In an ideal job, we would find a sense of purpose in what we do and feel a sense of belonging and acceptance with the people we work with. Organizational researchers have been studying these issues under the label of workplace spirituality. A workplace that is high on this scale would be one where the whole person—as opposed to a compartmentalized and fragmented self—can show up to work. This workplace would provide a sense of meaning from work and a sense of belonging in the workplace community that would resonate with the person’s rich inner life (Duchon & Plowman, 2005).
The organizational researchers are rightly trying to convey that work is an important part of life and that we shouldn’t have to leave part of ourselves behind for this major chunk of our time. My discomfort with the term “workplace spirituality” is with the spiritual part. I have three difficulties with the characterization.
- The word “spiritual” is often associated with practices that can run the gamut from chanting to zealous religious proselytizing. For most people, the introduction of weird or militaristic rituals in the workplace would not be an improvement.
- Spirituality can be conflated with finding meaning and purpose, and can be used to justify value judgments (e.g., “he’s atheist, so he doesn’t have real morals”).
- In an attempt to keep the person whole in the workplace, the spiritual label actually fragments a person into spiritual and non-spiritual parts (as in the common view of people having physical, mental, and spiritual components). Note that spiritual means “of, relating to, or consisting of spirit” and has spirit as the root, which evokes the dualistic view of body and spirit.
To grapple with the positive goals of workplace spirituality without the baggage of the spiritual label, I’m proposing the use of workplace integrity—the title of this blog. Integrity, which comes from the Latin integer (meaning whole or complete), is defined as “the quality or state of being complete or undivided.” In addition to being whole, integrity includes the idea of sticking to a set of values or moral code—of not wearing a mask. For me, the concept of workplace integrity seems to better capture the idea of authentically bringing the full self to work.
With these thoughts as background, am I justified in my wariness of the “spiritual” label? Or could it be that “spirituality” better describes the goals of finding meaning and purpose within a workplace community than “integrity?”
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Duchon, D., & Plowman, D. A. (2005). Nurturing the spirit at work: Impact on work unit performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 807-833.
Webster. (Ed.) (1981) Webster’s third new international dictionary. Chicago: Merriam-Webster.
