Religion and the Workplace Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership

How can company leaders and employees negotiate their different religious and spiritual commitments in the workplace? At a time of international debate over religious conflict and tolerance, workforces in various parts of the world are more diverse than ever before. Religion and spirituality are, for many employees, central to their identities. From the perspective of the employer, however, they can be distracting or divisive influences. This book analyzes the current interest in religion and spirituality in US companies. It offers conceptual distinctions and comparative examples (from the pluralistic contexts of India and Singapore) to trace the myriad ways that religion is present at work. It offers a model of respectful pluralism, asserting that the task of effective and ethical leadership in organizations is not to promote a single spiritual or religious framework but to create an environment in which managers and employees can respectfully express their own beliefs and practices.

Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Part I. Analyzing Current Realities: 1. The changing American context; 2. The corporate interest in spirituality; 3. Which spirituality in the workplace?; 4. Conflicts at work: is religion distinctive?; Part II. Mapping Religion and the Workplace: 5. Being religious differently; 6. Religions of the workplace; 7. Comparative contexts: India and Singapore; Part III. Constructing Respectful Pluralism: 8. Respectful pluralism at work; 9. Leadership for a pluralistic workplace; Bibliography; Index.

How can company leaders and employees negotiate their different religious and spiritual commitments in the workplace? At a time of international debate over religious conflict and tolerance, workforces in various parts of the world are more diverse than ever before. This book analyzes the situation and proposes constructive solutions.

Dr Douglas A. Hicks is Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies and Religion at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Virginia. He is author of Inequality and Christian Ethics, published by Cambridge University Press in 2000. His articles have appeared in The Leadership Quarterly, The Journal of Religious Ethics, World Development, and The Journal of Ecumenical Studies and he contributed to the CD-ROM On Common Ground: World Religions in America. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), he is an editor, with J. Thomas Wren and Terry L. Price, of the three-volume reference work The International Library of Leadership.