplative culture be nurtured in the classroom? What difference does that culture make in teaching and learning? What is the role of individual and institutional leadership in creating and sustaining this culture?• What is contemplative research? How can the emerging field of contemplative studies fit into the twenty-first-century university?• What can faculty and students learn from contemplative practices about how to find peace of mind in a world of higher education characterized by increasing complexity, financial pressures, and conflicts?• What does a contemplative organizational structure look like in higher education? How can committees, faculty meetings, and administrative teams use contemplative practices to work more effectively together?• How can contemplative decision-making processes be used in higher education? Given hierarchies, turf wars, and academics’ propensity for using argument as a weapon, is it possible to introduce contemplative practices into decision-making situations in appropriate ways?

The continued presence and growth of religion within the global community, resists the notion that religion is to be usurped by the secular or disenfranchised through secularism. Instead, contemporary scholarship emerging from an array of academic disciplines, continues to support religions’ presence and impact on individuals, organizations and society. For example, the last two centuries offer an array of scholarship which understands religion to be formative for personal identity, instrumental in coping with suffering, an iterative force in social construction, dynamic in its historical perception and having an ever present role in culture, politics and society.However, the role of religion in the workplace is still resisted by some scholars of note in the Academy of Management. Yet, scholarship regarding the impacts of religion on societal, organizational and individual life continues to grow, carrying on the long standing research tradition of Weber. Scholarship has explored connections and manifestations of the world’s religions within the workplace. Within Christianity, examples of research considerations within Catholic traditions, beliefs and practices which undergird workplace practices have been given ample consideration and alternatively examples of Protestant beliefs and practices within the workplace continues to grow. This second volume continues the work of the first volume of Faith and Work, Christian Perspectives, published in 2018. As with the first volume, this second volume considers Christian perspectives, research and insights into the faith and work movement, delimitating research into one of three areas: Individual, organizational and societal dimensions.Again, this volume, like the first contains scholarship from nationally and internationally recognized scholars whose research understands and demonstrates the importance of the connections between the Christian faith and the workplace. The scholarship presented in this volume is considered cross disciplinary, as was the first volume which was presented at the Cultural Study Association (CSA) Conference held at Carnegie Mellon University, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) conference held in St. Louis, Missouri and also at the 2019 Academy of Management, Boston, MA. The first book has also enjoyed use in masters and doctoral programs as a supplemental reader.

The continued presence and growth of religion within the global community, resists the notion that religion is to be usurped by the secular or disenfranchised through secularism. Instead, contemporary scholarship emerging from an array of academic disciplines, continues to support religions’ presence and impact on individuals, organizations and society. For example, the last two centuries offer an array of scholarship which understands religion to be formative for personal identity, instrumental in coping with suffering, an iterative force in social construction, dynamic in its historical perception and having an ever present role in culture, politics and society.However, the role of religion in the workplace is still resisted by some scholars of note in the Academy of Management. Yet, scholarship regarding the impacts of religion on societal, organizational and individual life continues to grow, carrying on the long standing research tradition of Weber. Scholarship has explored connections and manifestations of the world’s religions within the workplace. Within Christianity, examples of research considerations within Catholic traditions, beliefs and practices which undergird workplace practices have been given ample consideration and alternatively examples of Protestant beliefs and practices within the workplace continues to grow. This second volume continues the work of the first volume of Faith and Work, Christian Perspectives, published in 2018. As with the first volume, this second volume considers Christian perspectives, research and insights into the faith and work movement, delimitating research into one of three areas: Individual, organizational and societal dimensions.Again, this volume, like the first contains scholarship from nationally and internationally recognized scholars whose research understands and demonstrates the importance of the connections between the Christian faith and the workplace. The scholarship presented in this volume is considered cross disciplinary, as was the first volume which was presented at the Cultural Study Association (CSA) Conference held at Carnegie Mellon University, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) conference held in St. Louis, Missouri and also at the 2019 Academy of Management, Boston, MA. The first book has also enjoyed use in masters and doctoral programs as a supplemental reader.

Are you intrigued by ancient wisdom traditions? Do you ever wonder if they have any relevance in today’s world? How do Indigenous ways of being and doing balance wealth creation and well-being? How might Indigenous peoples define success? What are Indigenous spiritualities? How is Spiritualities manifested in Indigenous organizations today?These questions have intrigued us for many years. As a consequence, we invited scholars from around the world to contribute to a ground-breaking book, Indigenous spiritualities at work: transforming the spirit of business enterprise, to explore these questions from different worldviews. A key focus of this book is how Indigenous spiritual approaches revitalize identities and relationships within the workplace. However, the notion of workplace is not narrow, as it includes communities of engagement and practice in ecologies of creativity and enterprise in the broadest sense. This enables Indigenous spiritualties at work to be explored from diverse perspectives, disciplines, cultures and sectors. In particular, the authentic voices of authors in this book enriches our understandings, offers points of enlightenment and amplifies spiritual traditions of Indigenous peoples in a way that honours traditions of the past, present and future.The contributions build bridges between scholarly work and practice. They include empirical studies of Spiritualities, mindfulness, presence and authenticity. A diverse range of research methodologies, impact studies and examples of development programs are offered alongside artistic works, photographic essays, stories, and poetry.