ABSTRACT
Spirituality in the workplace is seen as one of the most important trends in the twenty-first century (Shellenbarger 2000) and is gaining increased attention both from corporate America and academicians as a legitimate field of study (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Cash and Gray 2000; Gotsis and Kortezi 2008; Jackson 1999; Mitroff and Denton 1999). This growing interest in spirituality can be explained by various factors affecting the workplace. The massive layoffs of the 1980s and various programs to boost productivity (e.g., reengineering, total quality management, downsizing) have turned the American workplace into an environment where workers are demoralized, feel alienated from their work, and generally distrust their employers (Ali and Falcone 1995; Brandt 1996). Workplace spirituality is seen as the solution to such dramatic and problematic changes. At the same time, the American workforce is continuously seeing more diversity, and one aspect of this diversity has been a dramatic increase in the various forms of formal and informal spiritual practices at the workplace (Gotsis and Kortezi 2008). In addition, as people spend more and more time at work and as membership in other societal institutions, such as the church, the family, and civic organizations, is declining (Conger 1994), people are seeing the workplace as a primary source of connection with other people. Increasingly, some argue that curiosity about Pacific Rim cultures and Eastern philosophies (i.e., Buddhism, Hare Krishna movement, Confucianism) is also fueling increased acceptance of spirituality by encouraging meditation and other stress reduction methods (Ashmos and Duchon 2000).
