Spirituality as a Discarded Form of Organizational Wisdom
Nurit Zaidman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni, Tel Aviv University, published “Spirituality as a Discarded Form of Organizational Wisdom: Field-Based Analysis” on August 19th in OnlineFirst of Group & Organization Management. Professor Zaidman and Professor Goldstein-Gidoni kindly provided the following responses to their article.
Who is the target audience for this article?
Researchers, managers, consultants and students who are interested in understanding organizations, and, or workplace spirituality as well researches of New Age.
Were there findings that were surprising to you?
We were surprised to realize that in fact workplace spirituality suggests an alternative to the central assumptions of the organization and that it is not only related to its marginal values or norms. Initially we tended to think that practices associated with workplace spirituality could mainly serve as a useful addition to the organization and to its members. Following our research we realized that workplace spirituality is quite revolutionary.
How do you see this study influencing future practice?
Both managers and consultants can get in-depth understanding regarding the introduction of a new wisdom to organizations. Specifically, we believe that the study provides more information for managers to consider the pro and cons of workplace spirituality practices.
How does this study fit into your body of work/line of research?
We are intend to discover the encounter between different paradigms. In this research we study the encounter between New Age spirituality and the rational Neoliberal ideology that prevails in Western profit organizations. Our future research is geared to the analysis of the encounter of New Age Spirituality with public schools.
How did your paper change during the review process?
We believe that our paper was immensely improved thanks to the valuable comments of the editor and the reviewers.
What, if anything, would you do differently if you could go back and do this study again?
Write the first draft of the paper according to the comments of the editor and the reviewers (:
