An Excerpt from:
Spirituality at Work: A Comparative Perspective
by Professor Prabhu Guptara
(first published in Faith in Business Quarterly (Cambridge, UK), December 2001)

The recent flurry of interest in the subject of spirituality at work (which I will refer to as SAW for convenience) has diverse sources and many destinations, and will impact whatever is in its path in different ways. In the following piece, I try to distinguish the different sources, destinations and impacts.

Sources
It is clear that New Age-type influences are the principal contributors to the current fashion for SAW. However, we must not forget that these influences have been widespread in the West since at least the nineteenth century. Why then has that spark become a flame? In my view, because of two principal reasons.

The first reason is the progressive psychological and cultural dryness caused for the last century or so (from the 1880s in Europe and from the 1930s in the USA), when the commanding heights of intellectual and public life became captive to evolutionistic atheism. The result today is a raging but unslaked desire for meaning in an increasing number of people of all generations.

The second reason is the psychological pressure on time, created by the increased complexity and insistent need to choose, for example between a growing range of relatively meaningless choices in consumer goods. This increase in time-pressure, complexity and choice has been specially marked since the fall of the Berlin Wall some twelve years ago.

Specifically in the USA, the attacks of September 11 have also raised again questions regarding spirituality, meaning, culture, ethics and the world’s issues.

An additional contributor to the fashion for SAW is Christianity, which provides both a sort of faded backcloth without which such a fashion could not exist, and several rather more colourful banners led either by clergy and other such “professional” religious leaders (such as industrial chaplaincy, Ridley Hall Foundation, the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, the erstwhile Centre for Marketplace Theology, Marketplace Ministries, the scruples website www.scruples.org, and so on), and on the other hand by prayer and Bible-study groups led by lay people in their organizations (e.g. Barclays Christian Fellowship and the Civil Service Christian Fellowship – though there are also innumerable small informal groups which do not necessarily give themselves a name) as well as across organizations (e.g. The National Prayer Breakfast, The Trinity Forum). The general revival of Christianity, specially among young people in the West, has brought into the workplace a new generation of people who are unashamed about their spirituality and wish to relate their faith to their everyday life as well as to world issues – in complete contrast to their parents’ generation, as well as to older generations, who were generally both individualistic about their faith (not seeing any relationship with world issues) and kept their faith private (most of their colleagues had no idea of whether and if so what sort of faith they had).

In a minority of places in the West, the Islamic practice of praying five times a day has added a certain spurt in consciousness.

However, the resulting consensus in the Western fashion for SAW is marked by evolutionistic pantheism – the idea that we have all evolved as a result of some sort of primordial consciousness which is impersonal but expresses Itself through, and more importantly in, everything and everyone. This is not to say that the consensus is closed to other orientations, merely that it is resistant to them.

Destinations
(i) Individual
The bulk of the current fashion for spirituality at work drives in the direction of what Francis Schaeffer called “personal peace and affluence”. As one goes through the literature on the subject of spirituality at work, one soon tires of the usual drivel and platitudes that get served up, from the bland to the inconsequential, about personal morality in business as if that is the most important dimension. Here is an example of such a purely individualistic search for “peace”:

"So, what's up with "spirituality in the workplace?" I don't know with any degree of certainty, but I think what we're really wanting….as CEOs and managers, business owners and workers.…is space. Space to wonder and to create our sense of the spiritual. More meaningful lives….for ourselves and for those around us whether coworkers or customers, family or friends. What we most long for is a sense of peace…. And, when I hear about an organization that is "spiritually based" it's really not about the organization. It's about the people. Wanting to create spirituality in the workplace? Start with yourself. The rest will follow and it won't be about the company. It will be about you and the wonderful effect you will have on those around you….coworkers and customers alike without your even knowing. Want to take a shortcut and just "implement" it? Maybe create spiritually-based mission statements…a set of spiritually-based goals? I wouldn't bother. Just create the space. That's what's needed." (Butch Farley, “Corporate Spirituality”, CoachU newsletter, Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2001. (The italics in the quotation above are mine)

This Internet newsletter had 13,325 subscribers on that date, though material from the newsletter is e-distributed by subscribers to numerous non-subscribers regularly.

Such a search for “space” can be rather self-indulgent if it stops at that level. However, not all SAW stays purely at the personal level.

Here, for example, is someone who raises questions about SAW from the perspective of a consultant writing for other consultants involved in coaching people at work:

Corporate doors are cracking open. ... Many of us are getting high on visions of fat corporate fees and the huge potential to do good. But before we start soaring, we have to ask ourselves "What's fuelling the rush towards spirituality in the workplace?” Has Soul truly entered the workplace, replacing "Swim with the Sharks" and the "One-Minute Manager" mentality, or does it just seem like it has? Today's corporate leaders are up against enormous pressures. With earnings slowing and employee loyalty at an all time low, business leaders are desperately seeking effective strategies to re-engage their people. Workers are asked to do far too much with far too little and the only thing holding them is the almighty dollar! Twelve-hour days and information overload are facts of life. The current economic downturn reminds workers of their ultimate expendability. Employees are asking, "What value is there in what I do?” A 36 year-old rants, "I just got the promotion I've been dreaming of - a substantial raise, a new title and a great bonus to come. Am I happy? No way! Instead of a 60-hr week, now I'll have an 80-hr workweek!” Just as top management is scrambling to find a new panacea, in walks the Spirituality in the Workplace movement!

(Karen Sands, “A skeptic's view of the Feminization of Capitalism”, Coach U Internet newsletter, Vol 3/1, April 2001)

Such scepticism, regarding the instrumental reasons why certain managers and managements are not just tolerating SAW but actually encouraging it, is entirely justified. However, I am pleased to see that some people don’t remain fixated by scepticism about SAW, but use the opportunity provided by it. Indeed, some individuals and groups go beyond the merely self-indulgent level of SAW, to generating an interest in wider matters and indeed begin to do something about them, as we shall see later in this article.

However, most such individualistic spirituality, Eastern as it may be considered in origin, I compare to the use of aspirin or panadol. Whether it appears in the garb of Buddhism, yoga, Tai-Chi, various meditative traditions or prayer, its function is simply to relieve stress. But such individualistic SAW can be open to, interested in, or even willing to be involved in wider matters.

(ii) Work Team
SAW at the level of work teams tends to be both more challenging and more useful.

Professor Prabhu Guptara is Director, Organisational and Executive Development, Wolfsberg (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS A.G., the world’s leading wealth manager). A Hindu follower of Jesus the Lord, he writes here in a personal capacity. He does not necessarily agree with every suggestion that has been made in the article (for example about derivatives) but provides it here for further reflection and debate.

Read the rest of this article in the upcoming anthology of writings on Spirit in Business, to be announced soon.