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Now more than ever, corporations are utilizing spirituality as a communication tool for managers and employees to better function and relate to one another in the work place. Spirituality simultaneously helps them to evolve in their professional and personal lives. Through the use of spiritual training seminars and techniques, corporations are able to communicate more effectively, increase productivity, and feel a greater sense of meaning in work and life. Because of the decline in corporate staff support, family and community support, and corporate downsizing, corporations are recognizing that spirituality can renew faith in the work of employees and in the corporate environment. A growing number of corporate organizations are using development courses to nurture the spiritual side of managers and employees. Companies such as American Express, Shell, and IBM use these courses to help improve communication and increase personal development. "Business customers of new age practitioners say positive personal development, when applied to the workplace, contributes to positive corporate development" (Storm, 1991). Employees need inner strength and determination to be able to do their jobs. Spiritual training courses and team-building programs have given managers and employees the confidence to effectively communicate with each other. A major factor in the emergence of spirituality in corporations is that support groups such as church, extended family, and civic groups are no longer providing the spiritual support they once had. Also, many managers believe that spirituality in corporations is rapidly emerging because of the overall feeling that the American workplace has become an insecure and uncomfortable environment to work in. "The downsizing, reengineering, and layoffs of the past several years have transformed corporate America into a pretty unfriendly place" (Brandt, 1996). Technology is becoming more difficult to comprehend, support staff is declining, and everyone is expected to perform at optimum levels. "With corporate change at an all-time high and trust in companies at an all-time low, HR managers are clearly in the hot seat. Developing one's own spiritual side offers a source of strength both on the job and off. Helping other employees develop theirs can make the workplace a stronger, safer, and saner, place to do business" (Brandt, 1996). More corporations are choosing spiritual processes as a communication tool to build good relationships among partners and employees. Spirituality helps people deal with the human side of corporations, which has been neglected for a long time. Across the country, many managers attend special meetings and functions for the purpose of improving communication and productivity. Executives meet for prayer breakfasts and conferences to communicate with employees on a spiritual level. At Aetna International, Chairman Michael A. Stephen has encouraged meditation and spoken to employees about how they can improve their careers through spirituality. In some corporate spiritual training courses, participants are encouraged to create a personal purpose, as well as a mission and values. They also examine the values that they have learned from their families and communities - and bring them into their offices. "Hundreds of companies, too, are defining or clarifying their organizational values - typically universal ideas such as respect, honesty, and integrity" (McLaughlin, 1998). In some corporations, employees use the American Indian medicine wheel which represents "the four poles of human experience: intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual" (Brandt, 1996). The Medicine wheel helps trainees access their inner selves by exploring their fantasies and dreams. The course helped employees who felt lost in large corporations to stop wondering who they are. An employee who participated in the exercise said it encouraged him to look at himself and to see how he operates among other employees. He concluded that by doing this spiritual exercise, workers co-existed better. Employees of Scotland's Clydesdale Bank took a course called "self religion." The course is "all about your self a fundamental shift of mind-set" (Storm, 1991). Some exercises include envisioning the future with creative imagery and observing how employees respond to each other communicatively. In order for trainees to find themselves, they acted out roles in front of their coworkers. Each person reached their peak at different times, but they all experienced transitions together. One observer commented that "they all went through hell to get there. They will never forget the experience. They certainly see things in different light - now, nothing gets in their way" (Storm, 1991). Because of this exercise, communication among employees dramatically shifted. Employees exposed their deepest feelings and emotions to each other, and they all grew together from the experience. Many corporations who practice spirituality in the workplace have increased communication skills and are more productive. In the Hewlett Packard corporation, spiritual growth has resulted because "top management and many others in the organization had a long-term, sincere devotion to personal development in communication and relationship" (Guilar, 1997). Some visionaries believe that spiritual values can transform an entire company. Tom Chappell, CEO of Tom's of Maine, says that all firms can become more spiritual and sustain spirit. He believes the key is in "making employees feel fully connected - to one another, to the company, to the community, to customers, and to nature" (Brandt, 1996). Researchers Mitroff and Denton have performed studies on spirituality in the workplace by evaluating meaning and purpose on the job. They found that the most important elements of spirituality among employees are: the ability of employees to realize their full potential as a person; being associated with a good organization or an ethical organization; interesting work; making money; and having good colleagues and serving humankind. Mitroff and Denton concluded that "people who consider their organizations as being spiritual also see them as better than their less spiritual counterparts" (Mitroff & Denton, 1999). With more people becoming open about their spirituality - 95% of Americans say they believe in God or a universal spirit, and 48% say they talked about their religious faith at work that day, according to the Gallup organization - it would make sense that, along with their briefcases and laptops, people would start bringing faith to their work" (Conlin, 1999). Another major factor in the emergence of spirituality in corporations is that many corporations no longer choose science and technology as the only answer to solve business problems. Instead, more companies are using eastern philosophies such as Zen Buddhism and Confucianism. These religions emphasize group loyalty, and finding a "spiritual center" in any activity. Spirituality in IBM has emerged because management utilized I Ching, a Chinese oracle divination system, which uses ancient fortune telling techniques to offer spiritual answers to issues of concern in corporate life. Books and the Internet also offer a tremendous wealth of spiritual advice and information to corporations. Bestsellers such as Jesus, CEO and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, offer corporate advice on virtue, spirit, and ethics. "It's no wonder that companies are packing nerdy programmers off to corporate charm schools to teach them how to talk to customers and each other" (Conlin, 1999). Other spiritual communication techniques include filing Rolodex listings of each co-worker's spiritual progress, and using Biblical names for e-mail addresses. Ultimately, implementing spirituality in corporations has solved communication and work-related problems because management and employees have applied a sincere effort to improve corporate life. The professional and personal lives of managers and employees alike have improved; they are better able to communicate with each other, and have benefited by using spirituality in the corporation.  |
