Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis:

Linking spiritual leadership and employee pro-environmental behavior: The influence of workplace spirituality, intrinsic motivation, and environmental passion

The role of spirituality and religion in the workplace (SRW) is a relatively new area of inquiry that has emerged from scholarly fields not typically associated with the study of the psychology of religion and spirituality. This article explores the underlying assumptions and history as well as the state of current theory and empirical research regarding SRW. We first describe the history of the efforts to integrate spirituality and religion into the workplace, with their foundational roots in the Protestant Work Ethic and their emergence through the Faith at Work movement. Next we review the major theoretical developments in this area that have established a domain of relevant definitions, constructs, frameworks, and models. Then we review the empirical research on spirituality in the workplace and conclude that 2 major streams have emerged that have, to date, discovered similar findings in regard to their significant impact on relevant individual and organizational outcomes. Finally, we explore particular challenges associated with integrative work and future theory building and research.

Spirituality and religion in the workplace: History, theory, and research.

This paper reports two studies that examine how an organization might enable more productive work practices by encouraging the expression of its employees’ spiritual selves in an eastern context. Study 1 shows that people who regularly practice meditation have higher workplace spirituality scores than people who do not regularly practice meditation. Study 2 reports a quasi-experimental study in which people practiced insight meditation. The data did not reveal a direct effect for the meditation, however spirituality does relate to work performance. Moreover, the practice of meditation is also found to partially mediate the relationship between workplace spirituality and work performance.

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Workplace Spirituality, Meditation, and Work Performance

Responsible leadership has emerged as a major theme in academic and practical management discourse. In this paper we provide an overview and synthesis of existing and emerging research on responsible leadership and propose a unifying framework for explaining leaders' propensity to engage in two types of socially responsible behavior: “do good” and “avoid harm.” The framework models the linkages among individual, situational, organizational, institutional, and supranational influences on responsible leader behavior and describes the mechanisms by which these factors may affect a leader's decisions and actions. Our analysis suggests that “do good” and “avoid harm” behaviors are conceptually distinct categories, with different psychological bases and different antecedents that predict them. Further, we find that individual-level and contextual factors combine and interact to influence responsible leader behavior, and a key aspect of the environment in which leaders act and make decisions—situational strength...

Antecedents of Responsible Leader Behavior: A Research Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Agenda for Future Research

O ne of the greatest challenges facing leaders today is the need to develop new business models that accentuate ethical leadership, employee well-being, sustainability and social responsibility without sacrificing profitability, revenue growth, and other indicators of financial performance. This article seeks to address top managers’ need to simultaneously maximize the so-called triple bottom line, or ‘‘People, Planet, Profit.’’ In doing so, we draw from the emerging fields of workplace spirituality, spiritual leadership, and conscious capitalism. Research conducted with Interstate Battery System of America, Inc. (Interstate Batteries) is offered as a case study of a company that may serve as a role model for spiritual leadership. We also present a general process for maximizing the triple bottom line through the development of the motivation and leadership required to simultaneously optimize employee wellbeing, social responsibility, organizational commitment, and financial performance. Enron Corp., Adelphia Communications Corp., Arthur Andersen, Tyco International and WorldCom Inc. are but some of the many scandals that have cast a chilling pall over the way business is conducted. These companies have given people the perception that corporations are amoral, corrupt, and lack both ethical leadership and a sense of social responsibility. Michael Douglas’ Oscar winning performance in Wall Street claiming that ‘‘greed is good’’ still appears to be the mantra of most businesses big and small. However, there are companies, such as SAS Institute, Google, Shell Oil Co., NEC Corp., and Procter & Gamble Co., that have committed themselves to a course of developing business models that accentuate ethical leadership, employee well-being, sustainability and social responsibility. These companies believe this can be done without sacrificing profitability, revenue growth, and other areas of financial and performance excellence. In effect, they are experimenting with new business models and adopting sustainable business strategies that have a positive economic, social, and environmental impact, often referred to as the triple bottom line.

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John W. Slocum

Papers

Maximizing the Triple Bottom Line Through Spiritual Leadership