Spirituality in the Workplace an Inter Religious approach

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Spirituality in the Workplacean Inter Religious
approach

• David Randolph-Horn
• SAGE

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• I have set out to explore whether Muslims and
  Christians
• have similar or different approaches to
• Spirituality at work.
• From an earlier study these are the
  definitions of spirituality
• that people offered.
• These are not other peoples ideas.
• These are their thoughts about their
• spirituality?

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• What is your understanding of the word
  spirituality?
• ? Reality beyond the material
• ? Inner experience, the essence of the individual
• ? That through which people connect up their
  experience
• ? What makes you authentically human
• ? Well-being in its entirety
• ? The part of you that is to do with meaning and
  perhaps purpose
• ? That part of you that is to do with social
  conscience and is to do with being a steward of
  the planet
• ? Relationships
• ? The spirit that arrives within a group of
  people
• ? The part of you that connects with the other,
  the Divine
• ? That which helps you make connections
• ? That part of you that has a life beyond death
  some saw it only to do with death
• ? To do with another realm beyond the physical
• ? The sphere of ghosts and spirits
• ? To do with religion only
• ? Something huge and massive that everyone has
• ? A concept that was meaningless and inaccessible
  to them

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• Spirituality is an idea that may have
  come to its time.
• Bono of U2 put it like this
• I am not into religion. I am completely
  anti-religious.
• Religion is a term for a collection. I am
  interested in personal experience of God.

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• ?For others spirituality and religion overlap and
  Hicks Treats them as more or less the same
• ? Hicks DA 2003 Religion and the Workplace
  Pluralism spirituality Leadership Cambridge.
• ? This study will ask people to express
  spirituality for themselves

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• but notes most people see spirituality as about
• relationships or connectivity
• ? with self,
• ? with others
• ? with the planet
• ? with some higher purpose/ power/divinity.
• The literature often sees spirituality about a
  search for meaning and
• purpose.

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• Do Muslims and Christians have a similar
• approach to spirituality at work?

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• If it is different
• ?how might employers more effectively relate to
  this?
• To get the best from their workers
• ? To avoid religious discrimination.
• If its similar how is it Muslims in the UK are
  often employed below their capacity or are
  unemployed?

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• Would improved Religious Literacy help?
• ? Christians
• ? Muslims
• ? others
• Knott K and Randolph-Horn D Religious Literacy
  2002
• Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Assembly
• and Churches Regional Commission
• What happens when Christians and Muslims talk
  together about spirituality in the workplace?
• Is there a model here to be explored?

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• Might Government best be concerned about
  community cohesion in the workplace rather than
  community cohesion in Neighbourhoods?
• Can this explorative study add value to work by
• Arslan M 1999
• He found that Turkish Muslims had more
• Protestant Work Ethic (Weber) than British
  Protestants.
• ? Arslan M 2001 The work Ethic Values of
  Protestant British, Catholic Irish and Muslim
  Managers. Journal of Business Ethics

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• Process
• ? Recruit participants as research partners
• ? Explain process, review, amend design
• ? Run interviews
• ? Feedback to participants
• ? Run Focus groups Muslims in some- Christians
  in others
• ? Feedback
• ? Run Mixed Focus Groups
• ? Feedback
• ? Final Write up

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• Questionnaire
• Picture yourself at work
• All questions relate to yourself at work.
• Section A
• 1a. How do you see yourself?
• 1b. Would you see yourself as being-
• Spiritual
• A person of Faith ..Muslim Christian ..Other
• Religious..
• Spiritual Religious
• Other Characteristics relational connected to
  a worthwhile purpose

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2a. How might you describe what being
spiritual means to you? 2b. Is your
spirituality shared with any
network/community/place of worship? 2c. Does it
connect with any code/principles of
living? Section B 3. Does your spirituality
affect your thoughts and behaviour in regard
to- Your Relationships at work 3a.With
colleagues? 3b.With those you manage, if
any? 3c..With those who manage you? 3dWith
those who often take a different approach
to you? 3eWith those whose culture is different
to yours? 3f.With those who are of a different
faith/religion to you?
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• 4a. Do you meditate reflect or pray in the work
• place?- (which?)
• 4b. Could you say how?
• Does it affect how you make connections in the
  workplace-
• 5a To the management of the organisation you
• work for?
• 5b Could you say how?

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• Does it affect how you make connections in the
  workplace-
• 6a. To the welfare of your local community?
• 6b. Could you say how?
• 7a. To the welfare of the society you live in?-
• 7b. Could you say how?
• Does it affect how you make connections in the
  workplace-
• 8a. To the future of the planet or welfare of
• Humanity? (Which?)
• 8b. Could you say how?

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• Section C
• 9a. Do you seek/seek to express meaning or
  purpose in the workplace- (which?)
• 9b. Could you say how?
• 10a. Did your spirituality/faith/religion affect
• how you came to do the work you do?
• 10b. Could you say how?

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• 11a. Does your spirituality/faith/religion affect
  your sense of fairness in the workplace?
• 11b. How does this show in your thoughts?
• 11c. How does this show in your behaviour?

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• 12a. Does your spirituality affect your thoughts,
• perceptions
• and behaviour in relation to-
• check each are responded to
• How you handle stress?

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• Please indicate whether you agree/disagree
• with the following statements
• by giving a number between 1 and 5 where 5 is
  strongly agree, 4 is agree 3 is neither agree nor
  disagree 2 is disagree and I is strongly
  disagree.
• 13 Work as an end in itself
• 13a The most difficult courses usually turn
  out to be
• the most rewarding 1 2 3 4 5
• 13b There are few satisfactions equal to the
  realisation
• that one has done ones best at a job 1
  2 3 4 5
• 13c I feel uneasy when there is little work
  for me to
• do 1 2 3 4 5

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• 14 Saving money and time
• 14a Most people spend too much time in
  unprofitable
• amusement 1 2 3 4 5
• 15 Internal loss of control
• 15a Most people who do not succeed in life are
  just
• plain lazy 1 2 3 4 5
• 15b People who fail at a job have usually not
  tried
• hard 1 2 3 4 5

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• 16 Hard work brings success
• 16a Hard work brings little guarantee of success
  
• 1 2 3 4 5
• 16b Any man who is able and willing to work hard
  has
• a good chance of succeeding 1 2 3 4 5
• 16c If one works hard enough he is likely to
  make a
• good life for himself 1 2 3 4 5
• 16d Life would have very little meaning if we
  never had
• to suffer 1 2 3 4 5

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17 Negative attitudes to leisure 17a. People
should have more leisure time to spend in
Relaxation 17b Life would be more
meaningful if we had more leisure time.

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• 18 Are there other questions we might helpfully
• have asked? What are they?
• 20 Can you say how answering these questions
• has affected you?
• 21 Do you have anything else you want to say?
• Questions 1-14 , broadly follow Brown M.T. 2005
  Corporate integrity Cambridge University Press .
  
• Questions 14 25 relate to Arslan M 2001 The
  Work Ethic Values of Protestant British,
  Catholic Irish and Muslim Mangers.

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