Spirituality and Organizational Transformation: Implications for the New Management Paradigm

Although restructuring may represent an appropriate managerial response to global competitive pressures of the 1990s, initial research indicates that reorganizing efforts such as downsizing and re‐engineering are not improving organizational performance. The thesis is that structural approaches to change represent only part of the solution to a complex dilemma. Management also needs to address the role of emotion, and spirituality in particular, in the change process. Develops the concept of spirituality as a kind of positive emotion that serves as a thread connecting the non‐rational dimensions of human behaviour that are so integral to implementing change. The Porras and Silvers (1991) model, which distinguishes organizational transformation from organizational development as intervention strategies, is extended by incorporating the emotional aspects of critical variables into the organizational transformation approach. Variables include vision, transformational leadership, intrinsic motivation depicting work as play, and organizational alignment. Discusses implications for managing spirituality.